Best Embedded BI Tools in 2021
Businesses rely on big data analytics to understand business dynamics in a data-driven approach. Business intelligence software provides big data analytics to derive meaningful and actionable insights that allow businesses to monitor their performance metrics and assess their performance in the market.
Businesses need constant feedback and evaluation to reflect and better their products and services to increase revenue. This feedback is through their data team that works with business intelligence software to produce information relevant to the areas of focus and help businesses evaluate their performance and keep on track in different aspects of their business.
“Think analytically, rigorously, and systematically about a business problem and come up with a solution that leverages the available data.” — Michael O’Connell, chief analytics officer, TIBCO.
What is BI
Business intelligence is the study of big data and the monitoring of key performance indicators of a business. It provides valuable insights to the business management that help them take short-term and long-term decisions with confidence based on the data.
Usually, some basic reporting facilities are available in the business management software but it is not enough for the detailed data analytics that can help data analysts to perform their tasks with ease. Business intelligence is usually performed using the BI tools and solutions that are available as separate software implementation to provide the capability to the data analysts for enhanced data analytics. They have added features and a variety of tools for viewing data from different angles and shed light on the unnoticed areas of the data set that may help management in their business decisions.
What is embedded BI
One common problem that users feel when they are introduced to business intelligence software is the pressure to get familiar with yet another software. The users might be aware of the importance of having a powerful tool for data analytics but they might not be tech-savvy and feel burdened to get familiar with another third-party software solution which might be completely different from the business solution that is familiar to them. One easy solution for such a scenario is the embedded Bi solutions. The embedded business intelligence software can be integrated into the existing business workflow using minimal efforts to generate actionable insights from inside the umbrella of the existing business software.
Advantages of embedded BI
There are many advantages of using embedded business intelligence software and some of them are enumerated below for users’ perusal.
Cost reduced
Keeping a budget aside for business intelligence software while maintaining a fully functional business database management software and some other supporting software can be hard for emerging businesses. The idea of embedded business intelligence software is very charming in this scenario where the software is integrated into the existing software and does not require any additional hardware installations as mostly the backend in such solutions is handled remotely at the vendors’ side. This makes the embedded solution very cost-effective and pocket-friendly for the purchaser.
Easy integration
Embedded business intelligence software goes for easy integration with the existing software with minimal effort. This type of integration works well as the BI tool adopts the common security protocols and user access roles from the existing business software making the integration easy and seamless.
Familiarity
Embedded business intelligence software eases the non-technical staff into adopting the software more easily because they are working within the same familiar environment and it does not give the impression of learning a new software tool rather just some new menu options are added in the same software that they have been using for a period of time.
Less staff training
When purchasing a high-end standalone BI tool, lots of staff training and familiarization time has to be scheduled which may put a burden on the business’s time and money. With embedded business intelligence solutions, this is not the case. As the solution is embedded into the existing software, less time may be spent on staff training. The staff is given an initial introduction to the available features and then they explore and learn the usage of different features by exploration. Complete support is available by the software vendors for a smooth experience of the business intelligence software.
Best BI Solutions available
Tableau
Tableau is the master of business intelligence tools and merges with salesforce to provide a best-integrated platform for BI and data analytics. It is very fast to deploy and has an intuitive user interface that is easy to grasp for beginners. Tableau provides a very powerful tool for data visualization and means of collaboration within the organization. It incorporates cloud computing for fast access and easy manipulation of data.
SAP Business Objects
SAP is a powerful Business Intelligence tool for data analytics and reporting that can be embedded seamlessly into users’ existing applications and allow data from multiple data sources to integrate and perform data analytics. It provides options for self-service BI that automates the data analytic processes for business applications providing easy to use environment and users can get things done with minimal effort on the part of the user.
Dotnet report builder is a cloud-based platform for enterprise-level businesses for creating customized ad hoc reports from scratch to help solve their data analytic needs. Data analysts can create beautiful visualizations and creative dashboards to perform big data analytics on business data. This in turn will derive actionable insights for the management to make short-term and long-term decisions and increase productivity and sales.
Sisense
Sisense provides end-to-end reporting solutions for its users through machine learning and automation features. The in-chip architecture used by Sisense provides an enhanced facility for data cleaning and report generation making it an ideal choice for performing big data analytics.
Sisense is deployed as a single-stack solution with a backend for modeling data. Their goal is to provide features for data analytics using powerful visualizations and data dashboards that help data analysts derive actionable insight that can help management to make informed decisions.
Zoho Analytics
Zoho Analytics is a SAAS business intelligence tool with advanced features to perform data analytics and reporting using augmented analytics. Zoho has an intuitive interface that is easy to understand and operate and offers integration with hundreds of apps for financial, marketing, and eCommerce.
“The human side of analytics is the biggest challenge to implementing big data.” — Paul Gibbons, author of “The Science of Successful Organizational Change.”
