A dashboard used for business intelligence

What is BI? 5 recommended Business Intelligence Tools!

Collecting and utilizing information is important in company management. After all, It decides the future of the company. You can gather data from websites using scraping tools. However, to actually use the data and see it in a visible format, you will need Business Intelligence tools.

Throughout the course of management, there are many questions to ask. For example: “What do we need now?” “What is missing?” We need information such as “User Questionnaires” and “Market Trends” to solve problems. In essence, collecting information is essential.

However, the next problem here is managing information. So, using BI tools is essential for companies. Since they can use their vast amounts of information to make quick and accurate decisions.

“BI” stands for “Business Intelligence“. Business Intelligence refers to collecting, accumulating, analyzing, and reporting data that exists in a company to help management decisions. BI tools are the systems that support BI. Implementing Business Intelligence tools can save you a lot of time and effort.

Features of Business Intelligence Tools

Here are some of the typical features that BI tools have.

1. Reporting

You can obtain data from systems within the company. Then, you can summarize and display it on “dashboards” for easy viewing. Additionally,
you can make decisions more efficiently by making quick performance checks such as KPIs and “detecting abnormalities”.

2. Dashboard

The dashboard can show a summary of multiple analytical results. Usually, it displays lists and graphs among other things. In general, there is some degree of customization which can help you monitor data easily.

3. OLAP analysis

OLAP is short for “Online Analytical Processing”. It enables users to be selective about extracting and querying data. It allows the analysis of multidimensional data from different points of view. You can use it to do processing such as “slicing” or “drilling down” on the accumulated data.

4. Simulation

This is a virtual demonstration based on scientific methods. You can use it to have an idea about the improvement plans obtained from the results so far. You can simulate predictions flexibly and easily in line with daily fluctuations. As for the usage, management can use it for “budget compilation”, among other things.

5 Recommended Business Intelligence Tools

So what kind of Business Intelligence tools should you use or try? Here are some of them.

1. Tableau

It is software for data analysis that anyone can organize and manage data simply by dragging and dropping. This service is perfect for content organization and analysis. Also, you can easily adjust the type, color, size, etc. of the graph. Some versions have a collaboration feature that allows data sharing and co-editing.
Official site: https://www.tableau.com/

2. Power BI

Power BI is a BI tool from Microsoft. It can analyze data, share insights, and monitor your business. In addition, it can display feature-rich dashboards for different devices. Connect to diverse data sources, simplify data creation, and facilitate ad hoc analysis. In addition, they offer free plans with limited functionality, so you may want to try it for yourself.
Official site: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/

3. Yellowfin

It is a tool to visualize by visualizing all data in the company. You can share data with your team in easy-to-view graphs and maps. It encourages data-based planning, research, and decision making. Over 1 million people use YellowFin worldwide because of these stable features.
Official site: https://www.yellowfinbi.com/

4. Actionista!

Actionista! Is a BI tool that can be used widely, regardless of industry or business. It offers a relatively easy-to-use interface and features for beginners. You can automatically generate dashboards by preparing data in the specified format. As a result, you can get a very efficient analysis as per your purpose.
Official site: https://www.justsystems.com/en/products/actionista.html

5. QlickView

QlikView provides true self-service BI to help business users in the field to make innovative decisions and maximize their capabilities. It has a rich set of optional features that allow you to customize the features you need for each company.
Other than that, it is easy to start with since it has a free plan too.
Official site: https://www.qlik.com/en-us/products/qlikview

To conclude…

BI tools can support your company’s growth. Consider what do you want to do with big data analysis. Also consider questions such as: what kind of problem do you want to solve?
Continuing with this line of thought, you will need to plot “basic requirements definition”. So why not consider using Business Intelligence tools to be more efficient?