With more data at our fingertips, it’s difficult to focus on the relevant information and present it in an actionable way. From sales executives to the C-suite, everyone wants to use data to their advantage. According to Sigma, 88% of executives feel the urgency to invest in big data. Business intelligence tools make it easier to gather the right data and visualize it in a manner that helps understand its meaning. Business intelligence (BI) deployment also brings additional value to the business in every vertical. BI tools provide insights from structured data for data-driven decisions. According to Google's Head of Marketing, Nic Smith, "BI is about providing the right data at the right time to the right people so that they can make the right decisions."
Selecting an accurate business intelligence tool is tough. With so many BI tools competing for attention, even the most tech-savvy can become paralyzed. To choose an appropriate tool for business intelligence, you must first understand the types of tools available. Here is a list of the five most commonly used types of business intelligence tools.
Types of Business Intelligence Tools
Many existing business intelligence techniques and tools share similar features. The way business intelligence is used to improve decision-making is unique to each implementation. The types of business intelligence tools are mentioned below:
Real-Time BI
In a real-time business intelligence tool, data is analyzed as soon as it is produced, gathered, and processed so that users can get an up-to-date view of company operations, consumer behavior, financial markets, and other areas.
Embedded BI
Embedded business intelligence tools integrate
BI and data visualization into business software. This allows business users to examine data within the systems that they use on a regular basis.
Mobile Business Intelligence
Mobile business intelligence makes BI apps and dashboards accessible on smartphones and tablets. Mobile BI tools are often developed keeping in mind the ease of use, which is more about displaying data than analyzing it.
Software-as-a-Service BI
SaaS BI tools are also known as cloud BI tools. They use vendor-hosted cloud computing platforms to provide customers with data analysis tools in the form of a subscription-based service.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Tools
One of the oldest BI technologies, the OLAP tool, helps users analyze data across multiple dimensions, specifically tailored to complex queries and calculations.
3 Industries That Have Benefited by Business Intelligence tools and Techniques
As
business intelligence technology advances, more BI tools will become available, resulting in broad use across industries. The industries listed below have established themselves and are now at par with companies that are already reaping benefits from BI tools on a regular basis.
E-commerce
E-commerce is one industry that has greatly benefited from business intelligence tools and techniques. To improve their supply chain, e-commerce giants like Amazon must constantly monitor and analyze data. Amazon, in particular, has a huge supply chain that involves 11 marketplaces and sells over 3 billion products.
Retail
Business intelligence is used by players in the retail industry to help them recognize and target potential consumers and strengthen their relations with existing customers. Retail businesses can use business intelligence tools to combine data from CRMs, ERPs, and other systems to get a comprehensive, and clear idea of their consumers.
Entertainment
Today, companies in the media and entertainment industries help you narrow down your search for TV shows, movies, music, and other media by making intelligent suggestions. Business intelligence is used by media streaming giants like Netflix and Spotify to generate a list of recommended movies, shows, and songs based on the customer's preferences and streaming history.
Top Business Intelligence Tools
Choosing the best business intelligence tools is a personal decision based on your company's requirements. Are you looking for a business intelligence tool that lets you make interactive data visualizations or a tool that lets you do in-depth financial
data analysis?
While each business's requirements are different and unique, there are several business intelligence tools that work well across a wide range of businesses and industries. Here we have made a list of business intelligence tools named in Gartner’s Magic Quadrants 2021.
Board
Board International is made up of three tools, which work together. They are business intelligence,
predictive analytics, and performance management.
Domo
Domo is a cloud-based platform that is easy to use and focuses on business-user-deployment dashboards.
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is one of the most popular BI tools available in the market. It’s easy for clients to use the Power BI app to analyze and visualize data from local or cloud sources, publishing their reports to the Power BI platform.
Oracle Analytics Cloud
Conversational analytics can be used in the Oracle analytics cloud to answer questions in natural language. It can also automatically generate natural language explanations to help people understand visualizations and trends.
SAS Visual Analytics
The SAS Visual Analytics tool aims to highlight critical correlations in datasets. In the new edition, there are automated suggestions for relevant factors, as well as visualizations and insights from natural language.
Conclusion
These business intelligence tools can help with a wide range of tasks inside a company. Off-the-shelf technologies necessarily focus on wide appeal instead of specialized features, since a single tool cannot accomplish all the task.
There are several types of BI tools available on the market; businesses can explore and test them before making a final choice on which one to incorporate. Business intelligence is a flexible and effective tool that can be used in almost every industry.
FAQ
Will BI systems integrate with existing systems?
Providers of business intelligence solutions understand the need to integrate data from many platforms. To connect directly with the existing systems and databases, they require a multitude of specialized drivers. Every new business intelligence system version adds to the list of accessible drivers.
Is there a need to modify existing IT systems to integrate them with BI tools?
The implementation of a BI system does not require the intervention of any existing systems. Some systems need more configuration to connect them to business intelligence tools.
What is the time frame required to implement a business intelligence system?
It depends on the scope of the project. Implementing business intelligence tools might take anywhere from a few weeks to several months. Many companies begin to see the benefits and decide to expand their system by adding new areas and features.