Top 3 Factors To Consider Before Taking Business Intelligence Reporting Solution

By Author: Bappaditta Jana
Total Articles: 65
Comment this article

Gone are the days of traditional reporting that demands a lot of time and effort as it does not helps in effective decision making and has tons of mistakes. So, reporting solutions driven by business intelligence is the current norm. Business intelligence reporting solutions are nowadays used vastly by organizations and data teams. However, most of the time, these organizations and data teams end up choosing the wrong BI reporting solutions because they fail to consider the necessary factors. As a result, expectations are not met and this leads to disappointment. So, let's have a look at the top three factors that must be considered before choosing a business intelligence reporting solution.

User-friendliness

Sometimes, it happens that organizations purchase BI reporting solutions that offer flashy reports that are too tough for the user to interpret or comprehend. It is also not always easy to harness the power of the brilliant features of these tools offering BI reporting solutions. This happens because not all tools are user-friendly. Soon, the employees abandon such tools and go back to the ...
... old way of report generation. So, it is vital to make sure that the business intelligence reporting tool is easy to use by the intended users. The best approach is to choose a BI reporting tool or solution that does not demand any technical knowledge and offers a report that can be understood at a single glance. This saves both time and effort of users.

Budget

Next comes the budget. As there are multiple business intelligence tools available in the market, it is vital to compare and contrast the price of all the tools before making a final decision. Also, enquire whether there is any subscription model or availability of automatic updates. There are now reporting tools that can be easily integrated with third-party apps, such as Tally ERP, SAP B1, etc. There is also a need to have the willingness to pay more if the reporting tool is scalable as a business can grow in the near future and it is vital to consider this aspect too. So, while it is true that budget is an important factor to consider, one should not refrain from spending more for the right BI reporting tool.

Customer support

Finally comes the customer support i.e the hands-on assistance that a BI vendor provides with the help of its team of experts. When the customer support is great, an organization does not experience any problem in rolling out and adopting the BI reporting solution. If the chosen BI reporting tool is awesome but does not come with customer support, it is best to look for some other alternative as customer support is also a factor that must be considered before taking a final call. Remember, it is the kind of customer support offered by a BI vendor that goes a long way in solidifying its position in the market.

Apart from the above three factors, it is also wise to enquire whether the BI reporting tool is available for a free trial or not as then it becomes easier to evaluate its user-friendliness, usability, and so on.

Bappaditta Jana is a blogger who loves to spend his free time engaging in sports or gardening. Based in Kolkata, he is currently working with EasyReports an IT firm that has developed a BI reporting tool that can easily integrate with Tally ERP and many other applications.