Business Intelligence is about analyzing large amounts of data to help you make the right decisions for your organization. Pretty complicated, in other words. Which is the best BI tool out of the huge range is hard to say, but the top priority is the same for everyone.
User-friendly is a must
Don't stare blindly at features and functionality. More is not necessarily better. Nor should price be the deciding factor, because an expensive, effective tool is a better buy than a cheap, useless tool. Your top priority is that the BI solution be USEFUL. Because for BI, more than any other application, if it's too complicated, it's never going to work. With a Business Intelligence solution, no one wants hours of training, thick manuals and calling the support desk with questions. Because then they'd rather do without BI. Your tool needs to be accessible to everyone. Users want to see the right information on their screen quickly and easily, if not; they will drop out.
So should the Business Intelligence solution be very basic?
No, certainly not. It may, or perhaps should, be a very sophisticated application "under the hood. And a number of BI specialists will be very happy with that and indulge themselves to their heart's content to deploy the tool optimally within the organization. But for the 'normal' user, it should be very simple. Think of a manager who consults the BI tool sporadically to consult a few KPIs - he or she does not want to waste valuable time on how to do that again. Or think of all those employees who are less proficient with computers and software - if the BI tool is complicated, they will never use it.
"Users want to see the right information on their screen quickly and easily, if not; they drop out."
Helpful help with selection
Research firm Gartner is considered a leading authority when it comes to assessing the quality of IT solutions. So too in the area of Business Intelligence. In their assessment, they look at how complete a company's vision of BI is and to what extent they have been able to convert this into an application. At the top right of Gartner's quadrant you will find the leaders; they have a complete BI vision and have incorporated this into a powerful and user-friendly application. Of course, there are constant changes in BI and in the qualities of parties and solutions to deal with it. That's why Gartner conducts this survey every year. More information about Gartner's 2019 Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence can be found here.
Give it a try to see how it works?
Want to try what a Business Intelligence tool is and how it works for yourself? On our Business Intelligence page you will find a demo. Not one to watch or where you need our instructions, but an interactive demo that you can try without any explanation. We'd love to hear what you think!
Bjorn Schouten is a Business Intelligence Consultant at Dysel and helps clients turn data into valuable management information.
