Business Intelligence Tools
As a driven manager, director or controller you not only want to have good steering information, but also work with the right Business Intelligence tools. You are looking for a solution that is both effective and efficient. At the same time you want the software to be as accurate as possible to the wishes and needs of the users and the IT standards. We carefully researched all the major BI tools on the market and reveal all the (secret) details. Here you can read all about our 100% independent research on Business Intelligence software and Business Analytic tools.
- 100% objective information
- Tools compared on 1,000 criteria
- Used in 100+ countries
Compare and buy Business Intelligence software objectively
Overview of BI Tools for Data Analytics
Click on one of the names to learn more about the BI tools you want to know more about. Or consult the Business Intelligence & Analytics Guide™ 2023 for an objective comparison of all these parties to quickly decide on the best BI tool for your organization. The list is in order of popularity. Passionned Group is 100% independent, and therefore in no way affiliated with the vendors of the tools.
1. Microsoft BI & Analytics
The Business Analytics tools from the BI & Analytics vendor Microsoft focuses on the support of the following functionality:
- business intelligence
- SQL
- machine learning
- reporting
- analytics
- artificial intelligence
- R
Microsoft serves the market with the following products, among others: Power BI, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft SQL Server (see the images below). We took a closer look at them. For more detailed information, consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 1: Power BI
Figuur 2: Microsoft Azure
Figuur 3: Microsoft SQL Server2. SAS BI & Analytics
SAS is widely known for its products SAS Viya, SAS Visual Analytics and Dataflux. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from SAS are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- forecasting
- reporting
- data management
- visual analytics
- business intelligence
- OLAP
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 4: SAS Viya
Figuur 5: SAS Visual Analytics
Figuur 6: Dataflux3. SAP BI & Analytics
The Business Intelligence software solutions from the BI & Analytics vendor SAP focuses on the support of the following functionality:
- analytics
- business intelligence
- reporting
- analysis
- dashboards
- data warehousing
- machine learning
SAP serves the market with the following products, among others: SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Analytics (see the images below). We took a closer look at them. For more detailed information, consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 7: SAP HANA
Figuur 8: SAP BusinessObjects
Figuur 9: SAP Analytics4. Qlik BI & Analytics
Qlik is widely known for its products Qlik Sense, QlikView and Qlik Sense Enterprise. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from Qlik are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- geoanalytics
- data integration
- Windows
- data warehousing
- analytics platform
- real-time
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 10: Qlik Sense
Figuur 11: QlikView
Figuur 12: Qlik Sense Enterprise5. Oracle BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Oracle are Oracle Database, Oracle Analytics and OBIEE. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The BI software tools from Oracle can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- analytics
- big data
- business intelligence
- R
- SQL
- reporting
- data quality
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 13: Oracle Database
Figuur 14: Oracle Analytics
Figuur 15: OBIEE6. Tableau BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Tableau are Tableau Server, Tableau Desktop and Tableau Online. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence software solutions from Tableau can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- analytics
- Application Programming Interface
- data management
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- REST APIs
- analysis
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 16: Tableau Server
Figuur 17: Tableau Desktop
Figuur 18: Tableau Online7. IBM BI & Analytics
IBM is widely known for its products Cognos Analytics, IBM SPSS and IBM Watson. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from IBM are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- analysis
- real-time
- reporting
- Microsoft Excel
- business intelligence
- natural language processing
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 19: Cognos Analytics
Figuur 20: IBM SPSS
Figuur 21: IBM Watson8. TIBCO BI & Analytics
TIBCO is widely known for its products TIBCO Spotfire, TIBCO Data Virtualization and TIBCO Data Science. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from TIBCO are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- Application Programming Interface
- streaming
- MDM
- real-time
- data science
- reporting
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 22: TIBCO Spotfire Figuur 23: TIBCO Data Virtualization
Figuur 24: TIBCO Data Science9. MicroStrategy BI & Analytics
MicroStrategy is widely known for its products MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server and MicroStrategy Analytics. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from MicroStrategy are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- reporting
- business intelligence
- Hadoop Distributed File System
- Application Programming Interface
- REST APIs
- R
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 25: MicroStrategy Web Figuur 26: MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
Figuur 27: MicroStrategy Analytics10. Alteryx BI & Analytics
Alteryx is widely known for its products Alteryx Designer, Alteryx Server and Alteryx Analytics. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from Alteryx are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- Application Programming Interface
- data science
- analysis
- machine learning
- reporting
- analytics hub
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 28: Alteryx Designer
Figuur 29: Alteryx Server
Figuur 30: Alteryx Analytics11. Hitachi BI & Analytics
Hitachi is widely known for its products Pentaho Data Integration, Pentaho Business Analytics and Hitachi Content Platform. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from Hitachi are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- data integration
- reporting
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- big data
- data center analytics
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 31: Pentaho Data Integration
Figuur 32: Pentaho Business Analytics
Figuur 33: Pentaho Data Mining12. Domo BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Domo are Domo Platform, Domo Business Cloud and Domo Data Science. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence software solutions from Domo can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- data science
- business intelligence
- analytics
- dashboards
- real-time
- reporting
- machine learning
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 34: Domo Platform
Figuur 35: Domo Business Cloud
Figuur 36: Domo Data Science13. Zoho BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Zoho are Zoho Analytics, Zia and Zoho Databridge. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The BI software tools from Zoho can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- analytics
- reporting
- business intelligence
- CRM
- SQL
- dashboards
- artificial intelligence
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 37: Zoho Analytics
Figuur 38: Zia
Figuur 39: Zoho Databridge14. Looker BI & Analytics
Looker is widely known for its products LookML, Looker API and LookML Dashboards. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Looker are strong in the following areas, among others:
- dashboards
- Application Programming Interface
- analytics
- business intelligence
- reporting
- SQL
- SDK
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 40: LookML
Figuur 41: Looker API
Figuur 42: Looker Platform15. InetSoft BI & Analytics
InetSoft is widely known for its products InetSoft Style Intelligence, InetSoft Business Intelligence and InetSoft Data Intelligence. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from InetSoft are strong in the following areas, among others:
- business intelligence
- reporting
- dashboards
- analytics
- analysis
- big data
- real-time
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 43: InetSoft Style Intelligence
Figuur 44: InetSoft Business Intelligence
Figuur 45: InetSoft Data Intelligence16. Yellowfin BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Yellowfin are Yellowfin Signals, Yellowfin Suite and Yellowfin SAML Bridge. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence software solutions from Yellowfin can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- reporting
- dashboards
- business intelligence
- analytics
- Security Assertion Markup Language
- analysis
- data discovery
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 46: Yellowfin Signals
Figuur 47: Yellowfin Suite
Figuur 48: Yellowfin SAML Bridge17. Sisense BI & Analytics
Sisense is widely known for its products Elasticube, Elasticube Manager and Sisense ElastiCube. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Sisense are strong in the following areas, among others:
- dashboards
- analytics
- Application Programming Interface
- REST APIs
- SQL
- Microsoft Excel
- reporting
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 49: Sisense ElastiCube
Figuur 50: Sisense BI
Figuur 51: Sisense Blox18. Dundas BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Dundas are Dundas BI, Dundas Data Visualization and Dundas Dashboard. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The BI software tools from Dundas can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- business intelligence
- data visualization
- dashboards
- analytics
- reporting
- analysis
- Microsoft Excel
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 52: Dundas BI
Figuur 53: Dundas Data Visualization
Figuur 54: Dundas Dashboard19. Infor BI & Analytics
Infor is widely known for its products Infor Coleman, Infor Birst and Infor BI. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Infor are strong in the following areas, among others:
- reporting
- business intelligence
- analytics
- dashboards
- artificial intelligence
- data lakes
- machine learning
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 55: Infor Coleman
Figuur 56: Infor Birst
Figuur 57: Infor BI20. DataRobot BI & Analytics
DataRobot is widely known for its products DataRobot Artificial Intelligence, DataRobot Core and DataRobot platform. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from DataRobot are strong in the following areas, among others:
- artificial intelligence
- machine learning
- data science
- data scientists
- cloud platform
- algorithms
- universities
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 58: DataRobot Artificial Intelligence
Figuur 59: DataRobot platform
Figuur 60: DataRobot AutoML21. ThoughtSpot BI & Analytics
ThoughtSpot is widely known for its products SpotIQ, ThoughtSpot Embrace and ThoughtSpot Business Intelligence. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The BI tools from ThoughtSpot are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- analysis
- artificial intelligence
- data warehousing
- Teradata
- algorithms
- R
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 61: ThoughtSpot Business Intelligence
Figuur 62: ThoughtSpot Business Intelligence
Figuur 63: ThoughtSpot Business Intelligence22. GoodData BI & Analytics
As far as we have been able to ascertain, GoodData currently has only one primary product: GoodData Platform. Take a look at the screen shots below. The BI tools from GoodData are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- data visualization
- bar charts
- PostgreSQL
- insurance
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 64: GoodData Platform
Figuur 65: GoodData Platform
Figuur 66: GoodData Platform23. Incorta BI & Analytics
As far as we have been able to ascertain, Incorta currently has only one primary product: Incorta Analytics. Take a look at the screen shots below. The Business Intelligence software solutions from Incorta are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- analytics platform
- business intelligence
- data science
- reporting
- dashboards
- real-time
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 67: Incorta Analytics
Figuur 68: Incorta Analytics
Figuur 69: Incorta Analytics24. insightssoftware BI & Analytics
The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company insightssoftware are Logi Info, Logi Composer and Logi Report Server. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The BI software tools from insightssoftware can be characterized by good support on the following topics:
- analytics
- reporting
- dashboards
- embedded analytics
- business intelligence
- data visualization
- analysis
You can delve deeper into our independent research: consult the 100% vendor neutral BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 70: Logi Report Designer
Figuur 71: Logi Report Designer
Figuur 72: Logi Report Designer25. datapine BI & Analytics
As far as we have been able to ascertain, datapine currently has only one primary product: datapine BI. Take a look at the screen shots below. The Business Analytics tools from datapine are strong in the following areas, among others:
- analytics
- reporting
- business intelligence
- dashboards
- KPI
- analysis
- SQL
Delve into our independent research here and consult our BI & Analytics Guide™ 2023.
Figuur 73: datapine BI
Figuur 74: datapine BI
Figuur 75: datapine BIWhat can you expect from Business Intelligence tools?
Business intelligence tools provide organizations with reliable management information and refined insights to improve decision-making and collaboration. These tools provide the means for efficient reporting, in-depth analysis of (large amounts of) data, statistics, analysis and dashboards of the relevant KPIs.
The 7 benefits of Business Intelligence tools:
- Provide clear insight into all your business data, external data and big data analytics
- Ensure pure visualization and availability of management information
- Provide insight into how processes run or go wrong
- Empower users to improve their business processes
- When used, improve the overall performance of the organization
- Offer perfect support for performance management/decision making
- Easy monitoring and clear reporting thanks to intelligent dashboards
Wide range of tools for Business Analytics
In the Netherlands alone, there are more than 20 different BI tools available. They were once developed by mega brands such as Microsoft, Cognos or SAP Business Objects. In addition, there are numerous smaller software developers worldwide who have also built very good business intelligence tools that are suitable for specific industries or different types of BI applications. Not for nothing is the adage: “different tools for different purposes”. Think of parties like Qlik or Tableau Software. Despite the wide choice, finding and selecting the right Business Intelligence tool is often a laborious task. It is quite a job.
If you need help choosing the right BI or data science tool for you, the BI & Analytics Guide can help you to quickly arrive at a shortlist and make a final selection. Our BI & Analytics Guide gives you many comparison functionalities. See which vendor excels in which area and compare vendors in just a few clicks. Download now.
Excel is known as “the most abused BI tool.”
Selecting the wrong tool can have considerable impact on your organization. Companies that are not successful often have a problem with their information infrastructure. The BI tools they are using are not efficiently extracting the desired management information. Excel is the most obvious example and is not known as the most abused BI tool for nothing.
How do you make a good choice that fits your organization?
- Define the most important BI tool selection criteria: IT needs and user requirements.
- With this list you contact the vendors for the answers (RFI)
- Analyze all data from the different Business Intelligence vendors
- Start a proof of concept and choose the solution that best fits your requirements
You can skip steps 1 through 3 completely when you purchase our independent BI research. We take care of all the difficult and time consuming preliminary work. You save a lot of valuable time.
Let us help you with your BI tool choice
We know from experience that selecting the right software is a labor-intensive process. We have been helping organizations through this process for more than 15 years, including our powerful assessment tool: the Business Intelligence & Analytics Guide and independent BI consulting.
What do our customers say?
The Passionned Group’s Business Intelligence & Analytics survey was immediately useful in selecting the right BI tool for our company.
Richard Silverstein
Sweet & Maxwell Group
The 250+ functionalities of Business Intelligence software
Business Intelligence tools come in many different shapes and flavors. Some have excellent reporting functionality and others are great for dashboarding. Others run only on the Windows platform. In our research we compare all these tools on 250+ criteria that are important for achieving the best results with business analytics. So then you don’t need to do this research.
BI tools linked to the decision making process
The Business Intelligence architecture will not be able to produce good results if we cannot link tools to it. This blog provides an overview of the most important Business Intelligence tools (BI Tools) in relation to the decision-making cycle. It also describes the purposes, the features and the workings of these tools.
The decision making process
Each Business Intelligence tool plays a supporting role in one or more phases of the decision-making cycle. The decision-making cycle comprises of the following phases, which can be supported by the following tools (see figure below):
Figure 1: Phases in the decision-making process
1. Collecting information using dashboards and reports
The decision-making cycle starts with gathering the right information: ‘scanning’ the environment (or the internal organization) in order to see if a problem exists. Mainly dashboards and reports are used for this purpose. This first phase should be seen as a ‘wake-up’ moment during which any current or potential deviation from the desired situation is a decision problem. In order to qualify or trace something as a problem, the first phase should – in principle – include (or be preceded by) a process in which we identify our organizational objectives.
2. Designing and analyzing using interactive analysis and data mining
Once a problem is discovered, we know where the issue resides but we do not yet know its exact location or its whys and wherefores. For example: the customer satisfaction indicator on the dashboard flashes. Subsequently, we will want to find out what causes this. We may, for example, use interactive analysis ‘on-the-fly’ to split out customer satisfaction per region, per account manager and, if necessary, per product group.
OLAP
We might also use interactive analysis (OLAP) in order to easily compare the number of complaints with the customer satisfaction in the same region and period. By doing this, we gain insight into the reasons why customers are less satisfied – a recently launched product exhibiting start-up problems, to name a random example. We use data mining – discovering ‘hidden’ relationships – to gain insight into characteristics that are a determining factor for more complex issues such as fraud. In such cases, interactive analysis is not sufficient because we generally lack the required detail data. In addition, the complexity associated with discovering such (causal) relationships is simply a bridge too far for interactive analysis.
Very crucial for strategic decision making
“This phase in the decision-making process seems to be crucial for strategic decision-making, because it is during this phase that we determine our entire course in terms of decision-making.” (Mintzberg, 2004). It is thus important to apply these tools well and to adjust the organization accordingly. This also means that an effective working relationship should arise between managers and analysts so that the intuition and the authority of the managers can go together with the analytical brain of the analyst and with the methods and functionalities available to him (or her).
3. Selecting and implementing using ad hoc query, what-if and forecasting
Once we have established the cause of a problem and we have mapped the (causal) relationships, we can take action – in consultation with managers and stakeholders. Ad hoc query (‘ad hoc’ querying of data sets) can support this. We may for example use ad hoc query to create a detailed set of customers whom did not place any orders in the last month, based on the results of the interactive analysis. Subsequently, we can write a letter to the selected customers in which we emphasize the benefits of doing business with us and include some interesting offers. We use ‘what-if’ and forecasting in order to calculate actions in advance. In this way, we gain insight into the impact of our actions before we actually implement them.
4. Evaluating using dashboards and reports
Once we addressed a certain problem by taking action, we use either a dashboard or reports in order to assess whether the problem has indeed been resolved. It may be that the problem reflects a key success factor of the organization, which we did not know about yet. If this is the case, we can place the key success factor – including the associated KPI – on the dashboard or in the report so to permanently evaluate it. In this way, it becomes an integral part of the organization’s management model.
Separate components that are hardly related
Relatively many organizations still appear to regard the above-mentioned tools as separate components that are hardly related. For Business Intelligence to be effective, it is however, of the utmost importance that the tools can work together very closely so creating a solid and smoothly operating entity. Users should ideally be able to both use and apply the tools more or less unwittingly in their daily activities. Metadata, web technology and a proper architecture play an important role in achieving this.
Increase the coherence between the BI tools
Additionally, the suppliers of BI tools undertake actions – based on the integral needs expressed by users – to increase the coherence between different tools. Portals are a typical example of this development. However, we cannot start celebrating yet: practice shows that when it comes to integration of different tools within the portal, there is still a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, it also still happens that certain functionalities are present in the desktop version , but have not yet been implemented in the web version.
Need help choosing the right business intelligence tool?
If you need help in the process of selecting the right Business Analytics tool for your company, please feel free to contact us for an appointment or more information.
About Passionned Group
Passionned Group is the specialist in designing and implementing Business Intelligence tools and Data Science. Our passionate BI consultants help large and small organizations transform into an intelligent organization. Every other year we organize the Dutch BI & Data Science Award©, the election of the smartest organization in the Netherlands.
