Business intelligence (BI) and data analytics tools pull disparate data sources into a single platform for enterprise data and BI teams to glean comprehensive insights from their organization’s information. These software solutions make it easier to visualize trends in customer purchases, failed business operations, or company cybersecurity. Enterprises should consider which data analytics features are the highest priorities for their team before deciding to implement a BI solution. 

BI tools use aggregated data from storage like databases, data warehouses, data lakes, and cloud storage solutions. They can also use APIs to draw data from business applications, like CRM, ERP, and collaboration tools. They provide insights about data that otherwise would be sitting in large quantities, siloed from other enterprise information. BI tools make data palatable for enterprises. 

BI tools allow teams to create dashboards of distilled information. Dashboards include reports, charts, and graphs that help businesses visualize their data. They’re able to more clearly see when sales or production is improving or declining. Dashboards also give teams a reporting tool for presenting data to executives or other business leaders. 

BI software alerts data teams when data significantly changes, in case something needs to be addressed immediately. Examples include a sudden drop in sales, strange website traffic numbers, or supply chain/shipping delays. 

Some BI solutions also include predictive business analytics, which takes data from events that have already happened and uses that information to predict or prescribe what may happen later. Predictive analytics help businesses make preemptive decisions and avoid future problems.  Read On:

Not sure I agree with the statement that Power Bi is difficult to connect to non-Microsoft data sources. There are abundant connectors to do just that.