Analytics and Business Intelligence PlatformsReviews and Ratings
What are Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms?
Gartner defines analytics and business intelligence platforms (ABI) as those that enable organizations to model, analyze and visualize data to support informed decision making and value creation. These platforms facilitate the preparation of data and the creation of interactive dashboards, reports and visualizations to uncover patterns, predict trends and optimize operations. By doing so, they empower users to collaborate and effectively communicate the dimensions and measures that drive their organization. The platforms may also optionally include the ability to create, modify or enrich a semantic model, including business rules.
Analytics and business intelligence platforms integrate data from multiple sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, cloud services and external data feeds, to provide a unified view of data, breaking down silos and transforming raw data into meaningful insights. They also allow users to clean, transform and prepare data for analysis, in addition to creating data models that define relationships between different data entities.
Tableau is a software designed for data visualization and business intelligence that enables users to connect, analyze, and share data insights from various sources. It provides features such as interactive dashboards, drag and drop analytics, and integration with spreadsheet, cloud, and relational databases. The software helps organizations transform raw data into visual representations including charts, graphs, and maps, allowing for the identification of patterns, trends, and outliers. Tableau addresses business challenges related to data analysis and reporting by simplifying the process of extracting actionable insights and supporting informed decision-making across different functional areas.
Microsoft Power BI is a software designed for business analytics and data visualization. It enables users to aggregate, analyze, and share data through interactive dashboards and reports. The software supports integration with various data sources including databases, cloud services, and spreadsheets, allowing for real-time insights and data-driven decision making. Power BI provides features such as customizable visualizations, data modeling, and automated data refresh. It addresses business challenges related to data accessibility and analysis by offering tools to simplify complex data sets and present information in an understandable format. The software is suitable for organizations seeking to centralize business intelligence tasks within their workflow.
Qlik Sense is a software developed for data analytics and business intelligence that enables users to create interactive visualizations and dashboards from multiple data sources. The software supports associative exploration of data, allowing users to generate insights through drag-and-drop functionality and intuitive interfaces. It offers features such as advanced analytics integration, self-service data preparation, and collaboration tools that facilitate sharing and decision making within organizations. Qlik Sense addresses business problems related to data analysis by simplifying access to real-time information, supporting data-driven decision processes, and enhancing reporting capabilities. The software is designed to be scalable and can be deployed on-premises, in private cloud, or via SaaS environments, providing flexibility for varied organizational needs.
Amazon QuickSight allows everyone in your organization to understand your data by asking questions in natural language, exploring through interactive dashboards, or automatically looking for patterns and outliers powered by machine learning. Amazon QuickSight allows you to ask conversational questions of your data and use Q’s ML-powered engine to receive relevant visualizations, perform accurate forecasting and what-if analysis, and embed interactive visualizations and dashboards, sophisticated dashboard authoring, or natural language query capabilities in your applications to differentiate user experience and unlock new monetization opportunities.
Looker is a software that enables organizations to explore, analyze, and share real-time business analytics and data insights. It provides a browser-based interface for data exploration and reporting, allowing users to create interactive dashboards and visualizations without requiring deep technical knowledge. The software supports integration with multiple data sources and enables data modeling using a flexible language, thereby facilitating customized analysis aligned with business requirements. Looker assists businesses in transforming raw data into actionable insights, supporting data-driven decision-making across various departments such as finance, sales, and operations. The software offers features designed to simplify data governance, ensure consistent metrics, and foster collaboration among teams.
Strategy One is a comprehensive platform for delivering pervasive analytics at scale. Our One platform offers an array of insight delivery options from pixel-perfect reporting to bespoke analytics apps and mobile data experiences. We also offer a fully integrated suite of generative AI-powered analytics including modern AI bots that you can embed anywhere. Strategy One is designed to help eliminate the chaos of managing analytics at scale. At its foundation, the One platform offers a unified data fabric designed to decrease your total cost of ownership. Our trusted semantic layer enables governance, security, and object-level reusability to fuel your entire analytics strategy. Strategy One also empowers agility so you can adapt quickly as business demands evolve. Built on a modern, open, microservices architecture, the One platform provides further flexibility by including hundreds of connectors, a full suite of APIs, and cloud-native availability on four major cloud ecosystems.
SAP BusinessObjects BI Suite is a software designed to facilitate business intelligence processes through integrated reporting, analysis, and data visualization capabilities. The software enables users to access, analyze, and share data across multiple sources, supporting decision-making and performance management within organizations. It offers tools for ad-hoc queries, dashboards, and advanced analytics, allowing users to transform raw data into meaningful insights. The software addresses business challenges related to data fragmentation by consolidating information and providing a unified platform for accessing enterprise-wide data. It supports both on-premise and cloud deployments, accommodates various user roles, and integrates with other SAP solutions to enhance scalability and extend analytical functions.
Sisense Fusion Analytics is a software designed to integrate, analyze, and visualize complex data from diverse sources. It enables organizations to build analytical applications that facilitate data exploration and insight generation by combining cloud, on-premises, and third-party data within a single platform. The software offers capabilities such as dashboard creation, embedded analytics, and customizable reporting, supporting data-driven decision making. Sisense Fusion Analytics addresses business challenges related to data fragmentation by streamlining data integration and providing tools for comprehensive analytics, allowing users to uncover trends and patterns relevant to operational and strategic objectives.
QlikView is a business intelligence software designed to facilitate data visualization, dashboard development, and reporting for organizations seeking to analyze and interpret large volumes of data. The software enables users to consolidate and transform disparate data sources into interactive visual analytics using in-memory technology. It offers features such as associative data modeling, drag-and-drop interfaces, and customizable dashboards, allowing users to quickly discover trends, patterns, and outliers in their business data. QlikView addresses the business problem of slow decision-making caused by data silos and limited insight, providing a platform for centralized data exploration, fast calculations, and dynamic filtering, thereby supporting users in data-driven decision processes.
ThoughtSpot Analytics is a software that enables businesses to perform self-service data analytics and visualization. The software allows users to search and analyze data from various sources, including cloud platforms and internal databases, using a search-driven interface. It offers features such as natural language query processing, interactive dashboards, and integration with other business intelligence tools. The software is designed to help organizations uncover insights and trends in their data, facilitating decision-making processes and addressing challenges related to data accessibility and interpretation. By empowering users to generate reports and visualizations without relying on IT support, ThoughtSpot Analytics seeks to improve the efficiency of data analysis within business environments.
SAS Enterprise Guide is a software that provides a graphical interface for advanced analytics, data management, and reporting. This software enables users to access, manipulate, and analyze data from multiple sources with point-and-click tasks, code editing, and automation capabilities. It supports data integration, statistical analysis, and the development of repeatable processes for data exploration and reporting. SAS Enterprise Guide offers features that facilitate collaboration among users through projects and workflows, enhancing productivity for business analysts and statisticians. The software addresses business needs for efficient data preparation, analysis, and sharing of results within organizations seeking to streamline decision-making based on data insights.
Spotfire is the visual data science platform that uniquely combines visual analytics, data science and in-line data wrangling for analyzing data. Spotfire provides a point-and-click user experience that enables users to rapidly build and interact with visual data science applications, and allows them to deploy these apps to thousands of users with just one-click for business-critical operations and daily decision making. Low-code and no-code capabilities, empower business users and data scientists to build more powerful domain-specific applications.
Optimized for scaled and secure deployments, combined with a wealth of knowledge and extensions through the Spotfire Community Exchange, provides users with even more extensibility. Spotfire helps you tap into an ever-growing ecosystem of industrial knowledge that houses hundreds of vertical implementations across Energy, Manufacturing, and many more, empowering users to solve the world’s most complex industry-specific challenges.
Domo is a cloud-based software that enables organizations to aggregate, visualize, and analyze data from multiple sources in real-time. The software provides business intelligence capabilities by integrating data from disparate platforms, allowing users to create interactive dashboards, generate reports, and automate workflows. Domo addresses the challenge of data fragmentation by facilitating data centralization and offering tools for collaborative decision-making. The software is designed to support data governance, access control, and scalability, making it suitable for businesses seeking to improve operational efficiency, manage performance metrics, and enhance data-driven insights across functions.
IBM Cognos Analytics is a software that provides business intelligence and data analytics capabilities for organizations. The software enables users to create, share, and manage reports, dashboards, and visualizations using data from various sources. IBM Cognos Analytics uses features such as data exploration, self-service analytics, automated data preparation, and advanced visualization tools to help organizations analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured data. The software supports data modeling and offers collaborative tools for report authoring and sharing. It addresses business problems related to understanding operational trends, forecasting, and decision-making by providing insights derived from integrated and interactive data analytics processes.
Oracle Analytics Cloud is a software that offers data analytics and business intelligence capabilities for organizations. It provides tools for preparing, visualizing, and analyzing data from various sources, supporting features such as data modeling, interactive dashboards, and predictive analytics. The software facilitates collaboration by allowing users to share insights and reports within teams. It supports integration with cloud and on-premises data sources, enabling advanced analytics solutions for addressing complex business problems, including identifying trends, evaluating performance, and optimizing decision-making. Its scalable architecture accommodates varying data volumes and user demands, serving as a unified platform for enterprise analytics requirements.
Oracle Analytics Server is a software that provides organizations with tools for data preparation, visualization, reporting, and analytics. It enables users to access, analyze, and share information from various data sources, supporting both structured and unstructured data. The software includes features such as interactive dashboards, self-service analytics, advanced data visualization, and data modeling capabilities. It allows for integration with enterprise systems and facilitates collaboration across teams by providing secure access to insights and reports. Oracle Analytics Server addresses business needs for informed decision-making by delivering analytical capabilities that help to uncover trends, patterns, and business opportunities through a unified analytics platform.
Zoho Analytics is a software designed to support business intelligence and data analytics needs by enabling users to visually analyze data, generate insightful reports, and create interactive dashboards. The software provides capabilities for integrating data from multiple sources, such as files, feeds, cloud storage, databases, and business applications, allowing organizations to consolidate and explore data efficiently. Zoho Analytics offers tools for data modeling, data blending, and automated data preparation, along with options for collaborative analysis and sharing. The software addresses the business problem of transforming raw data into actionable insights, facilitating data-driven decision-making across departments.
The SAP Analytics Cloud solution let data and analytics leaders and practitioners in organizations running enterprise applications from SAP unlock the potential of all their investments in mission-critical business applications and valuable data sources. It brings together analytics, business intelligence (BI), and planning augmented with the power of artificial intelligence (AI), data science (DS), and machine learning (ML).
It connects live at the point of decision and action without moving data from their SAP enterprise applications to keep the complete business context. The built-in planning engine enables them to go beyond simple visualizations, they can run simulations and forecasts, and collaborate for decision-making. Over 300 packages of industry best practices for AI-infused analytics and BI enable them to de-risk their projects and accelerate business outcomes.
The Pyramid Platform operates directly on any data, enabling governed self-service for any person; and meeting analytical needs in a no-code environment. It combines data prep, business analytics, and data science into one frictionless platform to empower anyone with intelligent decision-making. This enables a strategic, enterprise-wide approach to business intelligence and analytics, from the simple to the sophisticated.
Databricks Data Intelligence Platform is a software designed to unify data, analytics, and artificial intelligence workloads under a single platform. It enables organizations to store, manage, and analyze structured and unstructured data at scale while supporting collaborative data engineering, machine learning, and business intelligence projects. The software provides tools for data warehousing, data lakehouse integration, automated data workflows, and governance capabilities, facilitating secure sharing and discovery of data assets. By streamlining the creation of analytics solutions, Databricks Data Intelligence Platform aids businesses in deriving insights, building machine learning models, and operationalizing data science processes to address complex analytical tasks and inform decision-making.
Show More Details
Features of Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms
Updated July 2025
Mandatory Features:
Visualization: Supports custom visualizations, allows users to visualize and analyze graphs and integrates with charting libraries, supports geographic mapping, and recommends which visualization type to use for different data types.
Analytics catalog: Portal-like curation and collaboration of ABI content, enabling users to share, find, search, comment and certify dashboards, reports and datasets from a diverse range of platforms in one place.
Data preparation: Supports drag-and-drop, user-driven combination of data from different sources and the creation of analytic models, such as user-defined measures, data pipelines, sets, groups and hierarchies.
Reporting: This capability provides pixel-perfect, paginated reports that can be scheduled and shared with a large user community.
Natural language query (NLQ): This capability enables users to ask questions of the data using terms that are either typed into a search box or spoken aloud.
Data source connectivity: Capabilities that enable users to connect to and ingest data contained in various types of storage platforms, both on-premises and in the cloud.
Content management: This capability allows administrators and D&A stewards to manage the security, certification and life cycle of analytics content.
Automated insights: The ability to apply machine learning (ML) techniques to automatically generate insights for end users; for example, identifying the most important attributes in a dataset, conducting time series forecasting and identifying clusters within datasets. These features also enable the incorporation of usage and feedback data from users to display content that is most relevant for their role and use case.
Peer Lessons Learned for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms
Published December 2024
These lessons focuses on the responses to the questions: “If you could start over, what would your organization do differently?” and “What one piece of advice would you give other prospective customers?”