Are you thinking about implementing a business intelligence tool? Then you’ll be pleased to learn that you have numerous selections on the market. Business intelligence (BI) solutions help you discover trends and derive insights from your data, allowing you to make tactical and strategic business choices. They can also assist you uncover trends in the masses of data that your company generates.

But how can you know which business intelligence product is ideal for your organization? And what tools can assist you attain your online objectives?

You’re not the only one out there in search of such a solution. Many SMB businesses are hopping on the BI bandwagon, especially as the prevalence of big data continues to rise. In fact, according to Mordor Intelligence, the business intelligence industry is so popular that it is predicted to reach a value of 61.86 Billion USD by 2029.

For starters, data discovery, which was previously limited to the skill of advanced analytics specialists, is now something that anyone can perform using these tools. Not only that, but these technologies provide you with the information you need to reach goals such as growth, resolving pressing concerns, collecting all of your data in one place, forecasting future results, and much more.

In this post, we will explain the top 15 Business Intelligence tools in 2024, thereby putting you on the right track toward selecting a tool that is suited for your company.

1. SAP Business Objects

SAP Business Objects is a business intelligence software that offers comprehensive reporting, analysis, and interactive data visualization. The platform focuses heavily on categories such as Customer Experience (CX) and CRM, digital supply chain, ERP, and more. What’s really nice about this platform is the self-service, role-based dashboards it offers, enabling users to build their own dashboards and applications. SAP is a robust software intended for all roles (IT, end uses and management) and offers tons of functionalities in one platform. The complexity of the product, however, does drive up the price so be prepared for that.

2. MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is an enterprise business intelligence tool that offers powerful (and high speed) dashboarding and data analytics, cloud solutions and hyperintelligence. With this solution, users can identify trends, recognize new opportunities, improve productivity and more. Users can also connect to one or various sources, whether the incoming data is from a spreadsheet, cloud-based or enterprise data software. It can be accessed from your desktop or via mobile. Setup, however, can involve multiple parties and some rather extensive knowledge of the application in order to get started.

3. SAS Augmented Analytics & Business Intelligence

While SAS’ most popular offering is its advanced predictive analytics, it also provides a great business intelligence platform. This well-seasoned self-service tool, which was founded back in the 1970s, allows users to leverage data and metrics to make informed decisions about their business. Using their set of APIs, users are provided with lots of customization options, and SAS ensures high-level data integration and advanced analytics & reporting. They also have a great text analytics feature to give you more contextual insights into your data.

4. Yellowfin BI

Yellowfin BI is a business intelligence tool and ‘end-to-end’ analytics platform that combines visualization, machine learning, and collaboration. You can also easily filter through tons of data with intuitive filtering (e.g. checkboxes and radio buttons) as well as open up dashboards just about anywhere (thanks to this tool’s flexibility in accessibility (mobile, webpage, etc.). The nice thing about this BI tool is that you can easily take dashboards and visualizations to the next level using a no-code/low-code development environment.

5. QlikSense

A product of Qlik, QlikSense is a complete data analytics platform and business intelligence tool. You can use QlikSense from any device at any time. The user interface of QlikSense is optimized for touchscreen, which makes it a very popular BI tool. It offers a one-of-a-kind associative analytics engine, sophisticated AI and high performance cloud platform, making it all the more attractive. An interesting feature within this platform is its Search & Conversational Analytics which enables a faster and easier way to ask questions and discover new insights by way of natural language.

6. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is a great self-service BI tool for in-depth reporting and data analysis. This business intelligence tool has automatic data syncing and can be scheduled periodically. You can easily build a connector by using the integration APIs. Blend and merge data from different sources and create meaningful reports. With an easy editor, you create personalized reports and dashboards enabling you to zoom into the important details. It also offers a unique commenting section in the sharing options which is great for collaboration purposes.

7. Sisense

Sisense is a user-friendly data analytics and business intelligence tool that allows anyone within your organization to manage large and complex datasets as well as analyze and visualize this data without your IT department getting involved. It lets you bring together data from a wide variety of sources as well including Adwords, Google Analytics and Salesforce. Not to mention, because it uses in-chip technology, data is processed quite quickly compared to other tools. This platform is even recognized as a leading cloud analytics platform by various industry experts such as Gartner, G2 and Dresner.

8. Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a web-based business analytics tool suite which excels in data visualisation. It allows users to identify trends in real-time and has brand new connectors that allow you to up your game in campaigns. Because it’s web-based, Microsoft Power BI can be accessed from pretty much anywhere. This software also allows users to integrate their apps and deliver reports and real-time dashboards.

9. Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a free, web-based business intelligence tool that enables users to create interactive and customizable dashboards and reports. It integrates seamlessly with other Google services and various data sources, allowing users to visualize data in real-time. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface and sharing capabilities, Google Data Studio empowers users to collaborate and make data-driven decisions effortlessly. Its robust features and accessibility make it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes.

10. TIBCO Spotfire

TIBCO Spotfire is a powerful business intelligence and data visualization tool known for its advanced analytics capabilities. It enables users to quickly analyze complex data sets through interactive dashboards, visualizations, and predictive analytics. With features such as drag-and-drop functionality and extensive data connectivity options, Spotfire empowers users to gain insights and make data-driven decisions without relying heavily on IT support. Its robust platform supports real-time data analysis, making it suitable for a wide range of industries.

11. Clear Analytics

This is for all of the Excel-lovers out there…This BI tool is an intuitive Excel-based software that can be used by employees with even the most basic knowledge of Excel. What you get is a self-service Business Intelligence system that offers several BI features such as creating, automating, analyzing and visualization your company’s data. This solution also works with the aforementioned Microsoft Power BI, using Power Query and Power Pivot to clean and model different datasets.

12. Tableau

Tableau is a Business Intelligence tool specialized in data discovery and data visualization. With the software, you can easily analyze, visualize and share data, without IT having to intervene. Tableau supports multiple data sources such as MS Excel, Oracle, MS SQL, Google Analytics and SalesForce. Users will gain access to well-designed dashboards that are very easy to use. Additionally, Tableau also offers several standalone products including Tableau Desktop (for anyone) and Tableau Server (analytics for organizations), which can be run locally, Tableau Online (hosted analytics for organizations) and many more.

13. Oracle BI

Oracle BI is an enterprise portfolio of technology and applications for business intelligence. This technology gives users pretty much all business intelligence capabilities, such as dashboards, proactive intelligence, ad hoc, and more. Oracle is also great for companies who need to analyze large data volumes (from Oracle and non-Oracle sources) as it is a very robust solution. Additional key features include data archiving, versioning, a self-service portal and alerts/notifications.

14. Domo

Domo is a completely cloud-based business intelligence platform that integrates multiple data sources, including spreadsheets, databases and social media. Domo is used by both small companies and large multinationals. The platform offers micro and macro level visibility and analyses (including predictive analysis powered with Mr. Roboto, their AI engine). From cash balances and listings of your best selling products by region to calculations of the marketing return on investment (ROI) for each channel. The only setbacks with Domo are the difficulty in downloading analyses from the cloud for personal use and the steep learning curve.

15. IBM Cognos Analytics

IBM Cognos Analytics is an AI-fueled business intelligence platform that supports the entire analytics cycle. From discovery to operationalization, you can visualize, analyze and share actionable insights about your data with your colleagues. A great benefit of AI is that you are able to discover hidden patterns because the data is being interpreted and presented to you in a visualized report. Keep in mind, however, that it can take a while to get familiar with all of the features within this solution.

BI and Analytics Concepts

Business intelligence is a set of software and technologies that transform raw company data into visual reports or insights. BI solutions improve corporate decision-making, inform strategy, and provide direct analytical power to users throughout the firm.

Read Also: How to Choose the Right HR Software for Your Business

BI tools serve a variety of functions, ranging from the most technical components of a data mining operation to a manager’s simple desire to aggregate a cross-section of facts and generate an instructive chart.

Although designed for a generally nontechnical audience, nearly all BI software requires some degree of training for proficiency. Knowing which stakeholders will utilize a BI system, and understanding these users’ capabilities and needs, are critical steps when selecting BI software.

When reviewing an organization’s requirement for BI infrastructure and evaluating actual BI solutions, managers and users may come across phrases or concepts that, while familiar, require further description or context. Here are some important ones:

Business intelligence is the finding and transmission of insights or actionable information in company data. Managers use this data to improve corporate processes and make more informed decisions.

Analytics refers to the discovery and transmission of patterns and knowledge in data, which can be described using simple statistical tests or machine learning-powered predictions.

Other phrases that are important when selecting a BI or analytics tool:

• Big data may be the first phrase that comes to mind when one thinks of analytics or BI. It refers to the growing volume, variety, and velocity of data in the modern information age.
• Data mining is a subset of analytics concerning the discovery of patterns in very large data sets. It’s an older term, and it often is used to refer to any kind of large-scale data processing or analysis.
• Data structure refers to the way data is organized, managed, and stored.
  • Structured data is defined by a schema and often is stored as tabular data in relational databases.
  • Unstructured data is any collection of objects or documents, and may be stored in data lakes.
• A data warehouse stores enterprise data and makes it available for applications, users, and analytics. It contains both historical and current data. Data marts are smaller warehouses focused on individual business functions.
• A data lake is a pool of raw data, structured or unstructured, the purpose for which may not be defined until the data is needed.
• Extract, transform, and load (ETL) is the process of moving data from sources, modifying the data so that it suits the analytics uses for which it’s intended, ensuring the data is in a format supported by the destination, and then transferring the data to that destination.
  • Extract, load, transform (ELT) is a variation of this process that simplifies the data replication process by loading raw data without transformation. Once the data is in the destination, organizations can run any transformations needed.

Summary

To identify the best fit, anyone tasked with picking the most appropriate BI tool for their firm should consider both market research and product features, and match the applications with their business requirements.

The size and growth of an organization are also crucial considerations. For example, lightweight tools and software are less expensive and better suited to small businesses with limited data variety and volume to manage.

The use case is an important aspect. A logistics firm that wants to optimize routes and prevent driver churn would prioritize different BI elements than a digital marketing company that wants to source information or measure user engagement.

When it comes to training new users, a simple product with fewer capabilities may be easier to understand and less expensive. A more advanced tool may be useful if end users are anticipated to be knowledgeable about the software or analytics in general.