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Can anybody recommend a reasonably priced BI tool for SMEs?
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9 Answers
Understood. I've used QlikView, and it's a good product in the "Data Discovery" space. Based on products you mentioned, you're interested in quick time-to-value?
Out of your choices, I'd personally prefer QlikView as I like "complete control" over the data rather than leaning on Software as a Service (PivotLink) and needing to UL my data somewhere. You'll find QlikView has a larger eco-system and more people who can help you if and when you get stuck.
I'd suggest you take a hard look at Tableau (www.tableausoftware.com), too. Tableau, much like QlikView has a cult-like following, and I prefer it to QlikView for the following reasons:
- Easier to load data (no script writing like QlikView)
- Better visualizations
- Users can do meaningful work w/o IT. For all but the most simple data models, IT is still going to need to get QlikView users started (my opinion only).
- It looks and feels cooler :)
HTH!
If you already own Excel (2010), take a look at the free PowerPivot add-in.
Using the combination of Excel + PowerPivot, you can:
Report against 100M+ rows (limited only by memory)
Mash multiple sources of data together
Create new analytical expressions
Build reports on this data using "classic" Excel techniques
Excel + PowerPivot will be about as cheap as you can go unless you choose to look at open source BI tools.
Use Microsoft SQL Azure and the built in SQL Azure Reporting - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/sqlazure/reporting/
It's SQL Server / Reporting Services, hosted in the cloud - databases start at $10/month for 1GB of space (huge for most databases)
The other "free / low cost" option (to run on premise) would be SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Advanced Services (essentially Reporting Services) http://www.microsoft.com/express/Database/InstallOptions.aspx
Past that, you'd start to get into Microsoft SQL Server Standard edition http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/editions/standard.aspx and want to look into their Analysis Services (OLAP) / Integration Services products (ETL) and added features in Reporting Services.
Usually you license per processor for SQL Server which is $7171 and optionally add Software Assurance ($1793 / 3 years) so you can stay current with future versions. You may have additional agreements with Microsoft (Select, Enterprise, etc.) that can lower that cost.
Compared to other BI tools, SQL Server (even Standard edition) is very reasonably priced.
Both excellent answers but I was thinking something akin to qlick view, pivit link, or mydial- 'all in one' solutions if you will?
http://www.qlikview.com/
http://www.pivotlink.com/
Bime is a very reasonably priced solution. In a nutshell: it is an easy yet powerful BI app delivered in a web browser (SaaS). The SaaS model means there is complete scalability, no long term contract, and no capital investment or IT architecture needed.
http://bimeanalytics.com
You didn't indicate your definition of reasonably priced, I think a lot of the answer depends on that but here are a few options for on-premise solutions.
There are free options out there like Jaspersoft, Pentaho, and even large vendors have some free options like Microstrategy Free Reporting Suite.
You can use Crystal Reports for as little as $600 to buy a single use license.
There are Group, Departmental solutions that have been mentioned like Qlikview and Tableau, they range in the $25k and up range.
And then larger vendors like SAP, Information Builders, IBM, Oracle, etc. that can cost $100k plus.
My company's product, Yurbi, www.yurbi.com, provides a on-premise, 100% web based, enterprise BI platform for under $10k depending on your needs.
A lot of it depends on your requirements, all of the tools above have their strengths and weaknesses, cost is important but research all the options and focus on more than just product cost. The larger cost may be the resources needed to run the product and how much time and energy it will require you and your end users to learn the product and get what they want.
Good Luck!
Consider Pentaho. It is priced reasonably as compared to other BI tools offering the same features: Reporting, Analysis, Data Mining/ Integration and Dashboards. The community edition is free.
If you are interested in open source BI solutions, consider:
BIRT, http://download.eclipse.org/birt/downloads
RapidMiner, http://rapid-i.com/content/view/181/190/
SpagoBI, http://www.spagoworld.org/xwiki/bin/view/SpagoBI/
A lot of the tools recommended are great, depending on what your needs (and definition of reasonably priced) are. We're pretty much vendor agnostic, so it's hard to recommend a particular tool. What I certainly would suggest, however, is an objective side-by-side comparison. The folks at BI Scorecard (http://www.biscorecard.com) have really done a great job of providing an objective framework for evaluation of not just the visualization/dashboard tools, but of the BI platforms out there as well.
One caveat, the reports themselves aren't free (and in some cases may cost more than you were thinking to spend on a "reasonably priced" BI tool), but IMHO are well worth it.
One quick follow up: this report/thought piece just came out from David Loshin and TDWI; while it doesn't list specific vendors or tools for SMEs it does provide an approach to BI if you're an SME.
http://tdwi.org/research/2011/06/checklist-report-fundamentals-of-business-in...
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