15 Best Business Intelligence Tools for Small and Big Business in 2024

Small companies and large enterprises may have their fair share of differences, but there’s one thing they have in common: the need for actionable insights to improve their business, especially in times of unprecedented crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, business intelligence software tools are more accessible and flexible today. With these software solutions, companies of all sizes can now collect, analyze, and convert such data into understandable reports that can provide businesses with valuable insights, which in turn drive corporate profits.

However, with the plethora of BI tools on the market and the various ways that they are packaged, beginning the selection process can be quite confusing. In this article, we will take a look at the best business intelligence software for small and big businesses, as deemed by our experts, carefully assessing their features, functionalities, and pricing. This should make it easier for you to easily narrow down your options.

The onset of the coronavirus outbreak dragged both small and large businesses into uncertain circumstances. To address the challenges, businesses rely on data for insights to help them navigate the uncharted waters. Their methods of execution, however, reveal how businesses differ in the ways they use data analytics in their COVID-19 responses.

In a 2020 survey conducted by Sisense on more than 500 data experts, it is revealed that 68% of small businesses use analytics more than large organizations as they deal with the unprecedented changes brought by the pandemic. According to the same survey, small businesses accelerate data analytics to improve efficiency and customer support, as well as predict changes and outcomes as they strive for business continuity. Furthermore, using data analytics has led to the discovery of new use cases that highlight the advantages of cloud-based BI solutions, which increases the likelihood of businesses using on-premise systems to transition to cloud platforms.

Aside from new use cases, there are also new business intelligence trends, which help provide organizations with new capabilities. Data discovery, which used to be the turf of experts in advanced analytics, is now made easy using these platforms. This is accomplished through visual analytics, allowing decision-makers to access and immediately act on data. Perhaps one of the most important trends in BI solutions is their provision of mobile support and cloud deployment, allowing users to access and analyze information from any device.

Choosing the right BI solution, however, can also be a real challenge. To help you on your selection process, allow us to walk you through all the important aspects of each product, highlighting their unique strengths and features, pointing to specific applications, and discussing any drawbacks you should consider.

1. Sisense

BI software Sisense enables businesses to collate, analyze, and view data, which can be used in making sound business decisions and to come up with strategic plans. The tool aggregates all needed information into a single dashboard with its drag-and-drop functionality and provides you with a granular view of your data. Users can come up with reliable analysis using visual reports as a basis, making the process far easier and hassle-free. The platform’s interface is easy to use, allowing users to learn system navigation quickly.

In addition to these features, Sisense also offers intuitive data crunching for beginners, making it a good option for those who are new to using BI solutions. On the other hand, if you are looking for scalability, extensibility, and flexibility, don’t worry. It also comes with API-first approaches for developers. If you’d like to learn more about what Sisense has to offer, the vendor offers an excellent free demo so you can see for yourself the key features of their tool. If you want to investigate the features closely, be sure to try Sisense free demo.

Sisense

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Case study

It is these functionalities and more that led Magellan Vacations to adopt Sisense. It took the luxury hotel chain but a short time to get a grasp of the system’s benefits. Management was looking forward to using a system that provides real-time feedback to agents, yet intuitive enough for non-technical users to be able to run analytical processes and reporting. With their service being phone-based and highly personalized, and their database unstructured and often modified, management found traditional methods for tracking sales metrics and closure rates simply inapplicable. It was at that point that CEO Andrew Vignuzzi gave Sisense a chance.

Sisense was not Magellan Vacation’s first choice, but rather the system that saved them from hiring staff and reporting at the rate of $80,000 per year. Ever since they deployed it, they’ve been reclaiming time and cost-effectiveness in their IT department, touting Sisense as the most user-friendly system they ever used. They are now able to manipulate data on the fly, provide real-time feedback to their agents, and coach and counsel them in line with the company’s goals. Better yet, they drill deep into the performance of each agent and department, share insights in a snap, and prepare custom reports instead of sticking to any inapplicable approach.

What is unique about Sisense?

1. In-Chip Engine and Proprietary technology. Running ad hoc queries and receiving answers on the dot (no need to prepare data whenever a new question arises).
2. Single-Stack Architecture. A single tool that helps you collect, prepare, organize, and analyze data
3. Optimal Use of Computational Resources. No need to hire professional analysts, maintain complex hardware, or make excess IT investments
4. Consolidation of Charts from Multiple Sources. Sisense’s unique power is that it automatically recognizes and brings together charts and tables from different data sources, and then combines the data contained in them without you preparing it.
5. Minimal TOC. The platform requires no DBA and manual mashups, and there are no special scripts to learn. You will also skip investing in data warehouses and professional maintenance services, as all data analysis operations are conducted in the same system.

2. Wyn Enterprise

Browser-based report designer Wyn Enterprise is a powerful enterprise business intelligence software designed to help businesses create intricate reports and dashboards. The platform offers out-of-the-box BI functionalities, including self-service BI, multisource data integration, data visualization, data reporting, and online document designing. These tools work in unison to streamline data modeling, data governance, schedule distribution, and data federation.

You can integrate Wyn Enterprise capability into your software products to reel in data from multiple formats like CSV, JSON, Excel, ODBC, OData, and more. Moreover, Wyn Enterprise provides a user-friendly interface that enables both technical and nontechnical users to capitalize on data opportunities with ease. You can use Wyn Enterprise free trial and get to know the features firsthand at no cost and without commitment.

Wyn Enterprise

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Generally, Wyn Enterprise comprises three portals, namely the admin, document, and the resource portals. The admin portal helps administrators configure the server and manage account settings, whereas the document portal is primarily designed for end-users. On the other hand, the resource portal helps IT teams and administrators glean data through the server and manage the accessibility of data.

What is unique about Wyn Enterprise?

1. Easy to use. One aspect that makes Wyn Enterprise stand out amongst other BI tools is its ease of use. The platform allows users to create reports and dashboards with unprecedented ease since no coding is required.
2. Multidata source integration. In addition to supporting multiple formats of data, the software allows users to pull different data types such as cloud data, database, program data, and locally stored file data.
3. Customizable user interface. Also, the Wyn Enterprise dashboard can be customized to match your existing business branding. You can change things such as themes, titles, UI elements, logos, and URLs to make the solution look like your web application.
4. WynDashboards. Most importantly, Wyn Enterprise provides user-friendly dashboards that display data analysis in a visually appealing manner. The dashboards also include filters, cross-filtering, a designer integrated viewer, auto fresh, and other powerful data visualization features.
5. Support different types of charts. Moreover, Wyn Enterprise supports a spectrum of chart types, including polar, combined, radar, specialized, and statistical charts.

3. Zoho Analytics

Next on our list is data analytics platform Zoho Analytics. As part of the Zoho productivity suite, this software packs several robust tools that are easy to use, highly configurable, and easily extensible. It allows you to streamline the aggregation of data from multiple sources, speeds up the generation of reports, as well as simplifies the visualization of data for presentations. Moreover, it has REST API capabilities that allow it to integrate with a multitude of third-party systems so that you can collect data from your existing software solutions automatically.

Another thing that makes Zoho Analytics a good business intelligence tool for both small and large companies is that it has a scalable interface. With this, it is easier for you to process data no matter how extensive or limited your datasets may be. Also, it has collaborative workspaces that can support teams with as little as 2 members to as big as 50 members in case you need to discuss data analytics reports. To learn more about this platform, be sure to check Zoho Analytics free trial.

Zoho Analytics

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Case Study

A rewards and recognition company, nCentrix provides businesses with bespoke strategies that help them reinforce brand loyalty and drive growth for their company. However, they were having trouble meeting the demands of customers in terms of advanced reporting and database management. As a small business, they don’t have the financial capability to employ professionals solely for this task, so, as a compromise, they looked for reporting software that can offer quality insights instead. This was when they stumbled upon Zoho Analytics.

With Zoho Analytics, they were able to compile datasets, set up dashboards, and publish reports within the day they started using the platform. They started becoming more responsive to clients’ needs, all while cutting off 20 hours per week on the time they spend on data analysis. Moreover, they were able to grow clients’ businesses by at least 30%.

What is unique about Zoho Analytics?

1. Streamlined Data Gathering. Zoho Analytics allows you to sync and import data into the system easily. It accesses various on-premise databases, cloud storage platforms, and other applications. After this, it also formats them and deletes duplicates automatically.
2. Chart Creation Made Easy. Create charts and graphs without the need for spreadsheets or separate systems using Zoho Analytics. All you have to do is choose the reports you want to visualize and adjust their formats using drag-and-drop navigation, and you’re ready to publish.
3. Robust Visualizations. Zoho Analytics comes with a plethora of formats for static and interactive charts and graphs. With this, you can easily come up with presentations and reports according to the requirements of your company or the preferences of stakeholders.
4. Built-In Collaboration Tools. Using this platform, you get access to collaborative workspaces with built-in communication options. This feature lets you share reports easily as well as discuss your data in a secure environment.
5. Open API Capabilities. Users can extend the capabilities of the Zoho Analytics platform using its open API tool. This lets you integrate the system with your existing applications so that you no longer need to jump from software to software to handle operations. Moreover, this makes it easier to collect and sync data for you.

4. Sigma Computing

Sigma Computing is a cloud-native analytics platform that enables customers to explore, examine, and gain insights from their data. By using a familiar spreadsheet interface, Sigma Computing gives users instant access to explore data and collect insights. Business users can quickly make data-driven decisions using its user-friendly interface and self-service features.

This business intelligence and analytics platform can link to various data sources, such as databases, cloud storage, spreadsheets, and more. Users can access and merge data from different systems using this capability, which eliminates the need for manual data extraction and consolidation. Sigma Computing enables users to develop a comprehensive understanding of their business operations by offering a unified perspective of data.

Sigma Computing

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What is unique about Sigma Computing?

1. Intuitive interface. Sigma Computing has a user-friendly interface that is comparable to an intuitive spreadsheet, making it simple to use and available to corporate customers of various technical proficiency levels. Without extensive training or coding experience, users can quickly become proficient in using the platform’s features.
2. Self-service analytics. Business users can execute self-service analytics using Sigma Computing without substantially depending on IT or data teams. They are able to independently examine and interpret data, enabling them to quickly reach data-driven judgments.
3. Data connectivity. Databases, cloud storage, spreadsheets, and other sources of data are all easily accessible through the platform. This gives users the ability to aggregate data from several systems, giving them a complete picture of their business activities.
4. Data visualization tools. Powerful data exploration and visualization tools are available from Sigma Computing. Users have the ability to explore their data, dive down to specifics, and build interactive visualizations like dashboards and charts. This makes it possible for users to find insights, recognize trends, and effectively communicate findings.
5. Real-time collaboration. Collaboration is yet another area in which Sigma Computing excels. By enabling users to share analytics, dashboards, and reports with team members, the platform promotes cooperation. The usage of real-time collaboration tools promotes teamwork and knowledge sharing by allowing numerous users to work on the same analysis at once and to interact with one another via live chat, comments, or notes.

5. BigID

Data intelligence platform BigID landed a spot on our list because of its ability to analyze company data for large enterprises. It combines tools for data discovery, governance, privacy, and security in one convenient platform for easier data management. Moreover, it comes equipped with tools such as data classification, compliance management, asset inventory, risk management, and breach investigation. It also automates privacy impact assessments, data subject access requests, and records of processing activities, among others.

What is unique about BigID?

1. Powerful Analysis Tools. This platform uses patented graph technology to find connections between your data and help you manage them accurately. It also leverages machine learning and natural language processing for its engine. This way, you can automate data intelligence and get data-driven insights faster than ever.
2. Robust Data Privacy and Security. The platform is equipped with data rights automation, privacy preference options, RoPA and PIA compliance, risk management, and breach response. With these at your disposal, you can ensure that everything in your database is safe and sound at all times.
3. Comprehensive Compliance Management. It supports thousands of data retention policies. Whether you need to adhere to the GDPR, HIPAA, OSHA, or other similar regulations, this platform can help you stay up to date.
4. Simplified Data Sourcing. BigID can connect with your existing business systems regardless of where they are deployed so you can consolidate all of your data in a single platform. Plus, it uses machine learning to ensure that no duplicates are copied, making data cataloging and tagging much faster.
5. Flexible Deployment Options. BigID can run on on-premise, cloud, and hybrid data environments. This way, you can conveniently deploy the system depending on the requirements of your business operations.

6. Qualtrics Research Core

Cloud-based research software Qualtrics Research Core is a powerful solution designed for small to large-sized businesses. It’s a reliable online survey solution that is built to empower brand and marketing researchers across a wide range of verticals, including retail, media, automotive, B2B, travel, and hospitality. Boasting features like project management, multi-channel survey distribution, real-time analysis, and reporting, the platform streamlines online surveys and makes it easy to track customer engagement.

Being a trailblazer in enterprise survey technology, Qualtrics Research Core is easy to use, yet incredibly powerful. The platform outshines its peers in this category, thanks to its ability to help users create surveys in minutes. Not just that, Qualtrics Research Core facilitates the distribution of online surveys via multiple channels. Even better, it simplifies the analysis and visualization of data within a flexible research module. This way, it enables organizations to derive actionable insights that drive business growth, change, and momentum. If you want to investigate the features closely, you can easily do so using the Qualtrics Research Core free trial.

Case Study

Under Armour knew that venturing into the sports apparel and shoe market was a tall order. The company was well-aware that with companies like Nike running the show, only high-performing products would help knock the behemoths off the perch.

Necessity — hailed as the mother of invention — prompted Under Armour to look for options to carve a niche in the competitive market. Upon rigorous scrutiny, the firm realized that the best weapon to take the giants head-on was concealed in experience data from target customers. As such, they needed powerful BI software to gather data that would later be analyzed to deliver actionable insights. This was when they turned to Qualtrics Research Core to streamline their product testing program.

With the platform’s powerful survey tools, Under Armour broke the technology barriers that hindered impactful product testing. Consequently, with a shortened feedback loop, Under Armour scaled its product testing program and went from 100 testers to more than 10,000 testers. The best part is that the Qualtrics platform simplified product testing, making it easy for employees to ship the product to testers/performance athletes and receive real-time feedback within days.

What is unique about Qualtrics Research Core?

1. Customizable survey templates. What sets Qualtrics Research Core apart from other BI tools is the availability of customizable survey templates. Marketers can tailor the survey templates based on customer location or purchase history to run targeted campaigns.
2. Powerful integrations. Besides, the solution integrates with the popular systems that a business utilizes, including Zapier, Tableau, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Zendesk, Marketo, Freshdesk, ServiceNow, HubSpot, and Slack.
3. Multichannel survey distribution. Creating online surveys is one thing; getting them to reach the target audience is another. Fortunately, Qualtrics Research Core helps you handle both processes more effectively. With the platform’s support for multichannel survey distribution, it helps relay survey questions to your audience to collect the required information.
4. Simulation tool. Even better, Qualtrics Research Core comes with a powerful simulation tool that streamlines product configuration and pricing analysis.
5. Easy to collect data. Most importantly, Qualtrics Research Core shortens the feedback loop allowing businesses to gather data using the channels that respondents prefer.

7. ActiveBatch

IT automation software ActiveBatch is a powerful solution renowned for its ability to streamline workflows. The platform helps users address the complexity of IT environments while ensuring the reliability of workflows and business processes. Most importantly, ActiveBatch provides alerting, workflow monitoring tools, and advanced real-time insights that give users peace of mind.

ActiveBatch may primarily be designed to automate IT workflows, but it’s difficult to discount its business intelligence and analytics capabilities. Some of the notable ActiveBatch features include template reporting, SLA monitoring, Gannt views, custom reporting, and powerful business intelligence tools. You can leverage ActiveBatch free trial to learn more about the product’s capability.

The insights and analytics modules provide tools that enable businesses to derive actionable insights from systems, applications, and databases. Also, ActiveBatch comes with a robust workflow monitoring and alerting module. The module triggers notifications when the stipulated conditions are raised, enabling users to identify and resolve process bottlenecks.

What is unique about ActiveBatch?

1. Powerful reporting and business intelligence capability. ActiveBatch provides a host of reporting tools that enable businesses to process data and relay information to the end-user in easy-to-interpret formats. The dynamic visualizations of the system’s health and performance metrics facilitate improved decision making.
2. Comprehensive machine load view. Additionally, the platform offers clear visual heat maps that enable users to analyze system usage and prioritize resources based on workload demand.
3. Gantt views. Moreover, with the Gantt views, you can easily see the status of each workflow in its environment. You can tell what is executed, what is currently being executed, and what’s in the pipeline.
4. Template monitoring. Even better, ActiveBatch allows you to leverage the power of SQL queries thanks to the powerful template reporting. With this feature, you can gain a transparent, microscopic view into your job templates and other critical properties within your system.
5. SLA monitoring. Do you have critical workflows with strict deadlines and service level expectations? ActiveBatch can help you enforce policies and monitor progress in real-time to ensure the fulfillment of SLAs.

8. Salesforce Analytics Cloud

Business intelligence platform Salesforce Analytics Cloud offers powerful features to help mid-sized and large businesses efficiently handle large amounts of data. The software comes with built-in connectors for integrating data from a wide range of sources, including database services such as Microsoft Azure SQL Database and data warehouses such as Amazon Redshift and Google BigQuery. Once data from all these sources is imported into the system, Salesforce Analytics Cloud automates data discovery and allows more efficient data visualization.

Moreover, the platform makes it easier for managers and business owners to track business performance. Users can build Analytics dashboards to monitor key business metrics in real time and create interactive charts and tables. The system can also automatically create dashboards based on traditional and smart templates, including summary dashboards, time series, and performance summary. Users can also create interactive widgets that allow for data filtering for more detailed analysis.

What is unique about Salesforce Analytics Cloud?

1. Easy creation of live dashboards. The software makes it easy for users to create live, interactive dashboards to track key business metrics.
2. Smart and traditional dashboard templates. It comes with a wide variety of templates that automate dashboard creation; all users have to do is input data.
3. More efficient data exploration. Users can also create apps that focus on a combination of specific datasets, dashboards, and lenses, so users can drill down into data when needed.
4. Data analytics through Einstein Discovery. Einstein Discovery features allow users to discover relationships among various data variables and make data-based predictions.
5. Built-in tools for dashboard annotation and sharing. Dashboards can be annotated and datasets can be shared through links or Chatter.

9. Board

Board is a comprehensive cloud-based business intelligence and corporate performance management solution. It comes with robust business intelligence capabilities, including data discovery, data gathering, as well as self-service analytics, simulation, fully customizable reporting, and many others. What gives Board an edge over other software solutions of its kind is its versatility. It is designed to accommodate the needs and requirements of medium top large enterprises across different industries, such as healthcare, nonprofit, automotive, professional and financial services, construction, legal, and more.

One of Board’s standout features is its powerful automation that users can incorporate in various stages of relevant processes to enhance efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. Moreover, Board comes with a sophisticated toolkit that allows users to design and create predictive and data mining models from scratch. The same toolkit is also used in building and updating databases, simulation applications, and others.

Board’s integration with MS Office has proven to be invaluable for users who prefer using Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and PowerPoint without the need to manually transfer and update data from Board’s database. The integration with MS Office tools is also helpful when users have to work offline. In terms of usability, Board is easy to use and navigate without the need for technical assistance.

What is unique about Board?

1. It comes with a CPM solution. Board is not only a business intelligence platform, it is also a corporate performance management solution.
2. Revolutionary proprietary technology. This all-in-one business intelligence platform is based on Hybrid Bitwise Memory Pattern (HBMP), which is an in-memory proprietary technology. Board is also equipped with another proprietary software called Board BEAM, which is an advanced solution for automated predictive modeling. Board BEAM is also what powers the platform’s data simulation.
3. Industry agnostic. Board caters to all types of businesses from various industries.
4. User self-sufficient. Board provides users with an easy-to-use and interactive platform, as well as an extensive library of resource and training materials.
5. Codeless application building. Board gives its users the right tools to create their own applications, customize processes and automation, as well as design and build predictive models.

10. CXAIR Platform

Data discovery and analytics software CXAIR Platform is a robust, cloud-based BI solution tailored for healthcare, finance, and retail organizations. It is a reliable solution, allowing businesses to derive insights that drive change and spur business growth. Primarily, the CXAIR platform provides the tools that organizations need to consolidate information sets and connect data sets. Some of its salient features include self-service data preparation, data classification, contextual search, and visual analytics.

Unlike traditional BI suites that rely on OLAP and in-memory technology, the CXAIR platform leverages the Apache Lucene search engine system. With this powerful engine, the software gathers and turns unstructured, semistructured, and structured data into a single data view. This way, it provides a consolidated repository that businesses can use to generate accurate management reporting and actionable insights. You leverage the CXAIR Platform free trial to know more about its features.

Financial institutions looking to manage customer data, deliver compliance, or measure performance will marvel at CXAIR functionalities. Besides, healthcare businesses that are plagued by regulatory compliance issues, procurement problems, and fraudulent transactions can use this solution to wipe out these problems.

Case Study

ResMed is a global company renowned for developing, manufacturing, and marketing medical (Sleep-Disorder Breathing) products. The firm had recently installed Dynamics NAV, Microsoft’s ERP solution, but apparently, the solution wasn’t self-sufficient. For example, the software didn’t offer access to update financial information reports, besides other drawbacks.

The firm wanted an easy-to-use tool that would help users of different skill levels to generate reports and run ad-hoc inquiries. Moreover, ResMed was in search of a solution to help pull in critical operational data from numerous 3rd party systems and consolidate them into a single repository. After numerous failed attempts to find the perfect solution, the firm stumbled upon the CXAIR Platform.

With the CXAIR Platform, ResMed was able to pull in financial reports from Dynamics NAV without impacting the front-end ERP system. Even better, the solution integrated seamlessly with the underlying 3rd party solution, allowing the firm to connect operational data into a single, consistent reporting environment.

What is unique about the CXAIR Platform?

1. Self-service data preparation. The CXAIR Platform offers an intuitive, self-service interface that’s easy to use for all users — technical and non-technical.
2. Apache Lucene search engine. Besides, the platform doesn’t use traditional in-memory and OLAP technology. Instead, it utilizes the Lucene search engine to combine data sets, simple or complex, into an easily searchable directory.
3. Numerous data visualizations. The best part is that the CXAIR Platform provides thousands of data visualizations, allowing users to view and share insights their way.
4. It’s cost-effective. Better still, with the self-service interface, the CXAIR Platform helps businesses sidestep the cost of hiring data scientists to visualize and interpret data.
5. Easy to use. Even better, the CXAIR Platform is an easy to use BI solution that often involves a flat learning curve.

11. Looker

Data discovery app Looker also made it to our best business intelligence tools list for its intuitive data exploration approach. It has a web-based interface that can be used to exploit the expertise of companies’ analytics teams. Using the system, teams can build and share reports in an instant, helping their organizations use data to boost business decisions and actions.

Looker also lets users build their own analytic modules and design visualizations using a single code. Queries can be easily produced and optimized with the platform’s ML code. It can analyze both web-hosted and SQL data and can accommodate well over 25 data variations, including Vertica, Hive, and Google BigQuery. This piece of software has been helping companies boost customer satisfaction and convert site traffic into ecommerce data. To better appreciate this BI platform, be sure to try Looker free demo.

Case Study

It is because of the need for insightful intelligence that DonorsChoose.org was drawn to Looker. Back in the day, no one at the nonprofit could have foreseen the popularity that their organization is experiencing now or assume that maybe, someday, they’ll have to rely on operable intelligence to make a decision. Becoming aware of their own success story, executives also understood the need to make data publicly accessible and to obtain real-time data insights pulling in info from a variety of sources. The very same system that would respond to their needs was also the one that ought to take care of their complex partnerships and help them develop useful decision-making practices.

The insights Looker provided were astonishing: The non-profit recorded a 65% increase in lifetime giving for donors who’ve been sent ‘thank you’ cards upon donating and discovered that transferring reporting to an automated system saves as much as 400 hours of manual reporting a year. The organization was also able to prepare a poverty breakdown pie by the school and redirected 80% of projects toward helping low-income educational institutions. Meanwhile, they received 292,000 new requests for school supplies and 227,000 requests for technology, as they were able to depict and pinpoint the hottest trends in US education.

What is unique about Looker?

1. Workbook Analytics. Looker adopts your company’s unique business logic. Connect it to any of your relational databases (BigQuery or Redshift, for instance), and it will automatically generate a data model based on your schema.
2. LookML. Looker is best-known for developing an easier approach to data analytics, namely a brand new database query language called LookML. The language operates like a simplified version of SQL, which is reusable and modular, and thus, way easier to learn for first-time users.
3. Various Field Parameters. With Looker, you can define fields with several field parameters, including dimensions and dimension groups (manipulation-prone columns and tables), measures (alike aggregate SQL functions that provide row information), and templated filters (unique to the user, he/she can create new ones upon need).
4. Support for SQL Window Functions. Window functions are not-that-well-known SQL functions designed for users to rank customers based on specific behavior without adhering to complex self-joints and first-time variables, or even a series of hacks that may require them to transfer data to a third system.
5. 70% Trial-to-Win Rate. The possession of a modern exploration language and comparably easy adoption ensured Looker a trial-to-win rate of even 70%, compared to the 11% average measured for the SaaS industry in general.

12. Reveal

Innovative, self-service BI software Reveal fits the bill for SMBs and large enterprises. The platform enables users to analyze the available data and create stunning visualizations to drive data-driven decision-making. Besides, it enables independent software providers (ISVs) to add reporting, analytics, and data visualization capabilities to their app portfolio. This way, it empowers end-users to intuitively analyze and visualize data right inside their apps.

Additionally, Reveal is apt for businesses that want to leverage machine learning capabilities. With its robust machine learning features, it empowers users to pinpoint and visually display predictions from data. Even better, the platform enables users to create, view, modify and share different types of dashboards such as sales metrics, KPIs, and digital marketing dashboards. The vendor offers a comprehensive free trial to get you up to speed with the features.

Moreover, with powerful data connectors, it’s easy to pull data from various sources into Reveal. The best part is that pulling data from Azure SQL, Google Big Query, Azure Synapse, or AWS, takes a snap. What’s more, Reveal provides native SDKs for all Android, iOS, and desktop, to enable businesses to deliver superior app experience.

What’s unique about Reveal?

1. Data storytelling. Lastly, Reveal’s new visualizations allow you to add descriptive text to your dashboard. The best part is that it’s easy to rearrange or resize the text and place it on the visualization description or the overview.
2. Collaboration tools. Reveal features powerful collaboration tools that enable users to share visualizations and dashboards with team members and clients.
3. Modern architecture. Reveal is built on an innovative, modern architecture that streamlines embedded analytics implementation. As such, it offers native SDKs for all devices and robust APIs to aid the creation, rendering, and sharing of dashboards. Moreover, modern API design features unique multichannel distribution capabilities.
4. Exceptional mobile experience. Even better, Reveal is designed to be mobile-first, cloud-first, and developer first. This ensures that the application experience is native to the platform. For this reason, regardless of the platform, you are using, Reveal gives an exceptional app experience and modern UX.
5. Handles Locale-specific rendering. Reveal comes with localization built-in and a native language SDK documentation in multiple languages. This way, the software handles locale-specific rendering such as date, time, and numbers with unprecedented ease.

13. Yellowfin

Built for businesses of all sizes, analytics tool Yellowfin offers end-to-end business intelligence tools. With this, you can easily bridge critical information from different data sources and get real-time insights to better understand how your business is doing. It comes with highly configurable dashboards that help you get access to all the information you need without hassle. More importantly, it can alert users via notifications whenever it detects relevant changes in forecasts so that you can adjust your plans ahead of time.

Yellowfin also offers machine learning and automated insights, so digging through your data for answers is much faster. You can use all the features for free for a period of time to see if the software matches your needs.

Case Study

The difficulty of identifying discrepancies in processes was what pushed St.LukesHealth to look for a reliable business intelligence solution. They slowly realized that their workflow was no longer able to keep up with the demands of their clients. However, they were having trouble pinpointing the problems in their processes. This is when they first stumbled upon Yellowfin.

With the platform’s robust set of features, the company was soon able to find out what aspects of their processes are too time-consuming and which activities are putting a damper on productivity. St.LukesHealth was able to leverage automated reconciliation alongside its existing software ecosystem to find discrepancies in processes and resolve errors as quickly as possible. In fact, after rolling out the platform, they experienced 25% to 33% processing efficiency gains and reduced time-consuming processes that took up a whole afternoon to finish into tasks that only take half an hour or less.

What is unique about Yellowfin?

1. Real-time alerts for sales and trends. Be aware of sales trends and crucial changes to your forecasts via real-time alerts and notifications.
2. Collaborative business intelligence. This tool comes with collaborative BI tools that let you and your team members share insights throughout the organization. This also has features that let you distribute, export, and email any BI content to your stakeholders.
3. Data storytelling options. Yellowfin goes beyond static graphs, tables, and charts for data visualization. It allows users to create immersive and interactive presentations that accurately capture and highlight the important aspects of your collected data.
4. Custom Dashboards. All companies have different priorities, and they need access to different types of data to manage these priorities. This is why Yellowfin allows you to choose from different dashboard types, so you get access to the kinds of data you need.
5. Web API. Yellowfin can integrate with other applications, add-ons, and business systems. This allows you to streamline your workflow and source your data from your existing software solutions.

14. Periscope Data

Comprehensive BI system Periscope Data was created by Sisense to help users perform quick connection, analysis, and visualization of data. It’s capable of securely connecting data from all your sources and then transforms them into a single source of truth. The platform is equipped with a data engine that can perform fast queries, regardless of the scale and complexity of the workload it’s processing.

Advanced analytics can be executed together with BI reporting under a single platform. For data experts, it’s a fast and powerful solution. For other business professionals, it can be learned with little difficulty. There’s a drag-and-drop interface that can be used for making basic calculations and combinations, as well as sharing dashboards and making visualizations.

Insights can be communicated easily and in a more organized manner as you can choose from a big roster of visualization options within Periscope Data. These include maps, plots, charts, graphs, and more. Aside from presenting insights, you can also share them with your colleagues, partners, and clients. This can be done through direct linking or sending them via Slack or email.

What is unique about Periscope Data?

1. Multilingual Support. The platform allows you to prepare datasets, create visualizations, and perform analysis on the language of your choice as it supports Python, R, and SQL.
2. Single Source of Truth. All data, regardless of where they came from, are available in one central location where they are kept and version controlled.
3. Rich Data Visualizations. There are a lot of options to choose from when it comes to visualization, such as gauge chart, cohort grid, box plot, maps, waterfall, and more. You can even create your own.
4. Insight Sharing. Data can be safely shared throughout the entire organization across various channels. They can be shared with clients as well, thanks to direct linking and email and website embedding.
5. Cloud Security. Periscope Data sits under a cloud infrastructure that follows the best security standards and practices. It’s also brimming with safety measures like data encryption and disaster recovery.

15. datapine

BI and data visualization solution datapine connects all your data sources in a unified location and creates detailed visualizations to help businesses comprehend their data better. Its data integration capability makes it effortless for users to connect and analyze information across various sources, including CRM, ERP, various documents, and others. Even non-tech savvy users can fully take advantage of the software’s capabilities without experiencing a steep learning curve due to its drag-and-drop interface and a large selection of visual charts.

datapine comes equipped with modern data dashboards that help provide a clear picture of your goals, progress, and other information that can help you drive growth to your business. Thanks to its accessibility, all users can access pertinent information, display modern data dashboards, and create easily digestible data visualizations.

Case Study

Kreditech, an online consumer finance company, was having trouble centralizing their decision-making process. They had difficulty combining their internal and external data, and they noticed that their dependency on IT personnel for day-to-day analytics was putting a damper on their overall operational productivity. This was when they decided to take advantage of the functionalities that datapine has to offer.

Upon incorporating datapine into their arsenal of business systems, they were able to reduce the time spent on reporting and analytics by 40 hours per week. They were also able to collect KPIs within minutes without the need for IT involvement. Moreover, the platform gave them real-time access to ad hoc analysis and reports, no matter what device they used, speeding up operations even more.

What is unique about datapine?

1. Centralized Data Management. datapine connects all data sources and stores them in a single location, making it easy for users to manage and access important information.
2. Data Visualization. You can create detailed visualizations on specific data without asking for the assistance of the IT department. It has a large selection of charts to choose from, allowing you to generate beautiful visualizations that are easy to digest and act upon.
3. Data Dashboards. Create professional dashboards that display layers of data you need to understand your current business standing and goals.
4. Drag-and-Drop Navigation. One of the biggest problems that beginners have with BI software is that it’s difficult to navigate. Moreover, they don’t have the technical expertise to use coding or programming languages to configure their reports. Luckily, datapine offers a drag-and-drop tool that will let you work your way through the program with ease.
5. Smart Alerts. You won’t always be staring at your BI dashboard when you’re at work. This is why datapine comes with smart alerts that will notify you whenever it detects certain anomalies in your data. By doing so, you can act on any issue promptly and prevent any problems later on.

Select the Best Business Intelligence Software for You

Business intelligence software can indeed help you optimize your operations and drive growth for your company, which can be challenging especially for small businesses amid the global pandemic. However, not all BI tools will be able to reinforce your existing processes or provide you with the specific tools that you need. This is why it is important to have a structured selection process to help you pinpoint which ones will work best for your operations.

To help you choose the right business intelligence solution, here are some questions that you should ask yourself as you browse:

What Features Do I Need?

The first thing you should check out is what kind of functionalities are included in the BI platform you are interested in. Chances are, it will provide you with the basics such as data consolidation, visualization, and archiving. Perhaps, it also offers customizable dashboards and comes with both static and interactive reporting options. In addition to these, you might want to look for some more advanced functionalities such as encryption options for securing data, smart alerts for ensuring that you get real-time notifications on significant trend changes, scheduled report generation for simplifying the preparation of recurring analysis, and predictive modeling for discovering possible trends before they even materialize. You might also want to check if your prospective software offers sharing options that will let you distribute your findings on different platforms.

Who Will Be Using the Software?

Next, determine who will be using the software. More often than not, these would be your in-house data analysts, IT experts, sales and marketing professionals, and managers. If it’s the first two, you’d easily get away with opting for developer-friendly platforms that use coding for customization as they have the technical expertise to handle it. Moreover, it gives them more control over the data collection and visualization process. However, your other employees might not have the same level of tech know-how. In this case, it is better to find tools with self-service BI options, drag-and-drop navigation, and no-code interfaces. By doing so, you reduce the learning curve for them and make the most out of your investment.

How Flexible Do I Need the Software to Be?

Lastly, you need to determine how adaptable you want your BI tool to be. Start with customization options. Do you want to be able to personalize visualizations and dashboard setups? Would you like to modify the types of reports that it will generate for you and program which reports should appear on your dashboard? If so, the vendor should tell you what kinds of visualizations you can choose from as well as the number of dashboard setups they have. After this, take a look at its system configuration. If you are looking for a platform that can grow alongside your business, you need to find one that offers ample or upgradeable storage space and is equipped with API capabilities. By doing so, you won’t have to worry about not being able to accommodate all of your data. Furthermore, you will be able to scale your software up or down, depending on the needs of your business.

To get a better idea of what you should be looking for in a BI platform, we also recommend that you take a look at our guide to what is BI software. With this, you will have all the data you need to make an informed decision.

So, there you have it, our 15 best business intelligence tools for small and big businesses and a short guide to choosing one. We highly recommend Sisense because of its sheer power, comprehensiveness, and it is scalable for users with different skill levels. In fact, we would suggest that you sign up for a Sisense free trial so that you can try it for yourself. However, if you think that this solution is not the right fit for you, don’t hesitate to check out any of the other solutions we mentioned.

By Chris Miller

Chris Miller is a senior customer service analyst at FinancesOnline. For more than 5 years now, he has witnessed and written about the tremendous impact of digital technologies that have deeply disrupted the customer service industry. The onset of chatbots and other AI/ML tech, omnichannel platforms, highly personalized service, the emerging blockchain methodologies specially created a deep impact, all of which are reflected in his writing. His reviews of customer service applications serve as invaluable resources for businesses of any size and scale.