With so much business data, it might get tough for someone to interpret it, let alone hand it over to the right people so that they can put it to the correct use. Enter a business intelligence software that puts your data to efficient use.
By using its features you can make decisions based on your data rather than mere assumptions. In this post, we have enlisted some of the business intelligence and analytics tools that offer an interactive AI and a vast toolset with which you can analyze and grow your business.
| Top Software Reviews | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| 1.SAP Business Objects | ||
| 2.Microsoft Power BI | ||
| 3.Tableau Desktop | ||
| 4.Datapine | ||
| 5.Zoho Analytics | ||
| 6.Sisense | ||
| 7.IBM Cognos Analytics | ||
| 8.Domo | ||
| 9.Qlik | ||
| 10.Google Analytics | ||
But, before we dive into the list of some of the best software for business analytics let’s first cater to some basics.
What Is Business Intelligence Software?
Consider a scenario where you are flooded with various different kinds of data sets from various different teams. You have at hand sales and revenue data, customer data, cash flows, monthly and quarterly budgets, operational data and so much more. Business intelligence software retrieves, analyzes, transforms, and even reports such data. It does that by presenting all of this data in a user-friendly and interactive dashboard. It caters to all file formats such as images, documents, emails, journals, videos and so much more.
Why You Should Choose the Best Software for Business Analytics For Your Business?
Here are some of the reasons why business analytics software can be a great tool for business, regardless of the size or domain –
- Predict future market trends and competitor strategies.
- Get real data access for informed and data-driven decision-making.
- Streamline business-related processes and workflows.
- Identify opportunities to maximize sales and revenue streams.
- Customize reports and dashboards based on the vertical you are working in in your organization.
- Gain insight into customer preferences and behavior.
- Ensure adherence to industry regulations.
- Securely collaborate and share data with the right people.
Best Business Intelligence Software
1. SAP Business Objects
SAP Business Objects is a business intelligence platform that facilitates data visualization, reporting, and sharing. It helps transform data into useful insights based on which users within organizations can make decisions. It provides a flexible architecture where any number of users can easily access data and it also has increased user autonomy.
Notable Features
- Ad Hoc queries and BI reporting.
- Role-based dashboards for decision-makers.
- Cross integrates with Microsoft Excel for large-scale data analysis.
- Easily share business insights across your organization.
- Embed data analytics information into Microsoft Powerpoint.
- Makes product road map exploration simple and hassle-free.
- Integrate SAP HANA and SAP Business Warehouse for real-time analytics.
- Comes with several self-service features.
- Prompt customer service.
- Learning curve for beginners.
Pricing – Based on request
2. Microsoft Power BI
It is a collection of apps, software services, and connectors that work together to connect various sources of data into visually immersive, coherent, and interactive insights. It also comes with downloadable software that lets you run analytics in a reporting server or on the cloud. Microsoft Power BI easily integrated with the likes of Oracle and Facebook and generated reports.
Notable Features
- Convert data into advanced data-analysis tools.
- Add datasets created from any source to the OneLake data hub for more credibility for your data.
- Self-service Power Query experience to prep and model data.
- Create interactive reports using drag-and-drop canvas and hundreds of modern data visuals.
- Automatically find patterns and predict future trends.
- AI-powered report creation tools.
- Access data from several on-premise and cloud-based sources such as Salesforce, Dynamic 365, Azure SQL DB, etc.
- Easily embed reports into websites and existing apps.
- Microsoft Office-like interface makes it familiar to Windows users.
- Limited customization possibilities as compared to some other competitors.
Pricing – Available as a free business intelligence software. Pricing starts at $10/ user/ month
3. Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is available both as a paid and free business intelligence software. It comes with features with which you can visualize, access, and analyze all your business-related data. The intuitive drag-and-drop functionality further lets you assemble elements and you can intelligently uncover insights that can further help you make decisions based on facts and not on assumptions.
Notable Features
- Live visual data analytics for creating real-time insights.
- Accelerators help build robust industry-tailored dashboards.
- Augmented analytics powered by AI and ML help interact with data at a contextual level.
- Control permissions for data access to stakeholders.
- Share dashboards and workbooks with 25 colleagues and collaborate on data analysis, leaving comments, etc.
- You can enable Tableau to access additional databases.
- Secure and governed environment to share work apart from email and Slack integration.
- Easily add functionality to the dashboard using web applications.
- Extensive learning resources with which you can master Tableau.
- Version control could have been better.
Pricing – 14-day free trial. Pricing is based on the request.
4. Datapine
Datapine is regarded as one of the best software for business analytics. The simple reason is that it even lets a non-technical user understand complex data sets and make data-driven decisions in real-time. Being a web-based platform, a user can use it from anywhere. It offers the right dashboards across various departments such as management, sales, finance, marketing, etc.
Notable Features
- Connect data across multiple databases such as CRMs, web analytics, help desk, social media, etc.
- Multiple offline and online sharing options.
- Automate external client reporting.
- Modern predictive analytics and trend analysis tools.
- Supervise model quality and use various forecast features.
- Makes data analytics easy even for non-technical users.
- Self-service analytics approach.
- Build interactive business dashboards.
- Integrate different data sources.
- Needs to incorporate better AI and ML functionality as present in many other competitors.
Pricing – Free trial available. Pricing starts at $249/ month/ user
5. Zoho Analytics
Zoho Analytics is one of the top BI tools that is capable of turning raw business data into insightful dashboards and reports. Right from connecting data from a variety of sources to presenting it in a coherent manner, Zoho Analytics does it all. Plus, you can forecast long-term trends, track business metrics, and even identify any outliers as well.
Notable Features
- Connect and blend data from multiple sources such as on-premise databases, cloud, and business apps.
- Use AI to predict future trends, generate automated insights, and perform analysis.
- Prepare and analyze data with an augmented, self-service management module.
- Build a no-code, low-code model to embed analytics.
- Augmented analytics such as Machine Learning and Natural language processing to help find insights.
- Easy drag-and-drop interface with which you can build interactive dashboards and reports.
- Restrict permissions and securely share data.
- Cross-device compatibility.
- Fine-grained access control when collaborating with other users.
- Reporting features could have been better.
Pricing – Free 15-day trial available. Pricing starts at $12 (Approximately)/ month billed annually.
6. Sisense
Sisense is a business intelligence and data analytics platform that lets your organization source, analyze, and present data from various channels such as CRM systems, social media platforms, financial reports, web analytics tools, email marketing platforms, customer service channels, and much more. It simplifies complex data and transforms it into analytic apps that you can share anywhere.
Notable Features
- Sisense gives you an analytic and AI foundation.
- Integrate AI/ ML across your data flow.
- Comprehensive and intuitive data visualization.
- Embed individual widgets or entire dashboards.
- Cloud-native that can operate in any cloud infrastructure.
- Intuitive script-less interface.
- Supports data unification and data mash-ups.
- Beginners may take some time to get used to the features.
Pricing – Based on request.
7. IBM Cognos Analytics
How about giving a hypothesis to a tool based on various business metrics and criteria and then getting useful insights? That’s exactly what IBM Cognos Analytics is capable of doing. It comes with a natural language AI assistant. You can feed your data to it and in no time it will build impressive data visualizations for you. It is capable of showing you both the present and future of your business.
Notable Features
- Functionality to automate data exploration.
- Create powerful visualizations with the help of Slack, email, and even mobile apps.
- Use AI to find optimal tables for your business models.
- Governed self-service analytics help protect data from misuse.
- Scale and integrate data science and advanced analytics.
- Ability to automate data exploration and find future trends.
- Interactive dashboards and enterprise-level reports.
- The premium variant is a bit on a pricier end.
Pricing – Free 30-day trial available. Pricing starts at $10/ user/ month
8. Domo
Domo helps every business user put real-time data to work with the help of attractive visualizations, alerts, dashboards, and reports. For instance, it can give you a clear picture of your projected spend so that you can adhere to your budget or curate one that fits your company’s needs. The platform is used by the likes of ESPN, Autodesk, CISCO and many others.
Notable Features
- Build customizable data dashboards.
- Alert users automatically when there are data changes.
- Several app creation tools with which you can build apps to automate tasks and make data interactive
- Track AI across your business organization to know what data and models are being used.
- Incorporate AI/ ML insights into workflows.
- Huge library of data connectors.
- High level of security when sharing data and insights outside the organization.
- Slightly cluttered interface.
Pricing – Free trial available. Pricing starts at $300/ month
9. Qlik
Qlik is a BI tool that helps you use your business-related data to meet new objectives, solve problems and address business needs that require your attention. It is regarded as one of the industry leaders when it comes to maintaining data quality, data integration and providing analytics solutions. Apart from that it is powered by Artificial Intelligence.
Notable Features
- Pre-built connectors from several targets and data sources.
- Support for all leading cloud data warehouses.
- Patented Talend Trust Score to benchmark data quality.
- Analytic and integration workflow.
- Can suit the needs of organizations of all sizes and types.
- Real-time data pipelines.
- Batch processing for high-end data movement.
- Can slow down when processing large data sets.
Pricing
Free trial available. Pricing starts at $100/ month.
10. Google Analytics
If your aim is to get a complete understanding of your target customers and their behavior across the various websites you have set up, Google Analytics is right for you. It is a great free business intelligence software that you should use to your advantage. It has a repute of understanding customer journeys well and has helped users improve their marketing ROI.
Notable Features
- Predictive metrics.
- Flexible data retention.
- Customer lifecycle reporting framework.
- AI powered predictions and insights.
- Gain a deep understanding of marketing campaign effectiveness.
- Actionable reporting and visualization.
- Continuous updates and feature enhancements.
- Focus mainly on digital analytics whereas many other competitors give a comprehensive analysis of business resources.
Pricing – Free
Forecasting Success: Which Business Intelligence Software Will You Choose
In today’s dynamic business landscape, data has become a cornerstone for success, irrespective of organizational size. Whether you’re a startup or an established enterprise, managing vast amounts of data—from sales figures and customer interactions to market trends—can be overwhelming. A Business Intelligence software empowers you and your team to derive meaningful insights, forecast trends, and make data-driven decisions. It’s the key to unlocking the full potential of your data, irrespective of the scale of your organization.
Considering your business requirements, which among the listed business intelligence tools resonates with you. Do let us know in the comments section below. For more such content, keep reading Top10PCSoftware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What are the best business intelligence software options available in the market?
Some top business intelligence software options include Tableau, Power BI, QlikSense, and Looker, known for their robust analytics and visualization capabilities.
Q2: Which are the top BI tools currently favored in the industry?
Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, and Qlik Sense are among the industry’s favored business intelligence tools, renowned for their user-friendly interfaces and powerful data visualization features.
Q3: What should I look for in top business intelligence software tools and analytics platforms?
When choosing a business intelligence software the first thing you should look for is if the user interface is friendly, and scalable and if it can match up to your business needs. It should offer real-time analytics and functionalities with which you can present business-related data clearly and attractively. Also look for AI and ML capabilities as well that can help forecast future business trends or answer any other queries.
Q4: Can you recommend the best business analytics software for small businesses?
For small businesses, tools like Zoho Analytics and Sisense are recommended due to their affordability, ease of use, and ability to handle smaller-scale data analytics needs effectively.
Q5: Are there any free business intelligence software tools that are effective?
Yes, tools like Microsoft Power BI Desktop, and Tableau Public offer free versions with robust features, making them effective choices for businesses on a budget.
