Data is not just the "new oil." It's the real source of intelligence for modern businesses. Companies need data to make decisions that impact their growth and profitability in the long run. However, organisations are generating terabytes of datasets, analysing which with something as traditional and simple as spreadsheet software is becoming quite a challenging task. But then, most businesses can't afford to invest too much time in data analytics. Data changes every second. What was relevant one hour ago might not be relevant now. This is where BI dashboard software comes in. This software empowers businesses with the ability to analyse big data within minutes, using beautiful visualisations. Let's show how business intelligence software can help businesses make data-driven decisions.

Data Analytics on the Fly

The biggest benefit of using Business Analytics Software is that decision-makers can analyse their business data in just a few seconds. All BI tools like Power BI, Tableau or Qlik can more or less analyse data on the fly. However, Tableau should be mentioned specifically for its superb ability to create ad hoc data visualisations with user-friendly UI and intuitive process. With such BI services like Tableau, one can literally sit in a meeting, take five minutes and come up with data visualisation then and there. Once the complex data is visualised, it becomes easy to see what can’t be seen with Excel sheets, which brings us to the next point.

Find Insights Hidden beneath the Ocean of Data

IBM estimates that 80% of all data is dark data - meaning - they remain under-utilised. Yet it is this dark data that tells us about our business performance as honestly as possible. For example, traditional software can tell you which branch is selling how many products, which branch is giving the biggest profit etc. But only when you visualise the data can you find out in which month the lowest-selling product gets sold the most or which branch is giving the biggest profit overall but is selling one particular product at a loss. Coming up with such insights from big data using traditional tools is impractical. A BI dashboard tool can literally show these insights within seconds.

Data Democratisation: Why Should Data Analysts Have All the Fun?

Gone are the days when data analytics was limited to the circles of the elite few. Business Analytics Software like Power BI or Tableau has democratised data analytics. Anyone in the organisation can use these tools to analyse data. And this makes sense. A salesperson who works in the frontline has as much need for data analytics as it is for the decision-makers above him. This is where BI tools come in. Using these tools, anyone can analyse big data. Once again, we have to talk about Tableau specifically. It mitigates the learning curve needed to analyse data. With its drag-and-drop UI, anyone in the organisation - regardless of technical expertise can get insights by visualising the data.

Increased Efficiency

A BI dashboard software increases the whole team’s efficiency in more ways than one.

First, these tools enable businesses to avoid guesswork or gut feelings while making decisions. Every decision is made after carefully considering the insights shown through data visualisation.

Secondly, the increased speed of analysing data using a BI service tool helps businesses gain agility in terms of data analytics. While their competitors compute data with python or R, these businesses will already start making data-driven decisions.

Lastly, with cloud-based Business Analytics Software like Tableau, companies can now leverage analytics-as-a-service and take advantage of data analytics from anywhere and everywhere.

BI Dashboard tools enable businesses to stay miles ahead of their competitors and utilise every bit of data. If your business is yet to implement one, it’s now time to take your data out of the cage and utilise its true power.