8 criteria for choosing a BI tool for your business

Your company generates powerful data every second from many sources. But are they properly collected, organized, analyzed, shared and monitored?

In this post, you will learn about eight criteria to consider when choosing a business intelligence tool so that your company can properly handle and understand this large volume through analytical reports generated with the most specialized technology for this purpose.

Then, we can help you choose the ideal business intelligence tool for you . You will see that there are many options with different functions, capabilities, prices, etc. This article shows a list of the best that are currently available on the market: access it here .

We can now anticipate that for any business intelligence need your company has , there will be a perfect BI system for it.

Now, shall we begin?

The 8 criteria for choosing the perfect BI for your company

Check out the list of 8 criteria we prepared below for you to choose the perfect BI tool for your business!

Criterion #1: Integration with Cloud Data Warehouses

Advanced data warehouse solutions have revolutionized data storage in the digital age. It is now possible to store and centralize large volumes of data in the cloud, in cloud data warehouses.

Characterized by elasticity, flexibility, speed and scalability, data warehouses are a secure and reliable way to protect important company files and information.

And modernizing and centralizing data in data warehouses is the first step for businesses that want to advance digital transformation. After all, it is not enough to have data, you need to visualize and analyze it to make decisions. And this can be done with the help of BI tools integrated into cloud data warehouses.

Therefore, if you are looking for a modern BI tool, you need to check whether it has the possibility of integration.  

But rest assured, the business intelligence market is full of tools for this purpose.

Tableau allows direct connection to 14 warehouses, while Mode supports 20. Additionally, other solutions such as Sigma, Power BI, and Metabase also support multiple warehouses.

Criterion #2: Usability and interface

Criteria such as usability, user-friendly interface and customer experience (UX) are fundamental when choosing a business intelligence tool.

In practice, these tools are used by employees from all areas and hierarchical levels to communicate metrics and strategies for a given organization.

Therefore, business intelligence platforms must be accessible and friendly for the end user to perform tasks based on data analysis.

Below, we explain how some tools offer a different user experience in terms of usability.

• Sigma offers an intuitive spreadsheet interface similar to Excel and Sheets.
• Tableau, Power BI and Data Studio provide interactive dashboards and allow you to create visualizations using drag and drop functionality.
• Power BI allows ad-hoc exploration of data from various sources and is useful in handling trading requirements.

Criterion #3: Automation of reports and notifications

Report automation and real-time notifications are key differentiators of business intelligence solutions. With them, you can eliminate hours of work in preparing reports and increase the efficiency of your team.

How it works?

By connecting databases to BI tools, a company can have a general overview of the business and analyze information through business intelligence dashboards.

To top it off, it is possible to configure report automation based on the company's needs.

The result: more efficiency , less wasted resources and the empowerment of analysts to carry out deeper analyses.

For example:

• Power BI, like Google DataStudio, allows for scheduled delivery of instant email reports and dashboards.
• Mode and Metabase allow instant emails to be sent regularly to a Slack channel - team or individual communication tool.
• Looker enables scheduled email delivery of dashboards, visualizations and datasets, as well as creating entire software from the data transformed on the platform.

Criterion #4: Ability to Import and Export Data

As we mentioned in Criterion #1, a cloud-based BI tool that connects perfectly to the main data warehouses is essential precisely to facilitate the export and import of data from DW or other sources.

For various purposes, analysts need to export data to integrate it with other platforms or for visualization by other means. The tools mentioned here provide these functions, but each one has its specific limitations and permissions.

Importing is also key, as importing data files into your business intelligence tool can be very useful for real business analysis, just as adding temporary data to a project can open up opportunities to explore and test ideas, without the commitment. to store them.

Criterion #5: Speed, Performance and Responsiveness

The speed , performance , and responsiveness of your BI tool affect speed to insight. Querying data through caching - a store of information that is stored in an operating system - can improve all three.

Some examples of how the tools work on their speed, performance and responsiveness:

• Power BI and Metabase optimize analytical queries in the data warehouse itself, thereby avoiding loading large volumes of data into BI.
• Qlik stores query selection states and associated results in memory, enabling query caching.
• Sisense performs calculations inside the CPU, so it does not need to copy data from RAM to the CPU.
• Looker employs persistent derived tables (PDTs) that can reduce query time by pre-aggregating row-level data and creating fact tables in advance.

Criterion #6: Modeling with Versioning Control (as development mode)

As analytics teams grow, collaboration becomes more complex. Versioning and development control modes in the modeling layer are fundamental in this regard, as they support collaboration at scale .

And fortunately, many BI tools offer these features, as we see in the examples below:

• Looker offers integration with Git, allowing users to save LookML projects, each containing multiple dashboards or views, to GitHub.
• Mode allows users to connect to a GitHub repository and create a two-way sync.
• Periscope Data also offers two-way sync to any Git repository.

However, there are business intelligence tools that do not allow for good versioning. And, in this case, to improve the level of control and versioning, processing directly in data warehouses using open source tools, such as DBT, is recommended .

Criterion #7: Library and Support for Custom Views

Data visualization in business intelligence tools has revolutionized the way analysts and managers make decisions. It simplifies the assimilation of cross-data and facilitates its analysis and recognition of deviations, as well as pointing out opportunities for the company.

Some BI tools offer a library of extensive native visualizations, as well as support for custom and built-in visualizations.

See how some BI tools treat data visualization:

• Power BI and Google DataStudio allow you to use JavaScript libraries to create custom visualizations.
• Looker, Tableau, and Power BI provide customer visualizations and allow analysts to embed dashboards into Salesforce web pages.

Criterion #8: Cost

Cost, for some companies, can be the deciding factor. You may have a limited budget to invest in the BI tool and the price for hiring this service may come first when choosing.

At this point, it is important to know that, depending on the type of user, the value may change. There are BI solutions with standard values ​​and there are others that vary by number of users, viewers, administrators, etc., such as Tableau.  

Some examples of tool cost and pricing:

• Sigma offers a free trial and demo, but there is no pricing information on its homepage.
• Sisense requires you to fill out a detailed form on the website's home page to get a quote.
• Tableau prices by type of user, that is, there are different values ​​for each contractor.
• And Power BI is the option that specifies your costs most clearly.

In other words, the pricing of BI tools can be confusing and, therefore, it is important to consult specialized companies to avoid surprises. Count on us for this.

We have extensive experience implementing BI for companies of all sizes.

And don't worry: BI tools are increasingly accessible and you will certainly be able to use one that fits your budget. Google DataStudio, for example, is one of these solutions.

It's time to choose

As you can see, choosing the perfect tool is no easy task. There are many options. Therefore, if you consider these 8 criteria, you will be on the right track.

And remember: the biggest criterion will always be your company's needs . Call your experts to analyze the tools using the 8 tips we have prepared.

Don't know how to start yet?

We have professional experts in the field who can help you. Get in touch today here.