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What are some other analytics solutions aside from Oracle and SAP?
I'm looking for a business intelligence/analytics system for my company, but am nowhere close to needing the functionality of Oracle and/or SAP. What are some other solutions I can look into?
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5 Answers
Hi Kelsey,
There are a number of analytics solutions out there. If you're a little more clear on your needs, I can provide more specific advice, but in general, these are the options:
Other Big BI Players - Cognos, Hyperion, etc.
Pros: If you have the time, finances, and resources, these can offer a lot of custom features at enterprise level scalability.
Cons: High cost, complex, takes a long time to deploy, and difficult to extend/adapt later
SaaS BI players - Birst, PivotLink, Cloud9Analytics, GoodData
Pros: Faster to get started, lower initial and ongoing cost, some vendors can customize to your precise needs and process flows
Cons: You have to be comfortable with the SaaS model. Some vendors offer a broader and more robust solution than others.
Open source: Pentaho
Pros: Software is free. You can also customize to a high degree.
Cons: Software is free, but implementation and support is not. It's also a "build yourself" model, so it has high resource and time requirements to get started.
Small BI: Microsoft SSAS
Pros: It's cheap and a lot of people have it already. It's very tempting to just start here, if your needs are moderate.
Cons: It's not as robust a BI solution, it's more "build it yourself," and limited.
In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I work for Birst, a SaaS BI company (www.birst.com), so I'm a little predisposed to the SaaS option.
If you're interested in learning more about SaaS BI from an analyst firm, Aberdeen just came out with a report. If you use this link, you can get a free copy of it: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30411437&cid=6512
Good luck, and let me know if you need anything else.
- Barbara
www.birst.com
In the area of predictive analytics there is a new product to watch/try, Predixion Software. It's based on Excel2010/PowerPivot and the businesslogic/analysis is done through a SaaS. It has the potential to change the whole gane!
http://www.predixionsoftware.com/
An alternative solution is Bluemaps Location Intelligence Solution. Bluemaps enables your organization to integrate its business data with the map data and imagery provided by Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth. Bluemaps provides a platform where you can see your business data on a map; visualize the spatial relations; and analyze interactions within your data complete with zoom & drill down to details for greater understanding.
The geospatial data visualization enhances your ability to analyze business metrics by combining business data, location specific data, and geospatial data in a single user interface. Using location based analytics, decision makers can analyze trends geographically, optimize business processes, and generate meaningful intelligence to improve overall business results.
Bluemaps Provides:
- Drill down for more information – taking you from theory to actual reasons
- Multiple levels of hierarchy – from a single location to multiple states, regions, and countries
- Easy integration through existing connectors to most data sources;
- Role based authorization and authentication – security is key when dealing with business data so we limit access based on user roles – can use existing roles in Active Directory or LDAP;
- Management dashboard for better decision making – navigate business data the same way you navigate a website;
- Clustering support – navigate from summary to similar locations to a customized blend of data;
- File attachments – use the interface to attach files to predefined locations for future use.
Bluemaps Benefits also include:
* Detection of trends that are normally difficult to spot using traditional report formats;
* Ability to present spatially related data;
* Capability of displaying tabular data through map interaction with the ability to change focus and amount of information with a click;
* Ease of managing and manipulating data by using different spatial layers i.e. showing regions on the maps, ability to display stores and customers together or separately on the same map; and
* Eliminates the need for an in-house GIS system.
Bluemaps integrates with existing operational business applications such as your POS system, ERP system, or another BI software reporting tool. I would be happy to set up a no hassle, no obligation demo for you at your convenience.
Barbara, thanks for the great answer. This is how all vendor representatives should engage in the community.
Hi,
Barbara mentioned almost all, I just want to add, if analysis of company's data is main focus, then I would recommend
Tableau Software - very intuitive tool for data analysis and exploration
QlikView - very fast tool (it takes data into memory)
cheers,
Hrvoje.
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