The Top Business Intelligence Tools to Drive Data Analysis

Business Intelligence (BI) technologies help companies maintain a competitive edge by providing a unified view of all relevant data. Recent studies and forecasts indicate that business intelligence tools will continue to expand, reaching over 50% of all firms by 2023.

With the help of business intelligence, it is possible to see patterns and understand how things will be in the future. Businesses can successfully develop strategies to improve products and services with access to relevant and reliable data. Studies have shown that companies throughout the world are leveraging data and analytics to :

• Improve productivity while lowering expenses (60%)
• Modify strategies and initiatives (57%)
• Optimize economic results (52%)
• Gain understanding of consumer behavior (51%)
• Mitigate risks (50%)
• Boost sales and loyalty among existing customers (49%)

Businesses that haven’t adopted BI analytics services are likely missing out on the real-world advantages of doing so. Brickclay is a managed service provider that offers its customers access to the Power BI Dashboards Service to gain insight from data.

Despite being in its early stages, the service already shows promise for businesses that want to make the most of data by outsourcing its preparation, analysis, visualization, and interpretation.  

Business Intelligence Process

Questions and goals are essential for companies and organizations. Data is gathered, evaluated, and action plans are formed to get at the bottom of these inquiries and keep tabs on how the goals are coming along. 

Raw data is gathered from enterprise systems on the technical side. Data centers, programs, files, and the cloud are all used to process and store information. The analytical procedure to answer business issues can begin after users have access to the data that has been stored. 

Data visualization capabilities are also available on BI platforms and may be used to create charts and graphs from raw data for presentation to stakeholders and decision-makers.

BI Methods

Business intelligence is a broad concept that encompasses more than just a single “thing”: it describes a wide range of approaches to gathering, storing, and analyzing information about business processes and activities to improve those processes and activities.

Together, they provide a 360-degree perspective of a company, illuminating previously hidden insights and revealing new opportunities. In recent years, business intelligence has expanded to incorporate new methods and techniques for enhancing productivity. Among these procedures are:

• Data mining:  Exploring massive datasets with the help of databases, statistics, and ML.
• Reporting: Distributing results of data analysis to interested parties so they can draw conclusions and take action.
• Benchmarks and performance: Tracking progress toward targets by comparing actual results with targets from the past, generally through individualized dashboards.
• Querying: Business intelligence (BI) can extract actionable insights by posing data-centric queries.
• Statistical analysis: Using statistical methods to delve further into the data and answer questions like “How and why did this trend emerge?” based on the findings of descriptive analytics.
• Data visualization: Converting analytical results into visually appealing forms like charts, graphs, and histograms.
• Visual analysis: Data visualization for on-the-fly insight sharing and uninterrupted analysis flow.
• Data preparation: The process of gathering information from many sources, specifying its parameters, and preparing it for analysis.

How do BI, Data Analytics, and Business Analytics Work Together?

While data analytics and business analytics are integral aspects of a business intelligence framework, they are not used in isolation. Business intelligence allows people to infer meaning from data. Experts in data science delve into the nitty-gritty to find patterns and predict the future. They do this by employing cutting-edge statistics and predictive analytics. 

Data analysis seeks to answer the questions, “Why did this happen?” and “What can be done next?” Business intelligence transforms the findings of these models and algorithms into a usable format. Gartner’s IT lexicon states, “Business analytics includes data mining, predictive analytics, applied analytics, and statistics.” In a nutshell, business analytics is performed as a component of a company’s broader business intelligence strategy. 

BI is made to provide quick analysis for decisions and planning at a glance in response to specific questions. However, businesses can employ analytics procedures to refine follow-up inquiries and iteration techniques. In business analytics, answering a single query usually leads to additional inquiries and iterations.

Imagine instead that you are participating in a never-ending cycle of data access, discovery, investigation, and the dissemination of knowledge. Adapting analytics to new concerns and stakeholder needs is the “analytics cycle” in the current business lexicon.

How to Create a Plan for Business Intelligence

A BI strategy is a road map to accomplishment. In the early stages, a company must determine its data strategy, identify important personnel, and establish clear roles and responsibilities. Having clear business objectives in mind first may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s crucial to success.

Building a BI plan from scratch looks like this: 

• Be familiar with the company’s long-term objectives.
• Identify key stakeholders.
• Select a sponsor among relevant stakeholders.
• Select the Business Intelligence platforms and tools.
• Set up a group to handle business intelligence.
• Define Scope.
• Prepare data infrastructure. 
• Set objectives and create a plan.

Business Analytics Tools

Data collection, processing, and analysis, as well as creating reports and dashboards, are all possible thanks to business intelligence tools. Online analytical processing (OLAP), predictive analytics, and enhanced analytics are some tasks that may be accomplished using a BI platform. 

Querying and report generation were the extent of earlier BI technologies, which did nothing to help make timely decisions. In addition to facilitating the production of actionable insights, modern BI tools for data analysis may also help create reports, dashboards, visualizations, and performance scorecards, all of which can present key performance indicators and other business data.

Spectrum of Business Intelligence Tools

Many customization and configuration choices are available in today’s business intelligence software. The most common forms of assistance for finding the right business fit are outlined below.

Directional Analyses

Directional Analytics has revolutionized business intelligence, and records management services are essential to realizing this potential. Services for managing and storing documents create a stable groundwork upon which directional analytics can grow. Directional analytics is the best option for firms that need a more structured setting to conduct in-depth data research. 

Self-Service Analytics

Self-service analytics is made possible by enterprise data warehouse services. If a company wants to take advantage of data-driven decision-making, it needs these services as a starting point. They offer a dependable data repository by consolidating information from many sources. This variety of analytics allows organizations to delve deeply and instantly extract information. 

Embedded Analytics

Power BI Technologies is a game changer for businesses using data for decision-making because it pioneered embedded analytics. Power BI allows businesses to easily incorporate advanced reporting, data visualization, and exploration features into their apps and processes.

Adapting to the organization’s specific needs, the proper business intelligence software allows for more educated decision-making. Carefully consider options and invest money to help the company reach new heights. 

Top Business Intelligence Tools for Data Analysis

Today, you can choose from various business intelligence (BI) technologies. Among the many sites that compiled lists of the finest BI tools, these were the five most frequently mentioned. 

Power BI

This cloud-based tool belongs to the Microsoft ecosystem and allows users to interact with spreadsheets, databases, and cloud-based applications for real-time data analysis and reporting. Furthermore, it is mobile-optimized so that users can access and analyze data anywhere.

Tableau

Organizations of all sizes widely use the Tableau platform. The platform allows companies to extract data from various sources, including spreadsheets, databases, and cloud-based applications. The most prominent feature is its simple, drag-and-drop interface, making it feasible for anyone to gain insights without extensive programming or technical knowledge.

QlikView

In the field of top business intelligence tools, QlikView is considered a leading player with impressive output results. This tool is renowned for its advanced data security and accuracy options, making it a favorite among analysts and businesses. To meet the needs of its users, it offers both simple reporting and complex analytics platforms with external data feeds.

Among its many offerings, QlikView is one of the standout products that provides self-service solutions. Using drag-and-drop methodology, this intuitive tool helps users to create engaging and informative visualizations.

Sisense

With Sisense, businesses can perform all stages of data analysis, from database and ETL to analytics and visualization. This business intelligence software uses an In-Chip database engine faster than traditional in-memory systems. Aside from its powerful engine, the latest version of Sisense includes machine-learning capabilities that enable users to uncover hidden insights and make better data-driven decisions.

In addition, Sisense provides users with the option of fully customized services with white-label analytics, making it ideal for companies seeking tailored solutions. There is also an easy integration feature with web applications, making the software accessible to internal and external users.

Yellowfin

With Yellowfin, firms can access BI tools and complete data analysis solutions in one place. This business intelligence platform provides robust cloud-based BI tools for making sense of complex data sets through powerful visualizations, machine learning, and collaboration capabilities.

Additionally, the platform’s flexibility and accessibility make it easy to filter through large amounts of data using intuitive checkboxes and radio buttons. It also makes dashboards accessible from mobile devices and web pages. One of Yellowfin’s prominent features is its no-code/low-code development environment. This approach allows dashboards to be developed quickly and easily without extensive programming experience.

Ready to Level Up Data Initiatives? 

Business intelligence technologies like those described here radically alter data analytics in several sectors. There are advantages and disadvantages to using any of these platforms. Which option is best for your circumstances is up to you.  

Brickclay equips clients with the resources to transform raw data into actionable knowledge to inform crucial business decisions. Our customers have access to robust tools that allow them to efficiently mine data for insights about the state of the business and the nature of any difficulties it may be encountering.  

Contact us to know how Brickclay can improve the company’s data initiatives.