Evaluation of Business Intelligence & Analysis Products

The exponential growth of data has rapidly increased the demand for Business Intelligence and Analysis products. Companies are looking at these products to leverage Big Data by converting it into useful information to improve decision-making and increase business efficiency.

For comparison of various Business Intelligence and Analysis products that are available in the market, I have categorized the evaluation criteria into two different groups - Technology Assessment and Execution. This provides a complete picture of the features and helps in analyzing them better.

1.      Technology Assessment

This is the estimation of the features and services provided by the various products.           

a.     Mobility

It should allow usage of BI applications on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

b.     Data Sourcing

It should provide access to a number of databases and file types such as csv, Excel, text and XML. The specific details can be customized based on the needs of the organization.

c.     Visualization

The product should allow querying of data, analyzing that data and then creating visualizations in the form of line, bar, pie and area charts.

d.     Training

This includes assessment of whether any training for specific features or processes has been provided. The training can be in the form of in-person classes, online classes or Web recordings.

2.       Execution

           This assessment criterion is to review the capability of the products.

a.       Ease of Use

      This indicates how simple the product is to use by BI and administrative users.

b.       Scalability

     The scalability should be in terms of the number of concurrent users as well as the data metrics such as volume, variety and veracity.

c.       Pricing

       This is the biggest factor in determination of a product for an organization.

The five products that I have selected for evaluation are :

1. Tableau

Tableau is an exceptional self-service Business Intelligence tool which provides wide variety of visualization and extensive supported data types for easy exploration and analysis of business data.

Features:  

The software has a drag-and-drop feature, which makes it convenient for the user to add data for analysis.
Tableau has an extensive online library and learning community. The live and on-demand webinars, online support documents, discussion forums are great resources to understand the interfaces and controls of the software.  
The pricing varies according to the desired version. Tableau Desktop comes in two different versions - Professional and Personal. The Professional edition costs $1,999 per user and it covers more than 40 different connections. The Personal edition costs $999 per user that can handle six connections. 

2. TIBCO Spotfire

TIBCO Spotfire helps companies integrate and synthesize big data into an easily understood format. The aim is to create actionable data reporting through tools anyone in the organization can utilize to manipulate and understand essential information about the company.

Features:

It allows the users to leverage existing database skill sets to create applications quickly.
It allows for instant visualization and interaction with organizational data.
The feature of location-based analytics takes e-commerce to a higher level.
The desktop version of Spotfire which runs on Windows can be subscribed for $650 per year.

 3. SAP Business Objects

SAP Business Objects is a platform for organizations to manage and optimize Business Intelligence. It has a centralized portal, from which users can perform data cleaning activities, create dashboards and different reports such as OLAP, ad-hoc and Crystal Reports.

Features:

SAP Business Objects provides mobile access to its users to access to reports and other data.

The platform possesses a semantic layer which ensures data accuracy and consistency.

The solution provided can be easy integrated with other enterprise solutions such as Salesforce and Microsoft Office.

4. Domo

Domo is a cloud-based business management suite which allows integration with multiple data sources such as spreadsheets, social media and databases.

Features:

It includes interactive visualization tools and instant access to data using customized dashboards.

Domo is also available for all mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Pricing is based on annual subscription and varies according to the number of users. 

5. Chartio 

Chartio is a self-service business intelligence tool which simplifies performing database joins. It is heavily dependent on knowledge of SQL.

Features:
It supports more than a dozen different data sources.
The online documentation is not very well-organized and does not permit easy understanding of the software.
The pricing is around $2,000 per user making it one of the most expensive BI tools.

WEIGHTED ANALYSIS OF THE BI AND ANALYSIS TOOLS

These five different BI and Analysis products have been analyzed based on some common criteria to evaluate their features and identify the best product from among these products.

I have rated TIBCO Spotfire as the highest due to its easy to use and stylish dashboards, ability to connect to various databases and to applications such as Excel, ERP, CRM and MS Access. It also allows collaboration of data on mobile devices along with low cost of ownership. Thus, my recommendation for any organization looking for a Business Intelligence and Analysis product would be TIBCO Spotfire.