Business Intelligence (BI) platforms are software that allow organizations to collect, analyze, and visualize business data to support informed decision making. These platforms provide tools and features to extract data from different sources, transform it, and present it clearly through interactive reports and dashboards.
Business Intelligence platforms
The term “Business Intelligence (BI) platform” today refers to a platform that, by integrating different application solutions, offers a vast range of features and possibilities to support decision-making and analytical activities within an organization. Among this vast range of features there are some that unite them all, given that these platforms are aimed at analyzing data to make business decisions for the business.
Here is what you want to expect from a Business Intelligence platform:
- Reporting and analytics: BI platforms allow you to create reports and analyze data from various sources. Users can generate customized reports, interactive dashboards and ad hoc analyzes to gain detailed insight into company performance.
- Data Visualization: BI platforms offer tools to visualize data in powerful ways, such as charts, maps, key performance indicators (KPIs), pie charts, and more. These visualizations help identify trends, patterns, and relationships in your data.
- Predictive analytics: Some BI platforms include predictive analytics capabilities that allow you to make predictions based on historical data and identified trends. This can be useful for optimizing business strategies and anticipating market changes.
- Data mining and pattern discovery: BI platforms can use advanced algorithms to explore large amounts of data and identify hidden patterns, correlations, and anomalies that may not otherwise be apparent.
- Business performance management (BPM): Some BI platforms integrate BPM capabilities to monitor and optimize business performance by tracking KPIs and identifying areas for improvement.
- Data integration: BI platforms can integrate data from different sources, such as databases, Excel files, cloud applications and web services, to provide a unified view of business data.
- Collaboration and data sharing: BI platforms allow users to collaborate, share reports and analyzes with other members of the organization in a secure and controlled way.
- Automation of decision-making processes: By integrating algorithms and analytical models, BI platforms can automate some operational decisions, helping to improve efficiency and reducing the time needed to make informed decisions.
In summary, a Business Intelligence platform offers tools and features to analyze
The most popular Business Intelligence platforms
Here is a list of some of the most popular Business Intelligence platforms:
- Tableau
- Google Looker
- Microsoft Power BI
- Qlik QlikView & QlikSense
- Oracle OBIEE
- SAP BusinessObjects
- Microstrategy
Tableau
Tableau is one of the most popular business intelligence and data analytics platforms in the world. It is known for its ease of use, powerful data visualization capabilities, and flexibility in integrating a wide range of data sources. One of Tableau’s defining features is its ability to create engaging and interactive data visualizations. Users can quickly create charts, maps, dashboards, and other visualizations without having to write code. This facilitates understanding of the data and helps users discover meaningful insights.
Tableau offers a variety of connectors that let you easily integrate data from multiple sources, including databases, spreadsheets, cloud services, and more. This allows users to analyze data from multiple sources in a single view.
Tableau offers predictive analytics capabilities that allow users to explore data to identify trends, patterns, and future predictions. Users can use built-in statistical algorithms or integrate external machine learning models to conduct advanced analytics. Another feature of this platform is Self-service BI. In fact, Tableau is designed to allow users to conduct data analysis independently without having to rely on an IT team. Users can explore data, create custom reports and dashboards, and share their analyzes with other team members. Tableau offers collaboration features that allow users to easily share their analyzes with other team members. Users can publish dashboards online or distribute them via email or static files.
Tableau is available in several versions, including Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server. Tableau Desktop is used to create and analyze data visualizations on the user’s desktop, while Tableau Server allows you to share and distribute visualizations across your organization in a secure and scalable way.
Looker
Looker is a business intelligence and analytics platform acquired by Google Cloud in 2020. It differs from many other platforms by its SQL query-based approach to data analysis and its modern cloud-based architecture.
Looker is a natively cloud-based platform, meaning it does not require complex installations or on-premise infrastructure. This makes it highly scalable and flexible, allowing businesses to quickly adapt to ever-changing analytics needs. One of Looker’s defining features is its SQL-based approach to analysis. Users can write SQL queries directly into the platform to query and analyze data. This allows for greater control and precision in data extraction and analysis.
Looker uses a centralized data model called LookML (Looker Modeling Language). LookML allows users to define data logic in a clear and structured way, creating a common and shared data model within the organization. This facilitates consistency and collaboration in data analysis.
Like Tableau, Looker also offers self-service BI capabilities that allow users to explore data, create custom reports and dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills. It also promotes collaboration within organizations, allowing users to easily share their results and collaborate on analytics projects.
Another very positive feature is that it offers integrations with a wide range of data sources, analysis tools and cloud platforms. This includes integrations with Google Cloud Platform, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, and many more. These integrations allow users to access and analyze data from multiple sources in a single platform.
Looker is a BI platform particularly suitable for companies looking for agile and scalable data analysis, especially those that make use of structured data and have SQL skills in their team.
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence (BI) platform that allows users to visualize and analyze business data to gain insights for decision making. It integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft ecosystem, including tools such as Excel, Azure, SQL Server and Dynamics 365. This facilitates access and analysis of data from different sources, both local and cloud.
Users can create interactive dashboards and custom reports using a variety of data visualizations, such as bar charts, pie charts, geographic maps and more. These views can be easily shared and distributed with team members or customers.
Power BI offers advanced analytics capabilities, including predictive analytics and data modeling. Users can use tools such as measure creation, Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) calculations, and What-If analysis to gain in-depth data insights.
As with the other platforms seen before, Power BI also promotes the concept of self-service BI, allowing users to create reports and dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills. Users can connect directly to data sources, transform data, create relationships and analyze data independently. Users can easily collaborate on real-time reports and dashboards, working together to gain shared insights. Power BI offers secure sharing capabilities, allowing users to share reports with colleagues inside and outside the organization. Power BI is a highly scalable platform that can handle large volumes of data and large numbers of users. It also offers advanced security features, including multi-factor authentication and role-based access control.
QlikView & Qlik Sense
QlikView and Qlik Sense are products of the Qlik company. QlikView is an application-based BI platform, while Qlik Sense is a more modern self-service-based solution. Both allow users to create interactive data visualizations and explore data intuitively.
QlikView was the first business intelligence platform developed by Qlik and has played a significant role in innovating the industry. It is based on a business discovery architecture that allows users to explore data in an interactive and intuitive way. It uses an approach called “associative data model” that allows users to freely navigate through the data, discovering correlations and trends without having to follow a predefined path. QlikView offers advanced data analysis capabilities, including the ability to create custom dashboards, interactive reports, and dynamic data visualizations. It is known for its ability to handle large volumes of data and its fast performance when analyzing data.
Qlik Sense is a successor platform developed by Qlik, built on the foundations of QlikView but with a modern and more flexible architecture. It focuses on offering a more intuitive and accessible self-service experience to business users, allowing them to easily create reports and dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills. It uses a drag-and-drop interface for creating data visualizations, making it easy to customize and edit reports in real time. Qlik Sense maintains QlikView’s “associative data model” approach, allowing users to freely explore data and uncover hidden relationships. It also offers collaboration features that allow users to easily share reports and dashboards with colleagues and collaborators.
The choice between the two depends on the specific needs of the organization, user preferences and the complexity of the data to be analyzed.
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) is a comprehensive suite of business intelligence (BI) applications offered by Oracle Corporation. It is designed to allow organizations to easily access, analyze and share business-critical information.
OBIEE provides an integrated platform that includes tools for data extraction, transformation and loading (ETL), analytical processing, report generation, ad hoc analysis and interactive dashboard deployment. As an Oracle product, OBIEE integrates seamlessly with a wide range of Oracle products and technologies, including Oracle Databases, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle Applications. This allows easy access to company data and simplifies implementation and integration with existing environments.
OBIEE offers advanced reporting capabilities with Oracle BI Publisher, allowing users to create highly customized reports using a variety of data visualizations, interactive filters, and custom formatting. Users can also automatically schedule and distribute reports via email or via the web portal.
OBIEE supports ad hoc analysis and BI self-service, allowing users to freely explore data, ask complex questions, and create custom visualizations without the need for advanced technical skills. It is also designed to handle large volumes of data and a large number of concurrent users. OBIEE integrates with other Oracle solutions, such as for operational reporting and Oracle Hyperion for enterprise planning and budgeting. These integrations enable organizations to build end-to-end solutions for business performance management.
SAP BusinessObjects
SAP BusinessObjects is a suite of business intelligence (BI) applications offered by SAP, one of the world’s leading enterprise software providers. This suite provides a wide range of tools and features for data analysis, report generation and information visualization.
SAP BusinessObjects offers powerful reporting capabilities that allow users to create highly customized, feature-rich reports. These reports can include a variety of elements, such as graphs, tables, key performance indicators (KPIs), and more. Reports can be distributed in several formats, including PDF, Excel and Web.
The suite includes tools for ad hoc analysis and performing “what-if” analysis. It also allows you to create interactive and intuitive dashboards that allow users to monitor business performance in real time. BusinessObjects integrates with a wide range of data sources, including relational databases, in-memory data, unstructured data, and more. Furthermore, a peculiarity of this platform is mobile business intelligence which allows users to access reports and dashboards from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This allows users to access company information wherever they are and at any time.
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy is a leading business intelligence (BI) and data analytics company founded in 1989. It offers an eponymous software platform, MicroStrategy, that enables companies to analyze and visualize their data to gain actionable insights to take action. informed decisions.
MicroStrategy provides a comprehensive business intelligence platform that includes data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL), data warehousing, data analytics, report and dashboard generation, predictive analytics, and more. The platform is designed to handle large volumes of data and a large number of concurrent users. It uses in-memory technology to deliver high performance and fast response times even on large data sets.
MicroStrategy offers a wide range of data visualizations, including charts, maps, pivot tables, key performance indicators (KPIs), and more. Users can customize visualizations to fit their needs and gain deeper insights. It also includes advanced predictive analytics and machine learning capabilities that allow users to discover hidden patterns in data and make future predictions. These capabilities can be used to optimize business operations, identify growth opportunities and mitigate risks.
Microstrategy also offers a mobile business intelligence platform that allows users to access data and analytics from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. MicroStrategy is a popular choice among large enterprises that require a complete and robust solution for their BI needs.
Conclusione
In conclusione, abbiamo esplorato diverse piattaforme di business intelligence, ognuna con le proprie caratteristiche e vantaggi distintivi. Da Microsoft Power BI con la sua integrazione nell’ecosistema Microsoft e le sue potenti funzionalità di self-service BI, a Tableau con la sua enfasi sulla visualizzazione dei dati e l’approccio user-friendly, a Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) con la sua robustezza e integrazione con l’ambiente Oracle. Inoltre, abbiamo discusso di SAP BusinessObjects con la sua ampia suite di strumenti per il reporting, l’analisi e la visualizzazione dei dati, e di MicroStrategy con la sua piattaforma completa e scalabile che offre funzionalità avanzate di analisi dei dati e predittive.
Ogni piattaforma ha il proprio appeal e può essere scelta in base alle esigenze specifiche dell’azienda, al contesto operativo, alle capacità tecniche del team e ad altri fattori. Tuttavia, tutte queste soluzioni condividono l’obiettivo comune di fornire alle organizzazioni gli strumenti necessari per trarre insight significativi dai dati e guidare decisioni informate e strategiche.
Indipendentemente dalla piattaforma scelta, l’implementazione efficace di una soluzione di business intelligence può portare a miglioramenti significativi nelle operazioni aziendali, nell’efficienza operativa, nella soddisfazione del cliente e nel raggiungimento degli obiettivi aziendali. Con l’evoluzione costante delle tecnologie e delle esigenze aziendali, è fondamentale valutare attentamente le opzioni disponibili e adottare approcci flessibili per adattarsi ai cambiamenti del mercato e continuare a ottenere valore dai dati aziendali.