"The rapid innovation, growth, and uses of new digital and marketing technologies (Mar Tech) have helped immensely in the data aggregation covering all aspects of a business these days. It flows from Sales, Business development and marketing, to SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) management and productivity, to recruitment and manpower resource management, to overall business performance and company profitability."

These days technology touches data from all business processes. However, to streamline the data collection process, the first and foremost task in hand is to explore those data points which matter to the business. This activity demands a digital platform to put them all together. This is where business intelligence (BI) comes into play as it is capable of not only looking at the minutest detail of business operation but also to put in key data ingredients aggregated from various data points of the business into a wholesome structure that can reflect the real insights and predictions helping the business improve its overall operational performance and determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of various business operations.

There are several software applications and packages available with their reporting data and analytics. Digital marketing managers and data scientists are using them quite often by exporting them into a business intelligence platform and getting actionable insights.The BI application is mostly driven by diagrammatic representation of business statistics which can be quite useful for turning complicated data into insights for everyone to understand through various charts and visuals. For everyone’s convenience, I am naming below some of the best software applications related to business intelligence and analytics which must be used by Data Analysts and Business Managers in 2022: -

Top 10 BI tools to trend in 2022

1. Looker
2. Dundas BI
3. Sisense
4. Birst
5. QlikSense
6. Board
7. Logi Analytics
8. Domo
9. Tableau Server
10. Microsoft Power BI

1- Looker

Founded in 2012, Looker is a web analytics application that provides users to explore, identify, discover, visualize and share insights based on data. Users can also look at various data sources and dig deeper into the data to carefully understand and evaluate their business and its different variables.

It provides real-time data from the company’s local database and helps users of all technical levels through self-service function and secured and up-to-date data visualization. It can be easily integrated into a third-party application like CRM as an embedded I-frame or through Java Script.  

By using Looker University Program, users can get trained in most of the modules free but some modules come with paid training where they have kept a large variety of training resources including videos, webinars, whitepapers, classroom sessions, etc. 

It Comes with Premium Pricing.

Google acquired them in mid-2019 for $2.9 billion.

2- Dundas BI

Two and half decade old Dundas BI is a browser-based BI solution from Dundas Data Visualization which was founded in 1992. It offers users the capability to generate interactive dashboards, customize their visualizations, build reports and get insights. 

It has a drag and drops functionality which enables users to analyse data without any help from IT managers. It can be easily integrated with different data sources to get a real-time picture. It can also be conveniently embedded into third-party software. It has a recycle bin features for deleted data restoration and has an interface to design, schedule and disseminate emails with data which helps in data security.

It comes with 45 days free trial period.

3- Sisense

Founded in 2004, Sisense brings complex data search, analysis, and intelligence to every user with a back end powered by in-chip technology, it allows analysts to mix and blend complicated datasets from various sources into a single data terminal. It is easier to mashup data and creates analytic apps ready to embed anywhere. They have in-chip analysis functionality which allows users to analyse 100 times more data 10 times faster. It has an easy-to-interpret visualization feature that helps users organize data post-analysis into visualizations like bar charts, scattergrams, pie charts, line graphs, interactive maps, etc. It also has an easy integration feature with CRM or ERP. With this, users can work on the platform with BI features embedded into it.

Sisense has a custom pricing model based on an annual subscription, but it requires a price quote. 

4-Birst

Birst is the BI Platform that aims to connect users through a network of interwoven virtualised business intelligence through a shared analytical terminal. It explores the data and conveniently discovers business insights. It delivers the speed on a self- serving platform and uses consistent business metrics to organize data sets and display with perfect visualizations. It helps users identify patterns and better understand their organization’s KPIs. It has an adaptive UX and open client Interface supporting analytics in terms of visual discovery, dashboards, reporting, and 3rd party tools. 

Birst BI offers an integrated UI allowing users to perform all the steps of the data refinement and analysis process in a single interface, bridging the line between modules and facilitating seamless user experience. It is a self-serving employee platform; this can be used by employees at all levels of technical skill via drag-and-drop tools.

Birst serves all the industries but especially used in industries like food and beverage, financial services, healthcare, government, HR services, technology, telecommunications, media and entertainment, sales, etc. 

One of the major limitations that could be spelled out about this software is its non-support function of embedded analytics within the customer applications.

Birst has a subscription/License pricing model with additional customisation and maintenance costs.

5- Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a product of Qlik Technologies from Sweden which was founded in 1993. Qlik is a leader in the insight and intelligence space. Qlik Sense sets the benchmark for a new generation of analytics with its associative analytics engine, augmented intelligence, and scalable cloud structure. It enables everyone in the organisation to make better decisions daily by creating a true data-driven system in place. 

It seamlessly combines and loads data, creates smart visualizations with drag and drops hence building rich analytics apps accelerated by AI-enabled automation. With its fully interactive mobile analytics, users can make discoveries, collaborate and trigger required action with data on the go.

6- Board

BOARD is a fully featured data discovery platform combining the best of business intelligence, predictive, business analytics and enterprise performance management. It has a customizable and interactive dashboard that provides users with the ability to see a top-level insight into their business and assess their KPIs to understand their business performance. 

It has a programming-free approach which makes understanding and analyzing data easier without the help of data analysts or technical experts. Its key features include multilingual reporting, coding-free approach, drag and drop interface, and data export in different usable formats like CSV and HTML.

Board follows the subscription-based pricing per user per month fee plus one-time customization cost

7- Logi Analytics

Logi is known to be one of the leading embedded analytics platforms. Formerly known as Logi XML, it provides businesses with interactive data analytics and visualization, offering advanced reporting and visualization features. It facilitates complete control over user experience while connecting with the existing data set. It is an analytics solution made to embed machine learning and artificial intelligence inside users’ applications. Users don’t need to understand statistical modelings like R, or Python. It places intelligent workflows enabling users to act without leaving the application. 

Logi Analytics is designed keeping flexibility in mind, so it can grow as the company grows. It can be adapted to be implemented on-site, in the cloud or both. With Logi, users can collaborate and share knowledge across the organization or with clients via various collaboration tools including email.

8- Domo

Domo Software creates a unified view by consolidating data from different sources giving management the complete overview of organisations functions. Domo acts as a hub between a variety of data sources and systems, integrating live data from cloud platforms, from the on-site intranet, from other sources or directly from the host data source. 

With Domo, users can ask specific business questions, mine the data, and create visualizations 

from a single interface. It facilitates inter-departmental data visibility and collaboration. It combines quantitative data visualizations with qualitative employee feedback and shares them immediately through sharing tools hence promoting company-wide communication and engagement with data.

It offers self-service data analysis and data discovery; then connects and blends data to prepare it; and finally lets users turn the data into dashboards, reports and other visualizations.

The platform also provides a mobile app built in to provide business intelligence on the go. The interface is smooth and offers functionalities users can utilize on the desktop site facilitating anytime, anywhere connectivity.

It works on a subscription/License pricing model for users. Starter, Professional and Enterprise Level Pricing options are there to choose from.

9- Tableau Server

 Tableau Server helps everyone to see and understand the proprietary data in the organisation. It helps to connect to different data points like MySQL, Salesforce, etc., mix and blend them into the users’ database. After users have created a visualization, it can be shared with other team members within the organisation who can further provide feedback and views, so it facilitates direct communication on the visualization rather than through other data sharing tools. It comes with restricted role-based access which prevents any data leaks or other data security concerns.

Tableau helps users filter and explore data easily in multiple dimensions. They can highlight data to visualize, scroll into and out to prepare data for a clean visualization. It provides a range of visualization options including bar graphs, interactive maps, pie charts, scatter-grams, etc. Users can work out these insights into a story format through the storyboard feature.

The biggest limitation with this BI application is that it requires IT support for integrations and other high-end tasks. 

This software also works on subscription and license pricing models based on the per-user price. There is an additional maintenance cost required to pay for ongoing support.

10- Microsoft Power BI

Released in 2011, Microsoft Power BI is a powerful BI tool that helps users gather and interpret data to make path-breaking decisions in business operations. It comes with a simple interface allowing users creating their dashboards and business reports.

The software comes in two forms: Power BI Services, a SaaS-based option, and Power BI Desktop which is an on-site version for the business. Users can use this solution to integrate data sources, visualize various patterns and discover useful business insights. 

It helps users to draw data from various sources including Sales force, Excel, google analytics, social media or IoT devices. 

For most industries, users can choose from a range of tailor-made reports to generate patterns and visuals on KPIs in minutes. With them, users can also create a custom analysis that answers specific questions to their exact specifications. 

It takes insights on the go with the streamlined Power BI mobile application. Users can get alerts, create reports, share reports and insights and stay updated from their mobile devices via the app. This app has compatibility with IOS, Android and Windows devices. 

It Seamlessly integrates with everything in the Microsoft Suite, as well as a range of other software and analytic solutions like google analytics. 

It has limitations as it doesn’t support SQL queries and comparatively difficult to work with huge data sets on Power BI.

A pricing model in this software is based on the number of users for Power BI Pro and capacity-based pricing for Power BI Premium. The maintenance cost is included in the subscription cost.

The Power of Business Intelligence and How it goes beyond Tools: -

There are many more tools available apart from the above-mentioned application for business intelligence and data visualisation but effectively using them to extract insight in order to achieve the business operational excellence is the real task ahead.

Data insights are the real ammunition that Business Intelligence applications are providing to decision-makers but, are they using them enough to win over their micro and macro level operational business challenges?

This is the question which will hopefully get answered this year 2022.