Don't be so closed minded.

Industry changes.  Tools change and they become better.  Competitors add enhancements and this forces the rest of the industry to adapt.    One of the platforms that have worked to continuously improve is Microsoft SQL Server.   If you look over the years at the roadmap for this tool, you will see a robust platform that prior to 2008, you would have probably not appreciated.   Microsoft is now steering the industry.   Check out Microsoft BI, integration with SharePoint, etc.   But this is not a blog about Microsoft, it’s a blog about mindsets.  

My boss here at my current engagement is a strong advocate for the AS400.   The industry has walked around the AS400 and IBM.  We have moved to other platforms.  Right? I mean the AS400 is old school, right.   That's state of the art 1988 tech, right?  But it turns out that the AS400 is a stable platform that still exist in many businesses today.  They continue to refine and get better and now they have the I Series.  Great failover, great stack of redundancy, security.  I know what you're thinking.   It's not cool, it’s not new.   What is your goal?  Is it new tech or stable tech?  But this is not a blog about the AS400 either. 

Don't pass over the tools.   Tableau is for data mining, correct?   Qlik is for dashboards, correct?   Cognos is for reporting, correct?   I think if you look at Tableau, you will see that they have enhanced that tool to collaborate.  To share online.  Publish a report online with the click of a button.  

Back in 2005, MS SharePoint was a collaboration tool primarily used as a document repository.   But behind the scenes, you can create portals and web pages that envy others.   Think about this.   Stop looking at how you used the tool at your previous employer and start to think about how this tool can be used today by my current employer.   Look at price.  Use your analysis experience to look at tools in different ways.  Find out if your bias are warranted or not?  Be open to new ways of doing things.  Tunnel vision is limiting to you and your company.   

What's new at Tableau?

http://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2015/3/pipeline-tabling-37950

Choosing the right BI tool for you

A lot of clients are searching for the best BI solution for them and I wanted to give my 2 cents on what I see in the industry.   Lets talk about the general tools in the market.   

Tableau - Tableau is more of a data mining tool as opposed to a data reporting tool.   Tableau is for those users who like to drill into their data to find the outliers or opportunities. So this would similar to SSAS (SQL Server Analytic Services)

QlikView - Qlikview is more of a data reporting tool for dashboards and reports.   The great thing about QlikView is that it has its own ETL tool of sorts.  It works with 3 layers.  Layer 1 - Extract, Layer 2 Transform, and Layer 3 Load.   So it gives you a lot of flexibility to create exactly what your client needs to see.   The unfortunate piece of QlikView is that you need to tee up the data from the data warehouse for the tool.  In other words, my client has found it more valuable to perform the Tranforming of the data from the warehouse and then serve it to QlikView in a nice package.  My client finds the tool easy to use but then again, see the previous note on how we serve up the data.

Microstrategy - Enterprise Data Reporting tool.   Easy to use for the client to create adhoc reports or to use as a reporting engine.  Some clients are looking at Microstrategy for its Mobile capabilities.

Business Objects - Enterprise Data Reporting tool.   Easy to use for the client to create reports.   I've seen this tool most in SAP shops that use this as their BI tool.   I've seen this used in cubes as well as adhoc reporting.  Not as robust as a Microstrategy.  

Cognos - Data reporting tool.  More in line to create reports and serve as a reporting server.

SSRS - SQL Servers reporting Engine - Great to serve up reports.   Really need a SQL developer to create the reports for the end users.   

Power BI - Microsofts Ad Hoc reporting engine.   New tool that takes PowerView, Power Pivot and throws it into an easy to use tool with Excel like functionality.   Great addition to Microsofts other suite of reporting services.   If you take into account that Microsoft has basically given their clients a roadmap for Adhoc reporting, dashboard reporting, repository space, and an EDW solution.

This is a far cry from all of the reporting tools that are out there but at least you get a flavor for what is available.  There are more tools available, Pentaho, Hyperion, etc and the key thing to remember is that whatever tool you choose, you have to keep in mind that you need to support said tools.  So take Pentaho for example.  How many Pentaho developers are available in your market?   If you really like the tool, then do you have the folks in house to learn the skills to become the SME for this tool?  All of these factors need to be accounted for when choosing the best BI tool for your organization.

7 predictions for 2015



Tableau had a great article covering the 7 predictions for 2015.