The business sector generates huge data flows, so their analysis lays the foundation for planning processes in the enterprise, building development strategies, and choosing alternatives. You will need special technologies to organise them.
The usefulness of the BI
A system of business intelligence is a set of tools and technologies that experts use in companies for data collection, processing, visualization, and analysis. In other words, BI helps experts translate business information into a simple and comfortable form and gives professionals the means to work with it.
The main development trends of the business intelligence technology
Experts predict that in the near future, organizations around the world will begin to actively use artificial intelligence algorithms, thanks to which the market of BI technologies will grow fivefold. More than a third of companies will be included in the staff of decision analysts. The system of the BI uses dynamic data analysis, targeting each user individually.
There are several major technology trends in business intelligence:
- Popularisation of BI technology through the SaaS cloud model. The principle of providing software as a service has become widespread worldwide.
- The distance of the BI systems from the classical model towards the self-service BI. It is an innovative approach to data analysis that focuses on the end user. Self-service helps experts work with analytical systems and create queries without knowledge of programming languages.
- Using the principle of the low code, which assumes that people have enough basic programming skills to develop corporate applications. To do this, you will use platform builders with a graphical interface.
- Application of hybrid data storage architecture. In today’s world, experts have to work with huge volumes of unstructured information, which is summed up from different sources. For its storage, experts have created the so-called «data lake.» Here, you can store data in any amount and format without having to structure it and, if necessary, access it quickly.
Also, the developing technologies of augmented analytics are promising, which implies a new level of interaction between the BI system and the user. This is due to the introduction of AI and machine learning.
Market leaders in business
The largest members of the business intelligence market are famous companies such as Microsoft, Tableau, SAS, and Qlik. Some of their products are distributed free of charge.
Microsoft Power BI
The main advantage of this tool is effective interaction with other Microsoft products that different organizations actively use. In addition, Power BI is economical, easy to use, and has a recognizable appearance. It can be integrated with different data sources.
SAS Analytics
The product is easy to use, intuitive, and has good visualization. Its strength is data security. At the same time, it is one of the most expensive solutions for business analysts in the market.
Tableau
A huge number of organizations around the world use the program. Tableau’s strength is high-quality visualization, which is important when working with different types of information. This tool will help you work with different sources of information and connect mobile devices to your computer. Among its shortcomings, it is high cost and does not have a flexible pricing policy.
QlikView
This unique tool is optimal for businesses of any size. You can use QlikView for free. However, its set of features is limited. You can run this system in a cloud or mobile program.
Today, business analytics technology has become very popular both in large companies and small businesses. The introduction of the principle of self-service opened access to BI for ordinary users, and it made them effective in individual entrepreneurship.