Business Intelligence: 8 BI Tools You Need to Know

Reading Time:
11
min
Created in:
January 27, 2021
Updated:
4/19/2024

There are a plethora of business intelligence tools available on the market. Therefore, it is necessary to research and know each one of them to finally find the one capable of meeting the needs of your company.

To help you, we've selected 8 BI tools you need to know! This post brings a complete comparison with the most relevant aspects of each of them for the daily life of each user. Check!

What are business intelligence tools used for?

Business intelligence is the combination of processes, systems, and tools that work together to translate data into intuitive visualizations, such as smart dashboards, dashboards, and monitors.

Notebook with a screen exemplifying a smart panel, with several graphics of different formats, all with scales in shades of blue.
Notebook with on-screen panel exemplifying BI dashboard (Photo by Lukas Blazek/Unsplash).

The following stand out among the numerous benefits of BI tools:

  • Increased operational efficiency
  • the identification of potential trends and business opportunities
  • visualizing, monitoring, and optimizing KPIs - performance indicators

Learn more about 8 of the best business intelligence tools

Below, we have selected 8 complete and market-recognized tools that can be a good alternative to leverage your business's Data Driven Journey!

They are:

  1. Power BI
  2. Metabase
  3. Frame
  4. Qlik
  5. Google DataStudio
  6. Sisense
  7. Beautiful
  8. Mode Analysis

1. Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence tool.

It's one of the most cost-effective on this list, has excellent protection and governance protocols, and is the best option for those who work intensively with Excel. Their performance, however, tends to be less satisfactory on very large datasets.

2. Metabase

The great advantage of Metabase is that, even though it is ideal for beginner users, the platform is also one of the best tools for executing more complex queries, as it allows the use of the SQL language and the handling of the built-in notepad editor.

Plus, it's easy to handle and open-source, making it more accessible for businesses of all sizes. To top it all off, Metabase enables collaboration between multiple business teams, so different industries can ask questions and learn from the data.

3. Tableau

If you want great, easy-to-share reports, Tableau is your best choice.

This tool allows users to easily share analytics within their organization while maintaining tight control over access and permissions.

And because it's extremely focused on visual analytics, it's very easy for new users to use.

Despite the benefits, Tableau comes at a high cost, so it's not always the right choice for smaller companies or those with tight budgets.

4. Qlikview

Qlikview is an associative engine that enables data discovery without the need to use query tools. This decreases the risk of data loss and inaccurate results.

Qlikview's "associative exploration" feature is based on simple selection and search functions that can be entered by end users of all experience levels.

This makes it possible to view the company's relevant data from multiple angles and gain new insights easily.

5. Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is the ideal tool, especially for those who work with G Suite and other Google tools. After all, it has a native integration with the company's solutions. Thus, teams have more agility and practicality when integrating the software into their daily lives.

In addition, Google Data Studio is completely web-based. With this, it is possible to work collaboratively, through real-time visualizations and dashboards.

However, there is the limitation of downloading and sharing previews only in PDFs, plus the variety of graphics is not as extensive as other tools on this list.

6. Sisense

Aren't you and your team tech-savvy? Then, the Sisense BI tool may be the best choice for your company or department.

Considered one of the most user-friendly among those analyzed in this post, it allows the management of voluminous and complex data in a collaborative way. Thus, anyone in your organization can handle, analyze, and visualize business data, without the need for IT involvement.

7. Looker

Looker is a web-based business intelligence platform, which has LookML as its own programming language.

This tool is used to make SQL queries on the platform, a feature that is considered, at the same time, one of its greatest strengths and weaknesses. That's because, while it's a flexible and powerful data query language, it requires the contractor to have an IT or data team to access its full capabilities.

Another differentiator of Looker is that it operates primarily in the cloud, allowing data engineers to model and provide calculations for other applications, and it can also be used to build analytical applications from scratch.

8. Mode Analytics

Mode Analytics is a collaborative analytics platform used to make data-driven decisions.

It hosts a central repository of work and presents it to analysts in real-time, allowing them to resolve issues without the need to recreate work first.

One of the standout features of Mode Analytics is that it is easy to work collaboratively. You can allow the entire organization to explore and contribute to your reports by simply sharing the project link.

Invest in business intelligence

Business intelligence tools offer great rewards to businesses by enabling more cohesive, stable, agile, and predictable data management.

Now that you know some of the best BI platforms on the market, start exploring them to finally find the one that fits your company or department perfectly.

Do you need help implementing BI in your business? Count on Indicium. Get in touch today by clicking here!

Tags:
Business intelligence

Bianca Santos

Redatora

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