Top Benefits of Business Intelligence Software: 2021 List

Every business needs a fool-proof strategy for improved efficiency, growth, and revenue. Here, we’ll examine the top benefits of business intelligence software. This article will cover how BI works and the best business intelligence tools. 

Whether you want improved visibility, easy data-driven decision-making, or higher customer satisfaction, BI can help you. Small, midsize, and large businesses need business intelligence. 

What Is Business Intelligence?

Business intelligence refers to the process of analyzing datasets to find actionable insights. Company stakeholders like managers and executives use these insights to make informed business decisions. The practices involved in BI combine business analytics, data visualization, and data mining.

Businesses use BI when they have access to large quantities of data, including sales trends and customer behavior and preferences. The next step is for companies to use this data to adapt to the market, increase their conversion rates, or improve their value propositions. 

How Does Business Intelligence Work?

Business intelligence is a complex process that involves many steps. Before working with the actual data, businesses must determine their goals. Then they need to gather and analyze data to achieve these goals.

First, data sets must be organized and modeled for an accurate analysis. Next, businesses must perform query analysis using tools like SQL. If this is done right, stakeholders will have access to large sets of organized data to help them achieve their objectives.  

Why Is Business Intelligence Important?

Business intelligence is critical for every company because it helps obtain valuable consumer insights. These insights reveal what appeals to current customers and can be used to create effective marketing strategies. This data will be invaluable in attracting new customers. 

Data from BI also helps organizations improve their efficiency and competitiveness. Real-time data allows businesses to adapt to market trends swiftly. 

Business Intelligence vs. Business Analytics: What’s the Difference?

Business intelligence consists of analyzing past, present, and future data to develop valuable insights. On the other hand, business analytics involves analyzing past data to drive future business decisions. 

BI focuses on business acumen and skills like data analysis, whereas business analytics requires skills like Python. The tools for BI and business analytics are also different. Microsoft PowerBI, SAP BusinessObjects, and TIBCO are typical BI tools. Business analytics tools include word processors, Google Docs, and the Microsoft Office suite.

If a business is just starting, it’s best to use business analytics to ensure a promising future for the brand. However, if the company has been around for years, using BI to improve current operations will work better. 

10 Benefits of Business Intelligence Software

Business intelligence yields many benefits to companies. You can gather more meaningful consumer and market insights to make informed decisions, gain a competitive advantage, and access accurate reporting within seconds. Below are some of the benefits of BI software. 

Extract Valuable, Actionable Insights 

BI software gives you insights into employee productivity, department productivity, revenue, and overall business success. This valuable information allows businesses to gauge what works and what needs improvement. 

To effectively use these insights, businesses can set key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure their progress. Most BI tools offer real-time analytics to make implementing insights and measuring data easier. 

Have a Competitive Edge 

Every business needs to perform an analysis to gain a competitive advantage. Because of BI software, companies have access to large datasets. They can confidently determine their budget, forecast their revenue, and detect any potential drawbacks. 

These data-driven decisions help businesses become stronger competitors. With access to market trends, predictive analytics, and real-time data, companies can reach more clients than their competitors. 

Find Market Trends 

A successful business needs a 360-degree view of the market they want to win over. Companies need to know customer preferences, common business issues, customer pain points, and the current market conditions. 

With a reliable business intelligence tool, companies can determine this information and make decisions accordingly. This means that businesses can also save time by having market and sales trends available with just a few clicks. 

Quick and Accurate Reporting 

Businesses, particularly larger enterprises, don’t want to sort through vast amounts of data to find what they need. Instead, BI software offers in-depth reporting tools to uncover company trends over time, as well as trends in employee satisfaction, customer behavior, and key business metrics. 

In addition, BI software typically features multiple visualization tools. You can view analytics as graphs, tables, pie charts, and line graphs. Most tools will also automatically send you weekly or monthly reports. 

Determine Benchmarks 

It’s easier to establish business benchmarks with BI software. These tools offer data and analytics based on past progress, current operations, and future growth. Organizations can set realistic benchmarks based on this information.

Having benchmarks also helps uncover a business’s performance. When businesses don’t achieve the results they want, they can use business intelligence data to change this. 

Enhanced Customer Experience 

Almost 46 percent of businesses will prioritize customer experience over pricing and product quality in the next five years, according to this article by SuperOffice. This proves that the customer experience is crucial. The better the experience consumers have with your brand, the more likely they are to return. They might also tell others about their experience which will bring your business more customers. 

Due to the detailed analytics from BI software, companies can create more customer-centric marketing techniques. Developing a brand experience tailored to your audience’s preferences and pain points will help you to provide customers with an excellent experience.

Better Performance Management 

With benchmarks, market trends, and timely reports, businesses have a clearer understanding of their performance. Companies can use benchmarking reports to assess their progress, operational costs, and revenue growth.

BI software also provides data-driven goals for every point of the consumer’s journey. For example, companies can set daily, weekly, and monthly sales targets or an ideal turnaround time for customer feedback. With the features and functions available in these software platforms, you can make accurate decisions to manage and enhance business performance. 

Operational Efficacy 

Time means everything to a successful business. We rate customer service based on the turnaround time and the quality of help. If a company is inefficient, it can expect higher operation and labor costs. 

Using business intelligence software, companies can automate their workflows for higher productivity. Instead of finding market trends and digging up data-driven insights, you can focus on product quality, customer service, and perfecting overall business operations. 

Increased Sales Intelligence 

When a sales team has access to valuable insights, they can promote the brand better. BI software gives sales teams enough data to back up their claims and target prospective customers.

This information allows sales teams to identify profitable potential customers and use marketing language and tactics tailored to consumers. Salespeople can also make on-the-spot sales decisions by having access to real-time data and analytics. 

Accelerated Revenue 

All the advantages of business intelligence software can result in increased income. By cutting down operation costs through automation, companies will save money while optimizing their performance. With a firmer understanding of their performance, businesses can make better decisions to increase their profitability. 

Additionally, quick access to accurate insights allows organizations to make decisions geared toward business growth. This all means that businesses that use BI software accurately can expect greater revenue. 

Best Business Intelligence Tools in 2021

There are many BI tools on the market. Choosing the best business intelligence platform can be a difficult process. To help you, we’ve compiled some of the best business intelligence technologies in the list below. 

Datapine 

Datapine allows businesses to quickly integrate data sets from multiple sources and use a simple drag-and-drop editor to create beautiful visualizations. There is an SQL mode to write SQL queries, a predictive analytics tool with a beginner-friendly forecasting engine, and the option to build cross-database queries. This powerful tool has multiple reporting options and interactive dashboard functions. 

Datapine is used by many industries ranging from construction and energy to healthcare. The many advantages of this software include impressive data analysis features, an intuitive dashboard, and plentiful customization options for businesses. The biggest drawback is a lack of mobile adaptive functions and machine learning features. 

Clear Analytics

Clear Analytics targets companies from all industries and provides a dynamic query builder within Excel. There is also an audit trail for finding data sources and processes. This software sends self-service and ad hoc reports directly to PowerBI, saving you time and effort. 

Clear Analytics features an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop editor. Moreover, it allows business users to leverage a detailed summary of data in Excel. Using Clear Analytics and sharing reports is unbelievably easy: you don’t even need to know programming languages to use this tool.

Unfortunately, Clear Analytics relies heavily on Excel spreadsheets. For some businesses, this reliance on Excel might make Clear Analytics a less attractive long-term solution.

Domo 

Domo is used in industries like healthcare, media and entertainment, and manufacturing. With Domo, you can count on world-class security governance, countless data integration functions, and automatic suggestions for data visualizations. You can use Domo’s Magic Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) feature to prepare data without knowing SQL.

Businesses that use Domo praise its easy configuration and access to bountiful data analytics. You can also use pre-built apps, dashboards, and connector APIs via Domo’s App Store. However, novices might find certain features and customization options hard to use and limited. 

Metric Insights

Metric Insights has created a centralized solution for all business intelligence content. Through the intuitive portal, you can quickly find information relevant to your company. Metric Insights also offers integration for chatbots. Additionally, it provides features to create, assign, and manage workflows. 

You can also create portal pages that house vital data. Moreover, with this software you can easily detect any anomalies that may be hampering the business. Sharing data through this platform is quick and easy and users don’t need any coding experience. However, this tool doesn’t offer a free trial, and getting feedback from customer support can be a hassle. 

MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is used by companies in many industries. It enables businesses to integrate voice technology and chatbots. You can connect to over 200 data sources. This tool offers cloud technology functions, a common data glossary, and a hyperintelligence feature that extracts your data from sources and develops zero-click insights. 

With MicroStrategy, it’s easy to drag and drop data points into a collection and visualize data. You can also define data hierarchy and take advantage of its robust analytics. MicroStrategy’s biggest drawback is its complicated configuration. Additionally, there is no ecosystem for training material. 

Final Thoughts

Manual reporting is tedious. Luckily, there are many advanced business intelligence tools available to automate the process for you. Every established business should use BI to improve its operations. 

Using BI, companies can dominate the market, find valuable consumer insights, improve brand experience, and enhance operational efficiency. Additionally, you can learn business intelligence without any coding experience.