50 Best Business Intelligence Tools

Cóbhan Phillipson for Docurated.com writes: Business intelligence tools (BI tools) are a way for companies to monitor data and generate business insights – necessary components in making smarter, better decisions that drive results. But once you start research BI, you realize there are many types, from analytics and big data statistics to reporting tools and dashboards that offer at-a-glance information across indicators.

When choosing the right business intelligence tools for your organization, consider your company, your employees, your departments and teams – and the success factors that drive your decision-making. What isn’t working currently, and what factors would benefit from improvement?

Select tools that allow you to visualize and analyze relevant data, combining and eliminating and customizing to generate information that helps you better understand your data. The goal: to make fact-based and insightful decisions that will improve company performance.

1. Yellowfin BI

Yellowfin BI offers business intelligence tools that are so easy to use, they become universal throughout a company. Yellowfin’s analytics are available in many different flavors – dashboards, data discovery, mobile BI, storyboards, mapping, and collaborative business intelligence – that make it simple to assess, monitor and understand any bit of data related to your business.

Features:

• Interactive and intuitive filtering use check boxes, radio buttons and sliders to make it easy to dial-down your data
• Access your dashboards from anywhere: web page, company intranet, wiki, or mobile device
• Share insights via simple scripts that can be uploaded, embedded, or sent to collaborators

Cost: Free Trial; full version starting at $3,000 a year for 5 users

2. Clear Analytics

If you’re familiar with MS Excel, you’ll love Clear Analytics. This Excel-based BI tool serves up business intelligence with spreadsheet manageability – and centralizes all your data in the process. Clear Analytics allows your organization to continue with its business-as-usual Excel reporting, but adds BI must-haves like version control, administrative and sharing capabilities, reports scheduling, governance, and auditability.

Features:

• With the Logical Data Warehouse (LDW) approach, Clear Analytics eliminates the need for a data warehouse to pre-aggregate data
• Little learning curve: anyone who uses MS Excel can use Clear Analytics
• Easy to trace and audit data, on ensure company-wide compliance

Cost: Free Personal Edition

3. SAP Business Intelligence

For businesses that require a full, detailed picture of every company process, SAP NetWeaver BI steps in. This full-function tool is designed to cater to a diverse set of needs, satisfying the requirements of everyone in your organization – IT professionals, senior management, and end users included. The tool’s robust infrastructure hosts wide-ranging functionality in one integrated platform.

Features:

• A single, integrated platform pulls together applications and reporting to provide a detailed snapshot of your organization
• Visualization makes it easy to understand your data
• Improve your company’s collective IQ by giving all collaborators insights into data and performance indictors

Cost: Free Trial; contact for pricing

4. Oracle Hyperion System

Oracle is one of the most well known names in business, and its Hyperion Planning system is an agile business intelligence tool. Using mobile, desktop and MS Office Interfaces, Hyperion supports and enables enterprise-wide planning, budgeting and forecasting – mission-critical processes a company needs to develop accurate financial forecasts and generate cost-effective enterprise alignment.

Features:

• Deploy Hyperion independently, either in the cloud or on-site
• Integrate Hyperion with other Oracle tools to create a robust and over-arching business solution
• Reduce budgeting and planning by days, weeks or months, depending on the process

Cost: Contact for pricing

5. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)

For businesses with serious BI needs, OBIEE is an incredibly powerful business intelligence tool. The Enterprise Edition integrates many of Oracle’s most useful components, including BI Server, BI Answers, BI Interactive Dashboards, BI Delivers, BI Publisher, the MS Office Plug-in, Hyperion Interactive Reporting, Hyperion SQR Production Reporting, Hyperion Financial Reporting, and Hyperion Web Analysis. In other words, for almost any conceivable data measurement, visualization, reporting, or information manipulation, OBIEE has a solution.

Features:

• Comprehensive BI tools inform and inspire better decisions across your organization
• OBIEE allows for full collaboration within an organization
• Interactive dashboards make reporting and data visualization simple

Cost: Contact for pricing

6. Pentaho BI

The leader in open-source business intelligence, Pentaho provides your company with the tools to make better, more accurate and faster decisions to boost profits. The tool integrates information from almost any source to create comprehensive analytics, turning big data into visualized insights. Pentaho Business Intelligence can be used on-site or in the cloud.

Features:

• Embed and integrate analytics into your company’s applications
• Intuitive and interactive analytics employ lasso filtering, zooming, attribute highlighting and drill-down features to provide better insights
• Web-based dashboards access rich navigation features to improve data visualization

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

7. MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy Business Intelligence has one primary goal: leverage data to help organizations find timely, informed answers to any question. Powerful dashboards and data analytics transform your company’s information into easy-to-understand reports designed to improve productivity, boost cost-efficiency, optimize revenue, monitor trends, forecast new opportunities, and fortify client relationships.

Features:

• MicroStrategy runs against data stored in ERP systems (e.g. SAP and Oracle), operational databases, and data warehouses
• Use MicroStrategy on your desktop or via mobile app
• Save data on-site or in the cloud via Amazon Web Services

Cost: Free 30-Day Enterprise Evaluation Edition

8. SiSense

SiSense is billed as a business intelligence solution for business users – no IT help required. The process is user friendly, swapping the usual data prep headache for an end-to-end data collection and preparation solution that even tech-newbies can understand. Join your data quickly with drag-and-drop functionality, so you can quickly begin analyzing and sharing your insights via robust, visual dashboards.

Features:

• SiSense offers business intelligence for non-techies, usually with no IT department help required
• Ensure 100% accuracy by integrating current data from many sources
• Build interactive, fully customized dashboards (again, no tech skills needed)

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for version pricing

9. BOARD All-in-One Business Intelligence

BOARD’s AIO Business Intelligence toolkit offers all the capabilities and functions necessary to build a custom solution to corporate performance management. Bonus: no programming skills required. The toolkit approach makes it easy for end-users to interact with BOARD’s powerful interface, creating a self-service solution to analytics, reporting and understanding data. BOARD labels this integrated BI-performance management solution as “management Intelligence.”

Features:

• BI functions include reporting, multi-dimensional analysis, ad hoc querying and “dashBOARDing”
• Corporate performance management allows for budgeting, planning, financial forecasting, profitability analysis, scorecarding and financial consolidation
• BOARD is a single interface, thus eliminating the usual complications from forcibly patching together multiple BI tools

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

10. Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools

Like BOARD, Microsoft’s BI solutions are billed as tools that require little IT involvement. The premise: if your employees know how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft SharePoint Server, then they’ll intuitively understand MS Business Intelligence. This full-service solution is quite powerful, integrating data from multiple sources to combine with current enterprise data that lives on-site or in the cloud – all while maintaining proper governance.

Features:

• MS BI allows any user to drill-down, analyze and visualize data through Excel
• Enable report-sharing and other collaborative features
• Self-service capabilities that reduce the burden on IT

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

11. Jaspersoft

Billed as one of the business world’s most used, most flexible and most affordable BI solutions, Jaspersoft empowers your organization with tools for better analytics and decision-making. This is a self-service product, which means that it requires little IT intervention to generate powerful data insights that help your organization create actionable answers to any question.

Features:

• Can be integrated into any app or mobile device – scaled architecture that makes Jaspersoft available to anyone
• Available on-premise or in the cloud
• Download for your device, or use as a web-scalable platform to embed anywhere

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

12. QlikView

QlikView is a user-friendly platform that straddles the gap between tech-savvy BI tools and traditional productivity apps, creating a solution that’s available to all. QlikView’s primary goal is to enable business users to leverage their data to discover new solutions and opportunities, and it does so with a clean and straightforward interface.

Features:

• This self-service tool allows for data analytics, insights and existing data manipulation
• Visually appealing dashboards present data in an easy-to-understand format
• Customized solutions by industry (banking, consumer products, high tech, insurance, etc.)

Cost: Free Personal Version; Enterprise Edition Server starting at $35,000 per server

13. SAS Business Intelligence

SAS Business Intelligence is all about getting the right information to the right people, always at the right time and under the right circumstances. This self-service tool is easy to use and provides real-time analytics throughout your organization, allowing any collaborator or decision-maker to monitor and analyze the metrics necessary to make an informed and effective decision.

Features:

• Business and enterprise IT solutions include centralized metadata, governance and scalability
• Data visualization makes it easy to see and understand big data and related insights
• Auto-charting eliminates the need for coding and IT support

Cost: Free trial; contact for pricing

14. BIME

The power of BIME is the ability to turn complicated data into visual insights and actionable information – results designed to power your decision-making and boost your bottom line. BIME is cloud-based, turning your company Internet connection into a lightening-fast data warehouse capable of churning out easy-to-understand visual dashboards. A self-service tool, anyone can use this BI solution.

Features:

• Easily import data from relational databases, spreadsheets, flat files, OLAP engines, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Google BigQuery, Salesforce CRM, Google Spreadsheets and other sources
• Ultra secure BI extranet and intranet is included in every package
• A powerful calculation engine allows users to create analytics across – and combining – data sources

Cost: Free Trial; Enterprise solutions starting at $180 per month

15. Intelex Business Management Software

The Intelex Business Performance Management Software System is a user-friendly, effective and very powerful business tool that integrates several solutions into one robust package. Among the solution’s various functions, this software suite combines tools for document control, records management, training management, qualifications management, audits management, NCRs and CAPA, management review, permits management, license management, monitoring and measurement, communications management, and operational control.

Features:

• Trusted since 1992
• Easily track, manage and generate real-time reports of key metrics
• Comply with common regulations and standards, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

16. Adaptive Suite

Adaptive Suite is the only Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions suite to build from the “cloud up.” Adaptive Insights is intuitive enough that anyone can use it, but also extremely powerful, integrating collaboration, web and MS Office reporting, as well as other features accessible via the web or mobile app.

Features:

• Flexible drill-down capabilities across and within multi-source, multi-dimensional data
• Self-service means no programming or tech know-how required
• The Adaptive Suite integrates four BI and CPM solutions: Adaptive Planning, Adaptive Discovery, Adaptive Consolidation and Adaptive Reporting

Cost: Free Trial; contact for pricing

17. Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint is so popular, it hardly needs introduction: this management and analytics solution is one of the most common choices for businesses around the world, and is an especially good fit for companies that already store their information on a SQL Server. SharePoint makes it easy to share, sync and analyze all company data; enables collaboration; and provides tight security for sensitive data.

Features:

• Add-on apps, many free, enhance SharePoint to create a truly custom solution
• Easily integrates with Microsoft Dynamic solutions, Yammer, and other tools
• Store data in the cloud for access from anywhere

Cost: Contact for pricing

18. BizzScore

The BizzScore Suite pulls together four potent tools: Bizzscore, for analyzing data and creating management dashboards; Bizzdefiner, performance management software; Bizzdata, to integrate data sources and scheduling; and Bizzquality, to input “soft” data derived from web-based questionnaires. The result: an end-to-end solution to analyze and manipulate company data to create scalable, actionable insights and solutions.

Features:

• An intuitive interface is easy to use and understand
• Robust analytics allow for data drill-down to very specific insights
• No software, tools, systems or databases required

Cost: Free live demo; Contact for pricing

19. Birst

Enterprise-worthy Birst is a SaaS BI platform that combines data discovery, reporting and analytics in a single, self-service platform. The benefit of Birst is a truly powerful feature set blended with easy-to-use software – user-friendly business intelligence. The automated data warehouse makes the data-load process simple, helping you deploy BI in a fraction of the time.

Features:

• Integrate data from many systems you already use, like Marketo, Microsoft Analysis Services, NetSuite, Salesforce.com, and SAP BW
• Each dashboard interface offers a wide selection of visualization options, so you can customize insights
• Point-and-click analytics and report generation

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

20. DBxtra

DBxtra is all about simple reporting that anyone can create, no design or IT knowledge necessary. The platform utilizes interactive dashboards and web-based reports to deploy, manage and share ad-hoc data reporting. The promise: you’ll create and publish your first report in a matter of minutes.

Features:

• Easily publish and share reports securely via any web-based browser
• Anyone, even a first-time report designer, can create fully featured reports in less than an hour
• No programming or SQL experience required

Cost: Free Trial; DBxtra Designer starting at $490

21. InduSoft Web Studio

InduSoft Web Studio takes automation to the next level with supercharged tools to develop embedded instrumentation, SCADA systems, HMIs, and other business intelligence solutions. Graphic and design tools, in combination with InduSoft’s Microsoft platform, make it simple to develop a single customized solution that can be deployed across any MS-supported platform: Windows CE, Mobile, XP Embedded or Server editions.

Features:

• Easy integration into ERP and “back-office” systems via built-in relational database connectivity
• Flexible platform provides support for more than 200 drivers, as well as your PLC or controller, OPC (client and server), and TCP/IP
• Cloud-based data accessible from desktop or mobile devices

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

22. Looker

Web-based Looker is an intuitive business intelligence tool that goes beyond standardized reporting. It’s data discovery and exploration, but that’s just the beginning: the purpose of Looker is to drill down on big data to uncover answers lurking in your information.

Features:

• Real-time analytics, pulled from any SQL analytics database or data warehouse
• Establish and manage multiple, direct data connections within a single Looker interface
• Your data lives on-premise or in the cloud

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

23. Artus

Artus is a fully integrated BI platform from Bitam, providing data management and reporting to the mid-market. Artus analyzes your company’s data, monitoring key performance metrics and sectioning information into its underlying details, giving you the tools necessary to make empowered and informed decisions. One powerful feature of Artus is the tool’s combination of management dashboards and ad-hoc analysis – a single solution where many BI methods require several tools.

Features:

• Comprehensive trend analysis
• Create customized dashboards to track every aspect of your business, individually
• Create rules and set alerts to define thresholds, request immediate help, prioritize activities, and more

Cost: Contact for pricing

24. Stonefield Query

Stonefield Query is a self-service BI tool that enables ad-hoc data analysis and reporting. Though the platform is not specific to any industry, it offers powerful and efficient business reporting designed to meet most business needs. Both desktop and web editions are available.

Features:

• Drill-down filters allow you to narrow search results and reporting inclusions with no programming
• Run analytics on multiple databases, even databases of different structures and types
• Generate reports as bars, graphs, lines, and pie charts – or a series that involves several types

Cost: Contact for pricing

25. Necto

Panorama Necto is a BI suite that unites enterprise-level business intelligence with visual data discovery. The visual interface is the first solution of its kind to provide companies with interactive, intuitive and completely customized analytics output in user-friendly infographic format. Self-service data discovery and dashboard visualization is also available for reporting.

Features:

• Interactive infographics provide dynamic reports on trends and changes
• Necto’s BI 3.0 leverages and integrates the power of automated intelligence and social decision making
• Straightforward and visual approach is accessible to anyone within your organization

Cost: Free Online Trial; Contact for pricing

26. webKPI Business Intelligence DashBoards

The webKPI Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboard platform is a SaaS dashboard solution designed for small and medium-sized businesses. The self-service tool is flexible and scalable, so it’s easy for anyone in your company to use, customize and manipulate. WebKPI’s agile architecture makes it easy to evaluate your company’s financials and devise solutions for increased ROI.

Features:

• Share key performance indicators with clients
• Dashboard controls make it easy to create reports in standardized formats
• Publish reports to mobile device or email

Cost: Contact for pricing

27. HubSpot

HubSpot is a different kind of BI tool: instead of monitoring your financials or client information, it analyzes your company’s inbound marketing efforts. This tool is your answer to determining ROI for hard-to-determine marketing, like blogging, landing pages, and email marketing. HubSpot also integrates SEO tools, social monitoring, and other Internet-age must-haves to generate a full picture of your web-based marketing.

Features:

• Access a large library of eBooks, videos, and webinars about Internet marketing
• Finally determine your company’s blogging ROI
• Create branded forms, landing pages, email newsletters, and more

Cost: Free Demo; Packages from $200/month

28. Epicor Business Intelligence Software

Epicor’s Business Intelligence solutions begin with one, single premise: today’s companies do not suffer from lack of information. In fact, your company probably has too much information – the challenge is turning that data into informed, actionable insights. That’s where Epicor steps in, with the right tools to create clear analysis and transform your information into solutions to improve your performance and ROI.

Features:

• Maximize your ability to analyze hidden and hard-to-understand data
• Utilize visual dashboards to leverage key performance indicators
• Develop better, more insightful reports into any aspect of your data

Cost: Contact for pricing

29. Xtraction

With drag-and-drop actions, point-and-click controls, and interactive dashboards, Xtraction is a self-service BI solution for managing your business. The goal is simple: instead of waiting for IT to generate analytics, you can create comprehensive and customized reports anytime, no specialized knowledge or tech skills required.

Features:

• Pull data from multiple sources into one chart
• Real-time analytics, so you’re fully informed to make mission-critical decisions
• Access data and dashboards from anywhere, via the handy iPad app

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

31. datric Agile Data Suite

Datric’s Agile Data Suite is, unsurprisingly, a flexible tool suite designed to simplify data integration and data management. The enterprise-level service standardizes company-wide mapping, definitions, data traceability and modeling, even across technologies, thus connecting your business through technical and data management.

Features:

• Fast and accurate data implementation takes 25-50% less time
• Build a complete data warehouse in just 3-6 months
• Link business and technical views to form shared requirements

Cost: Contact for pricing

31. Cognos Business Intelligence

Cognos Business Intelligence is IBM’s contribution to BI, providing an on-premise or web-based solution to company analytics. It is industry non-specific, as Cognos is designed for any business in any vertical. Dashboards, reports, collaboration and detailed analysis make it easy for companies to slice and dice even large amounts of raw data to create insightful reports that yield answers and solutions.

Features:

• Analyze data from multiple angles and perspectives
• Scorecarding capabilities allow for automation of business metrics – capture, management and monitoring
• Collaborate on reporting and decision-making

Cost: Contact for pricing

32. MITS Distributor Analytics

MITS Distributor Analytics is a comprehensive BI solution designed for wholesale distributors that use ERP and other business systems. The platform lets you analyze data and decisions that impact sales, accounts receivable, inventory, purchasing decisions and other details of wholesale businesses – everything necessary to give you a competitive edge.

Features:

• More than 200 standard and customized reporting options
• Built-in functionality answers common distributor questions
• Custom dashboards and scorecards give you at-a-glance insights into your data

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

33. Active Intelligence Engine

Attivio’s Active Intelligence Engine (AIE) in an enterprise-level BI tool that “connects the dots” between any and every piece of data related to your business. No matter the data type – external or internal, structured databases or unstructured text – AIE can integrate, process, analyze and report on it. The goal: to join formerly disjointed information silos and empower decision-making throughout your organization.

Features:

• No pre-joining or data modeling required
• 360º insight into any detail or topic related to your business success
• Analyze data to avoid future mistakes involving suppliers, competitors, compliance and operations

Cost: Contact for pricing

34. Profitbase Suite

The Profitbase Suite combines planning and forecasting, cash-flow and other what-if scenarios, and monitoring and reporting to paint a complete picture of your business. The full suite gives your business access to Profitbase Studio, a data warehouse deployment accelerator; Profitbase Webplan, a web-based budget accelerator; Profitbase SIM, a financial planning and simulation tool; and Profitbase Infront, a browser-based reporting dashboard.

Features:

• Integrate data from across multiple resources
• Access important information, anytime and anywhere – no software training required
• Highly functional dashboards leverage Microsoft Silverlight technology

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

35. Solver BI360 Suite

Solver set out to create a comprehensive business intelligence tool, and it developed the BI360 Suite. As its name implies, this BI tool gives you 360º insights into your data, including budgeting, reporting, data warehousing, and interactive dashboards. BI360 drives effective, data-based productivity throughout your company.

Features:

• Out-of-the-box integration with Sage MAS 500, X3, Epicor Prophet 21, SAP Business One, and Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, NAV, SL and CRM
• Faster to implement and understand than most competing BI suites
• Use Dashboards to visualize trends, analyze your data, comprehend mission-critical information, and more

Cost: Contact for pricing

36. Actimize Platform

The Actimize Platform leverages a single, scalable and flexible solution to provide enterprise-wide financial tools: fraud prevention, risk management, capital markets compliance, anti-money laundering, and more. The platform follows your business through the entire risk-management lifecycle, from modeling to execution to investigation to oversight.

Features:

• Detect problems and anomalies in real time, as they occur
• Develop and customize your analytical models to perfectly suit your business
• Integrate and monitor multiple data sources and business processes

Cost: Contact for pricing

37. ActionBridge

Nimaya’s ActionBridge BI tool grabs data from behind any cloud- or SaaS-based firewall to generate a mashup of data reporting, functions and on-premise applications. The result: a single and interactive interface dashboard that displays the information you need, at the exact time you need it – leveraged data to help your business collaborate efficiently, make decisions effectively, and boost your bottom line.

Features:

• Enact role-based security to control collaborator access
• Easy configuration does not require knowledge of coding
• Synchronize on-premise, cloud- and SaaS-based applications and data

Cost: Contact for pricing

38. e-cubix Executive Dashboard

The e-cubix Executive Dashboard from Dashboard Insight enables better and greater organizational control through powerful visualization and data reporting. The goal: boost company performance by empowering users to visualize data in a meaningful way – a way that makes clear how to identify and solve problems, take timely actions, and select the decisions that will most benefit your business.

Features:

• Easy-to-use interface allows you to create dashboards in under two hours
• 500 in-built and common KPIs to make configuration even faster
• Connect with any commonly used database, including Oracle, MSSQL, MYSQL, and Access

Cost: Contact for pricing39. Style Intelligence

InetSoft’s Style Intelligence is a robust and flexible BI platform that scales to enterprise level. The platform, which has a remarkably small footprint, is built to serve the needs of OEM and enterprise developers – an agile, self-service development tool that simplifies advanced data mashups, interactive dashboards, scorecards, exception alerts, and enterprise reporting.

Features:

• Employs Data Block™ architecture for real-time data mashup
• Connects to many commonly used databases – relational and multidimensional, as well as column-based data warehouses
• Multi-dimensional charting and brushing for maximum data exploration

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

40. Tableau Business Intelligence

Tableau’s intuitive BI software makes it easy for anyone, regardless of technological know-how, to connect with data and create visual reports. The platform is as simple to use as Excel, but is very feature rich – sharable dashboards, interactive reporting, flexible features, and scalability make for one-click access to any data you need to analyze.

Features:

• Choose between the on-premise Tableau Server or cloud-based Tableau Online
• One-click reporting gets answers in seconds
• Share dashboards and enable viewers to explore data further

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

41. Cetova C-QRY

Cetova C-QRY is a simple query-management tool that boasts both usability and scalability for data analysis and reporting. The tool is end-user friendly, allowing even the non-technical to drag-and-drop data to generate reports. No coding is required to create row-by-row, transaction-by-transaction tables that are fully searchable for almost any query.

Features:

• Easy to use, even for tech newbies
• Output reports as Excel files, PDF, or HTML
• All queries are saved for future retrieval and reuse

Cost: Contact for pricing

42. ChristianSteven CRD

CRD from ChristianSteven is a feature-rich, flexible business intelligence tool that simplifies Crystal Reports scheduling, exporting, distributing and exporting. The tool simplifies automation processes – it’s billed as “set it and forget it” – and makes it easy to generate and send reports in many standard formats.

Features:

• Fast setup and simple use, no training required
• Send reports to SharePoint, email, print, fax, disk, SMS, or FTP
• Schedule and automate Crystal Report, hassle-free

Cost: Free Trial; Small business package starts at $6,995

43. WebFOCUS

The WebFOCUS premise is that one information delivery system does not fit all: it’s important to equip businesses with the right tools for the right users. WebFOCUS empowers companies with robust solutions to compile, manage, package and deliver data to both company users and clients – managers, C-level executives, employees, suppliers and customers –  via easy-to-use “InfoApps.”

Features:

• Deliver the right information to the right user, via the right delivery approach
• Scorecards and dashboards provide visualization of critical metrics
• InfoApps empowers anyone to manipulate and consume data reports

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

44. iDashboards

IDashboards offers powerful insights in just a few clicks, combining drag-and-drop data integration, visual dashboards, drill-down filtering, database connectivity and other features to drive your business intelligence. The software, which is available in on-premise or cloud-based enterprise versions, requires no programming or coding, and is easy to maintain with minimal resources.

Features:

• Hundreds of maps, charts and other data generation methods
• Filtering and data drill-down for dashboards, charts, and web URLs
• Connectivity to relational databases, Excel, Salesforce, and Google Analytics

Cost: Free Trial; Cloud-hosted starting at $1,995

45. InsightSquared

InsightSquared is one of the world’s top Salesforce Analytics tools, empowering small and medium business to make better, more informed data-driven decisions. This solution works to visualize all your big data, providing easy-to-understand analytics for your sales, marketing, financial, staffing and support information.

Features:

• Analyze trends, identify room for improvement, and forecast future success
• Publish daily lead-gen reports to progress toward company goals
• Unlock historical financial data to drill-down on specifics over time

Cost: Free Trial; Basic from $45/month per user (+ one-time setup fee)

46. TIBCO Spotfire

TIBCO Spotfire is designed to help companies integrate and synthesize big data into an easily consumed and easily understood format. The end goal: to create actionable data reporting through self-discovery – tools anyone in your organization can utilize to manipulate and understand company information.

Features:

• Leverage existing database skill sets to quickly create feature-rich applications
• Instant visualize and interact with your data to reveal opportunities within your organization
• Location-based analytics take e-commerce to the next level

Cost: Free Trial; Desktop solutions from $2,000

47. TARGIT BI Suite

The TARGIT Decision Suite is data discovery and reporting wrapped in a self-service package of beautiful dashboards, easy mobility and single-solution integration. The business analytics suite promotes synergy across departments and systems, manipulating your data to provide easy insights to aid action, observation, orientation and final decision-making.

Features:

• Storyboards tell the data story, so everyone at your company can track progress and goals
• Visual dashboards make it easy to drill-down to the information you need
• Set alerts and notifications

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

48. Stratum Business Intelligence

Silvon’s Stratum Business Intelligence solution is an end-to-end BI tool that makes data gathering and reporting simple. The service suite collects and organizes data from any source, including multiple databases, and then provides filtering to generate insightful analytics to drive intelligent decision-making.

Features:

• House in one place all information from any transactional system – ERP systems, POS, IRI/Nielsen, etc.
• Packaged analytics simplify report generation
• Flexible delivery through SharePoint, PowerPoint, Excel, online, and other methods

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

49. Klipfolio

Lovers of dashboards love Klipfolio, a real-time business dashboard that aggregates all your data into one flexible, powerful dashboard. Combine multiple data sources to create mashups, drill-down information, and produce visualizations of any data-driven metric for your organization. Klipfolio is a big-feature solution without the complexity and cost of many full-service BI suites.

Features:

• Choose from the Klip library to create clean visualizations to share with your team
• Thresholds and customizable indicators highlight key events and exceptions
• Let collaborators share insights and add their own annotations

Cost: Free Trial; Full version starting at $20/user per month

50. InfoZoom

At-a-glance data reporting is the name of the game at InfoZoom, a customizable business intelligence solution for small and medium business. Highly featured filtering makes it easy to pull out desired attributes, creating one-click access to easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement actionable insights.

Features:

• Use big data to customize your customer experience
• Uncover hidden potential for your business by mining various data
• Easily export data reports to share with others

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

Written by Cóbhan Phillipson