Why you need a BI platform and how to choose one.
Business intelligence platforms enable people to import, clean, and analyze data from databases, emails, videos, survey responses, and more. These data analyses provide mobile, desktop, and real-time business intelligence so decision-makers can act on insights to improve their organization. BI platforms allow users to customize dashboards, create stunning data visualizations, build scorecards, and compare them to key performance indicators (KPIs).
Why organizations need BI platforms:
To succeed in the fast-moving world of business, today’s organizations must be data-driven and promote a data-driven culture. To do so, leaders need a modern business intelligence platform that helps everyone see and understand their data.
Business intelligence platforms are more than business analytics software packages. They support your organization’s BI strategy by making it easier to access and analyze your data. Simple analytics platforms import, clean, analyze and forecast data — but business intelligence platforms are more robust and dynamic, and can adapt as you grow your BI strategy.
BI Platforms in Action:
These are only some of the real-world applications of BI software and what they can do for your organization:
* Visualize supply changes over time
* Forecast sales and profits
* Analyze the results of marketing campaigns
* Automate reporting
* Automate report distribution to stakeholders
* Visualize sales and inventory with near real-time functionality
* Integrate with cloud-based, third-party platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure
* Embed dashboards into custom solutions for internal or external use
Common features of BI platforms:
There are many commercial and open-source BI platforms available in the market, with different user experiences and functionalities. However, each platform will typically offer some combination of the features below.
* Customizable dashboards
* Data visualizations
* Report scheduling, with security specifications
* Data quality management and oversight for IT departments
* Natural language processing (NLP) to discover new insights from data like videos or social media platforms
* Faster data-mining capability
* Performance tracking against KPIs
Making the right choice
Now you have thought about your priorities in a BI platform and considered how the platform will be leveraged in your company. Next, I’ll share my recommendations for choosing the right BI platform for you.
Choose a trusted partner for BI success
As you evaluate business intelligence platforms, be mindful to choose a company whose core mission is to empower people to be data-driven. Has the company invested years of research and development into its analytics platform? Does its history indicate the company will continue to innovate? Does it prioritize user experience to help customers drive adoption?
Rely on the experience of your peers. Their passion and enthusiasm are a direct indication of the success they’ve had with the product. Find out how they’ve incented their people to adopt the platform, and leverage that knowledge to build your own road to success.
Choose an innovative platform that keeps up with your needs
Business intelligence platforms should adapt to current technology and the innovation of their users. You should choose a platform that can easily scale as your company grows. At Tableau, we understand that business realities are constantly evolving, and we watch out for upcoming trends in business intelligence to inform BI users. The right platform for your organization will be flexible, easy to use, and should help you reach your business goals.
