Globally, nearly 50% of all businesses already use BI tools, and projections show continued growth in the coming years as we continue to dive into the expanding digital space.
The implication is that African businesses and entrepreneurs must work hard to maximize the benefits of business intelligence tools, which comprise the strategies and technologies used by successful enterprises.
These business tools are essential for data analysis and business information management—reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, dashboard development, data mining, and process mining.
Although this article primarily presents an exclusive list of 15 outstanding business intelligence tools for business owners, it also shares valuable insights into their importance. Get ready to discover the relevant business intelligence tools that will aid all your business endeavours, domestically and globally.
15 Business Intelligence Tools
1. IBM Cognos Analytics
African business owners can use IBM Cognos Analytics, which is one of the web-based integrated business intelligence tools, to provide a toolset for reporting, analytics, scorecard monitoring of events, and metrics.
It can also be used for several components designed to meet the different information requirements of a company. IBM Cognos Analytics has elements such as IBM Cognos Framework Manager, IBM Cognos Cube Designer, and IBM Cognos Transformer.
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2. SAP Business Objects
SAP Business Objects is a centralized suite of reporting and analytics tools for business intelligence (BI) platforms. African entrepreneurs will benefit from its applications that allow users to discover data, perform analysis, derive insights, and create reports that visualize the insights.
It can also help to make reporting and analysis simple for business users, enabling them to create reports and perform processes such as predictive analytics without needing the input of data analysts.
3. Dataphin
African startups can use Dataphin, a business intelligence software tool that offers interactive BI dashboards to provide users with safe access to all pertinent corporate data.
In this way, it allows users to make data-driven choices from any location and anytime. It enables individuals to create in-depth, actionable insights with self-service analysis.
With Dataphin, African business owners can develop data-driven procedures and improve organizational efficiency.
4. NetSuite
NetSuite is a cloud-based enterprise software company. By utilizing the software, small and medium-sized businesses can ensure efficiency in their products and services.
NetSuite assists in accounting and financial management, customer relationship management, inventory management, human capital management, payroll, procurement, and project management.
Depending on the choice of modules, the platform can support accounting capabilities like general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash management, tax management, purchasing, inventory, and order management.
5. ClickUp
ClickUp is a powerful all-in-one productivity platform that helps manage small and large teams across industries with flexible and customizable work management solutions, tools, and functions.
ClickUp as one of the business intelligence tools, it has a user-friendly interface, allowing users to fully customize their workspace. In addition to African business owners, it has over hundreds of packed tools and customization options to streamline workflow.
It offers a feature-rich experience to view workload, manage operations, and collaborate with team members—a feature African business owners will not want to miss for anything.
6. Sisense
Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence is making a remarkable difference in the business environment.
As such, Sisense is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven business intelligence tool that helps African business owners simplify and analyze complex data, create visualizations, and discover and share insights with vital organizational decision-makers.
With this fantastic tool, African business owners can analyze complex datasets quickly. Among others, it provides different data source connectors and can integrate data from various sources and analyze them together.
7. Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is one of the mosts popular business intelligence tools with several desktop, web, and mobile app versions. Power BI is an interactive data visualization software developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence.
It is a common fact that business intelligence is critical for navigating the economic holdup in the African economy. Power BI combines software services, apps, and connectors to turn various data sources into static and interactive data visualizations.
Data may be input by reading directly from a database, webpage, PDF, or structured files such as spreadsheets, CSV, XML, and JSON.
8. SAS Business Intelligence
SAS is a statistical software suite and a business intelligence tool. Mining, altering, managing, and retrieving data from a variety of sources is made simple with the SAS business intelligence tool.
It also provides a graphical point-and-click interface for non-technical users and more through the SAS language. SAS programs have DATA steps, which retrieve and manipulate data; PROC (procedures), which analyze the data; and also have functions.
9. Tableau
Tableau is also one of the best data visualization and business intelligence tools with enough power to simplify raw data and make it easily accessible at all company levels. It is among the most popular business intelligence and data visualization tools available.
For African startups and business owners, this business tool offers enough power and speed to simplify raw data and make it easily accessible to employees at all company levels.
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10. Oracle Business Intelligence Application
Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) applications are complete, prebuilt BI solutions that deliver intuitive, role-based intelligence throughout an organization.
These solutions enable organizations to gain more insight and excellent value from various data sources, including Oracle Fusion Cloud and On-Premise Applications, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, and third-party systems.
Oracle BI applications are built on the Oracle BI Foundation, a comprehensive and market-leading BI platform.
11. Oracle BI Server
Oracle BI Server is a query, reporting, and analysis server that provides services to the other components of the Business Intelligence suite, such as data mining, reporting, and analytical applications.
The server uses ODBC 2.0, which provides a standard software API method for using database management systems, and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), which is an API for the Java programming language.
The BI server compiles incoming query requests into executable code and then executes the code. Clients of the BI server work with logical data independent of the data sources, and they submit them to the BI server.
The server translates the data to some combination of physical SQL and sends it to the back-end databases.
12. Yellowfin BI Software
Yellowfin BI Software emerges as one of the robust solutions designed to streamline data analysis and reporting, offering a wealth of features. While detailing the specifics of Yellowfin BI, it was unveiled that it can revolutionize how businesses operate.
As a business tool, it is a pivotal solution for organizations aiming to make informed decisions, streamline data analysis, and enhance overall business intelligence.
13. Exago Business Intelligence
As a business intelligence tool, Exago is a powerful, flexible, and trustworthy self-service business intelligence solution that puts ad hoc reporting, dashboards, and analytics in the hands of end users.
The business intelligence tool is used by application software and service providers to integrate into their products, thereby increasing the value of their offerings to their customers and prospects.
It is perfect for building and formatting basic tabular reports. Standard Reports is a familiar, Excel-like design grid with advanced functionality.
Exago is an enterprise web-based BI solution that allows non-technical end users to create and edit reports and dashboards without IT support.
14. MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy’s powerful cloud-native platform allows the system to react quickly to new feature testing and maintain seamless app performance for users, enabling data-driven workflows wherever people are.
It is built on an open, modern architecture as a business intelligence tool. Carefully designed, a composable, plug-and-play framework sets the golden standards for integration into any product, app, or website.
MicroStrategy’s success is amplified by long-lasting partnerships with some of the best in data analytics.
15. TIBCO BI & Analytics
TIBCO BI and Analytics is widely known for its products, including TIBCO Spotfire, TIBCO Data Science, and TIBCO Data Virtualization, specializing in BI and analytics.
As a business intelligence tool, Tibco is strong in analytics, streaming, application programming, and interface data visualization.
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Conclusion
The importance of business intelligence (BI) technologies for African business owners should not be undermined because they are crucial for making informed decisions and establishing a successful enterprise.
Business intelligence tools continue to be a valuable help in managing Africa’s unstable socioeconomic and political landscape. Embracing its virtues and many-sided benefits is critical to the success of African businesses and entrepreneurs.
To keep up with the concurrent changes in the business world and continuously compete favourably in the global business ecosystem, business owners in Africa must adopt business intelligence tools.
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