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Data analytics & BI

Turning data into dashboards, reports and answers that people actually use to decide.

What it is

Business intelligence (BI) tools connect to your data, model it in business terms (revenue, margin, churn) and present it as dashboards and reports. Self-service BI lets business users explore without waiting for IT.

The tool matters less than what sits underneath it: agreed definitions, clean data and clear ownership. Most BI tools now add AI as well: ask a question in plain English and get a chart back.

Explainer

The four questions of analytics

  1. 01 · Descriptive

    What happened?

    Monthly sales by region

  2. 02 · Diagnostic

    Why did it happen?

    Drill into returns by product

  3. 03 · Predictive

    What will happen?

    Next quarter's demand forecast

  4. 04 · Prescriptive

    What should we do?

    Recommended stock per store

Each step answers a harder question and is worth more to the business. Most organisations are solid on the first two; data science and AI push into the last two.

Guides

Guides in Data analytics & BI

Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft's BI tool: the most widely used, and the default for Microsoft 365 organisations.

  • Organisations on Microsoft 365
  • Rolling BI out to thousands of users at low cost
  • Finance-style reporting and heavy Excel users
Typical project: 4–10 weeksSee vendors

Tableau

The visual analytics pioneer, loved by analysts for fast, beautiful exploration.

  • Analysts who explore data visually
  • Salesforce customers
  • Mixed-cloud estates
Typical project: 4–10 weeksSee vendors

Looker

Google Cloud's BI platform, built around one central data model written in code.

  • Teams that want one governed set of metrics
  • Products with customer-facing analytics
  • BigQuery users
Typical project: 6–14 weeksSee vendors

Qlik Sense

BI with an associative engine that shows what's related, and what isn't, with every click.

  • People who explore by clicking, not querying
  • QlikView customers modernising
  • Manufacturing and supply-chain analytics
Typical project: 2–6 monthsSee vendors

At a glance

GuideBest fitPricingTypical project
Power BIBroad, low-cost self-service BI in Microsoft estatesPer user (Pro, Premium Per User) or Fabric capacity; Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E54–10 weeks
TableauVisual exploration by analysts, in mixed or non-Microsoft estatesPer user per year, by role: Creator, Explorer or Viewer4–10 weeks
LookerGoverned metrics defined once, and embedded analyticsPlatform edition plus per-user licences; quoted by Google6–14 weeks
QlikClick-to-explore analysis and QlikView modernisationSubscription by capacity or users (Qlik Cloud)2–6 months

Glossary

Key terms

Semantic model
Business definitions (measures, hierarchies) on top of raw tables, shared by every report.
Self-service BI
Business users build their own reports on governed data.
KPI
Key performance indicator: a measure tied to a goal.
Embedded analytics
Dashboards shown inside your own app or customer portal.
Row-level security
Each person sees only the rows they're allowed to, in the same report.
Natural-language query
Ask a question in words; the tool writes the query for you.

Also worth reading

Other areas

Find Data analytics & BI partners

IT service companies with these skills on their profile, every fact labelled with its source.

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