Due to enormous amounts of data, controlling all business processes becomes increasingly challenging with time. Many organizations use various professional and modern business tools to overcome these challenges. We call them business intelligence or BI tools.
BI tools help business owners and businesspeople to maintain the dataset in an organized way. Business intelligence tools collect tons of data from varying external and internal sources, such as documents, books, emails, files, images, etc., and organize them accordingly. Nevertheless, many BI tools are available online, making it difficult for users to choose the right one.
So if you are also confused about the same, we recommend reading this guide thoroughly. In this guide, we will list the best BI tools available in 2023.
Best BI Tools in 2023 [Updated]
Let’s divide this section into multiple parts that include various tools to fulfill different types of requirements.
Visualization and Data Discovery Tools
1. Tableau
Tableau is a pioneer in data visualization and discovery through which you can share, visualize and analyze data without IT intervention. This tool supports multiple data sources, including Salesforce, Google Analytics, MS SQL, Oracle, and MS Excel.
It provides several standalone products, such as Tableau Server and Tableau Desktop, and you can also run them locally. It has an easy-to-use and independently owned BI system. This BI tool contains an in-memory architecture that supports data visualization and data exploration.
2. QlikView
QlikView is developed by Qlik that focuses explicitly on dashboards, guided analytics applications, and rapid development.
Since QlikView is a tool built on a collaborative engine, it eliminates the risk of inaccurate results and data loss and allows for data discovery without using query-based tools.
This makes it possible to gain ad-hoc new insights into company data and view it from different angles. QlikView also provides guided analytics and dashboards to highlight the data exploration process visually.
3. QlikSense
QlikSense, another BI product of Qlik, is a complete business intelligence and data analytics platform. You can use this tool on any device. Its user-interface touch screen makes it a popular BI tool.
Its high-performing cloud platform, sophisticated AI, and collaborative analytics engine make it even more attractive. This platform mainly comes in 3 versions:
- Qlik Sense Desktop: This is a free Windows application to generate reports and perform personalized visualizations.
- Sense Enterprise: This version is used for organizational purposes.
- Qlik Sense Cloud: This is a cloud-based tool.
4. Datapine
Datapine enables data from different sources to be integrated and analyzed in advance. This tool is excellent for businesses of all sizes and can be used across many platforms, functions, and industries.
The popular BI tool allows users to generate customized or standard reports by creating powerful business dashboards and including intelligent alerts to let you know of targets and discrepancies. This tool alerts you with pattern recognition technology, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
5. Sisense
Sisense is an end-to-end proprietary BI tool that is simple to use and helpful for beginners. It allows the management of complex and large datasets within the user’s organization and analyzing the data with no IT department involved.
The Sisense platform aggregates data from Salesforce, Google Analytics, and AdWords. In-chip technology makes this tool faster than its competitors. Sisense includes data visualization, ad-hoc reports and ad-hoc queries, ad-hoc analysis, and so on.
6. Board
Rated 4.4 on G2Crowd and 4.5 in Capterra, Board is primarily set up for performance tracking and business planning. It combines a self-service approach with enterprise-wide data governance, running effective analytics and creating dashboards, and helps in generating a unique report.
Its multi-dimensional analysis and ad-hoc inquiries help in making strong business decisions. Board has many features like drill-through, drill-down, and data visualization functionality.
Database Integrated Based Tools
1) SAP Business Objects
SAP Business Objects is a proprietary business intelligence platform that shares BI information across the organization. It provides users with Office integration with PowerPoint and Excel, where they can create hybrid analytics and live presentations.
The BI tool focuses on multiple business categories, such as Digital Supply Chain, People Engagement, HR, Digital Core and ERP, Customer Experience, and CRM.
SAP BO simplifies the consumption of information by speeding up the decision-making process. It helps improve user autonomy by allowing access to and exposing business data.
2) Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a proprietary tool that provides integration services and works with analytical data using specific applications.
It is a free and open-source business intelligence platform that organizes aggregated data into an organized visual format. The platform is mainly based on 3 pillar components, which are as follows.
- Database: To bring all the data to one place.
- Dashboard: Mainly, it represents visual data analytics.
- Reports: Contains multiple pages of visualizations with data analytics organized as graphs and charts.
Microsoft Power BI offers three primary services: Master Data Services, Reporting Services, and Analysis Services. Moreover, it provides interactive reports with the help of reporting services that run on PowerPivot.
3) Oracle Business Intelligence
Oracle Business Intelligence is an open-source BI tool to deliver online analytical processing, ad-hoc query analysis, reporting, and so on. This tool is well known for providing accurate and in-depth information to users.
It is a business tool that offers information discovery as a complete solution for agile data discovery. Oracle BI allows users to access information in several ways, such as through applications and in a collaborative workplace. This business intelligence tool provides quick access to non-traditional data and traditional data analysis.
4) Dundas BI
Dundas BI Tool makes the entire analytics process more simple and more flexible with the help of visual analytics, reports, and interactive dashboards.
After several developments in the visualization industry, Dundas BI was transformed into an end-to-end analytics platform in 2015. This updated version provides data discovery, ad-hoc queries, and report generation at every level. It also provides data analysis and data visualization.
Dundas BI provides the facility to view, share and create dashboards through mobile via HTML5. The mobile version of this tool is like its desktop version, and users do not need to download an app separately.
Enterprise Business Intelligence Based Tools
1. SAS Business Intelligence
SAS Business Intelligence offers a range of technologies and products for optimization modelers, forecast analysts, data engineers, text analysts, data scientists, etc.
Its text analytics enable users to gain insight into text data from location analytics and social media and combine it in a geographic context. This tool provides a high-quality connection between end users and various data sources.
2. Zoho Analytics
Zoho Analytics is a tool that offers self-service analytics. This tool grants permission to the users to create insightful dashboards through which they can easily visually analyze the data.
It has a powerful AI assistant that enables users to ask questions and receive meaningful responses. Zoho Analytics has 100+ readymade connectors available for popular databases, cloud drives, and business apps. Furthermore, this tool provides white label solutions for Analytics/BI portals and embedded analytics.
3. IBM Cognos Analytics
Cognos Analytics is an integrated BI suite that is web-based and developed by IBM. It is an AI-fueled BI platform supporting the entire analytics cycle.
One of the great advantages of AI is its ability to uncover hidden patterns. This tool lets you analyze, share, and visualize insights from data, from discovery to operations with your colleagues and co-workers.
This BI tool generates offline and online reports and offers complete data governance and cloud support. Users can create their dashboards and access the information anywhere they want because it comes with desktop and mobile apps.
4. MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy is a free proprietary tool that delivers data-driven solutions for every business query. It is an enterprise business intelligence tool providing powerful data analytics and dashboarding, hyperintelligence, and cloud solutions.
This tool has free (for personal use) and paid (for professional use) versions. MicroStrategy enhances the productivity and cost-efficiency of the business as well as facilitates cloud support through Amazon Web Services.
5. Infor Birst
Birst is a proprietary, free SAAS-based business intelligence platform that combines reporting, analysis, and data discovery capabilities. It is a business intelligence and cloud-based platform for users to optimize and understand complex processes.
Based on learning technologies and comprehensive automation, this end-to-end BI solution comes with a reporting and visualization platform and data warehouse capabilities. This tool can integrate data across several systems and automate data warehouses.
Niche and Innovative Tools
1) Yellowfin BI
Yellowfin BI is an end-to-end analytics tool that combines machine learning, visualization, and collaboration. This tool supports the business decision-making process and is a responsive and agile reporting solution.
It leverages user insights through interactive reports and data-rich presentations. You can create insights into this tool through simple scripts, which can be embedded and uploaded to share with collaborators.
2) Jaspersoft
Jaspersoft is an open-source commercial business intelligence tool that provides interactive analytics for end users. This tool helps various users across the world to make better business decisions.
The popular BI tool delivers business intelligence solutions comprehensively, cost-effectively, and flexibly. It enables better decision-making with the help of analytics, dashboards, interactive web-based reports, etc.
Besides extreme versatility, this tool can be integrated into any mobile application and device to access it from anywhere.
3) Style Intelligence
Style Intelligence is an open-source and free BI platform developed by InetSoft. This data intelligence platform is a type of data mashup software that allows flexible and rapid data transformation from disparate sources.
The BI software connects multi-dimensional and relational databases and helps in data exploration. It incorporates a data block architecture to support real-time data mashups.
Additional Business Intelligence Tools
1. Domo
Domo is a proprietary cloud-based platform along with being an on-premises BI. It provides macro and micro-level analysis to forecast revenue.
Large MNCs and small companies use this BI tool and support quick access to company data and interactive data visualizations. This tool can integrate with a wide variety of data sources, such as spreadsheets and databases.
2. Looker
Looker is a data discovery software tool that provides a platform for making effective business decisions and accessing real-time data.
It is an excellent tool for enterprise-grade businesses or midsize businesses and startups. Looker contains various features, including reliable support, powerful collaboration tools, and easy visualization.
3. Datadog
Datadog is an advanced analytics tool that offers cloud monitoring as a service. It is a great tool that allows users to compare business metrics with infrastructure metrics in real time.
In addition to collecting app-based business metrics, Datadog enables users to view performance data from applications.
4. Splunk
Splunk is the Google for machine-generated data. It is not just a tool but an entire ecosystem of business intelligence tools. Splunk is used for monitoring and searching through big data.
It helps to index and correlate information for making it searchable. Splunk also enables generating alerts, reports, and visualizations.
Check out: Datadog vs Splunk
A Quick Wrap
Adopting the latest technology in any business is something every organization needs to handle the data efficiently. There are various tools business owners can use to make their business tasks manageable.
This guide intends to provide a brief about the best BI tools that business owners can use. These tools guarantee high productivity, which will 100% benefit your business.
Hi! I am Shekhar, a professional web & mobile app developer with expertise in MEAN Stack, Next.js, React.js, and React Native. Being interested in working with different IT technologies, I always look forward to learning something new and challenging. Along with JavaScript, I also know several other programming languages, including Python and TypeScript.