Business intelligence or BI refers to the act of analyzing and processing data in large quantity before transforming the same into knowledge-centric information for helping businesses make well-informed decisions. BI environment is comprised of data frameworks, business models, and ETL (extract, transform, and load) tools for grouping the data and extracting useful insights from it.

The best BI tools are now being increasingly utilized for accumulating, processing, analyzing, and visualizing humongous amounts of past, present, and forthcoming data to derive actionable business information, generate interactive reports, and aid the organizational decision-making procedure. These purpose-designed software programs are equipped with numerous helpful features, such as visual analytics, interactive dashboard, KPI (key performance indicator) scorecards, and data visualization. They also allow end-users to leverage state-of-the-art functionalities like predictive analytics and automated reporting in the form of self-service.

The Best BI Tools Companies Should Consider in 2021

Domo by Domo Inc.

Domo is widely acknowledged as one of the best BI tools in recent times. This cutting-edge cloud-based platform for business management enables digital transformation for all organizations irrespective of their size. It’s capable of performing macro- as well as micro-level analysis to offer teams extensive insights on their business metrics. Additionally, it helps them in solving problems with faster and smarter approaches.

According to experts, Domo is best suited for markets like high-tech, education services, entertainment and media, healthcare, hospitality, non-profit, transportation, financial, manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail.

A few of the most significant properties of Domo are intuitive dashboards, embedded analytics, suggested visualizations, and employee management. Domo also consolidates multiple sources for generating a unified view that can be referenced by end-users for understanding the entire picture. Information is assembled centrally from numerous web-based and on-premise sources through user-friendly and quick connectors, blending, and sequencing along with visual ETL processes featuring drag-and-drop functionality.

Authorized users can instantaneously access the data in real-time by executing natural language queries. Specific business-related questions can be asked along with the provision of zooming in or zooming out into the data in a stepwise manner for realizing the greater picture and generating visualizations based on results derived from just one interface.

Key Advantages

• Reduced risk because of stringent data governance

• Promotes collaboration across teams

• Can be scaled limitlessly in the cloud

User Reviews

• Amazing visualizations that can also be viewed on mobile

• Easy-to-use ETL tools and a no- or low-code interface

• The capacity to extract data from numerous disparate sources and being able to blend them in a central repository.

Power BI by Microsoft

Being regarded as one of the best BI tools ever designed, Power BI facilitates data visualization, reporting, and data mining for offering useful insights. End-users can access different data sources through its easy-to-use interface along with generating reports and building custom dashboards.

Power BI is ideal for sectors like governmental, telecommunications, financial, automotive, entertainment and media, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, and the likes. Some of the most vital utilities of Power BI are data source connectivity, data preparation, data visualization, and natural language processing.

Generating Visualize Data Trends in Power BI is no difficult task. As soon as it completes the parsing, grouping, and analysis of the specified data, the system allows end-users to generate intuitive visualizations based on the processed information. One can choose from maps, graphs, charts, and other graphic narratives that make the tedious task of data interpretation simpler, increasingly effective, and faster.

Armed with these rich data visualizations, the authorized users can not only analyze what occurred, but also where, how, and why. So, they can easily incorporate necessary changes to business strategies, make relevant forecasts, and usually improvise their client relationships as well as organizational processes.

Key Advantages

• Seamless integration with existing applications

• Reports can be viewed across multiple devices and varied platforms

• Drag-and-drop styled user interface

User Reviews

• Specialized technical support not necessary

• Easy implementation

• Reduced costs with fast turnarounds

SiSense by SiSense Inc.

When it comes to selecting a business intelligence ecosystem with end-to-end capability for data analytics, SiSense continues to be one of the best BI tools. With its embeddable, scalable architecture, both intelligence and data discovery can be accessed by all authorized end-users. SiSense is most recommended for industries like governmental, enterprise, healthcare, supply chain, software, manufacturing, hospitality, marketing, and retail.

A few of the most notable characteristics of SiSense are analytics-on-chip, data connectivity, data blending, and data visualizations. All end-users can access its intuitive data workflow. The highly advanced self-service offered by this BI software can be readily leveraged for connecting, assembling, combining, and analyzing data in an inherently visual, exceptionally easy-to-use, and incredibly adjustable framework.

With its proprietary in-chip technology, powered by artificial intelligence, thousands of queries can be performed on exceptionally large data sets and the computed results can be retrieved much more quickly by means of in-memory processing, which, in turn, help make the decision-making process increasingly efficient.

Key Advantages

• Comes with a robust capability of delivering terabyte-scale analytical data in an interactive and efficient manner

• Snapshots of data can be taken by authorized users through its Elasticube™ functionality

• Can work on extremely large data sets sans the need of any expensive hardware

User Reviews

• Dashboards are simplistic and elegantly designed

• Automated alert facility

• Ease of learning

Tableau Desktop/Server by Tableau Software Inc.

The list of the best BI tools is no doubt incomplete without mentioning Tableau. It’s a business intelligence environment with highly sophisticated capabilities for analytics and data visualization. Tableau does a great job in churning information from varied data sources for producing actionable business insights in real-time. Tableau is most appropriate for verticals like healthcare, communications, recruiting and staffing, financial, higher education, governmental, retail, and many others. Some of the key attributes of Tableau are drag-and-drop styled visualizations, augmented data preparation, data source integrations, and real-time accessibility.

The quality of data visualizations provided by Tableau can’t be stressed enough. It produces logical results from unstructured data and presents them in visually appealing and interactive dashboards. Tableau is equipped with a highly intuitive user-interface that lets even non-technical workforce to analyze data with the help of natural language processing and easy-to-use drag-and-drop utilities.

Key Advantages

• Intuitive dashboards with awesome visualizations

• Faster analysis and high performance

• Data connectivity from multiple sources

User Reviews

• Mobile-friendly

• Exceptionally responsive controls

• Access for other scripting languages

Spotfire by TIBCO Software Inc.

When talking about the best BI tools of all times, the discussion is never complete without a mention of Spotfire. It’s a comprehensive platform for data discovery and business intelligence. It’s capable of performing various functions, including elaborate visual reporting and detailed analysis, driven by artificially intelligent algorithms.

Spotfire is most suited for businesses like financial, information technology, manufacturing, and many more. A few of the most noteworthy aspects of Spotfire are location analytics, streaming analytics, visual analytics, and intelligent data wrangling.

Spotfire is equally scalable for small and large corporations. It offers exceptional versatility, providing end-users with total control of their data. It’s also an excellent choice for single users, as it’s particularly designed after taking into account the requirements of individual analysts. The data discovery and business insights offered by Spotfire are much superior when compared to those of an analyst who derives them on the basis of their own intelligence.

Key Advantages

• Natural language queries by authorized users are supported by its artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms

• Capable of identifying data outliers with great ease

• Beginner-friendly analysis is provided through visual data analysis

User Reviews

• Unparalleled versatility

• Support for a myriad of third-party tools

• Cost of ownership is reduced to a significant extent

So, here’s your list of some of the best BI tools that are worth trying in 2021. Which one among them your organization is using or is planning to buy? Comment below and let us know your thoughts on it!