The concept of “big data” has gained significant attention in recent times and for good reason.
It offers a wealth of digital insights that can drive informed decision-making and contribute to commercial growth, evolution, and improved profitability.
To harness the power of business intelligence and effectively utilize the available data, it is crucial to implement the right reporting tools in business intelligence – and that too with keen emphasis on meeting the actual business requirements.
By doing so, you can make decisions that propel your business forward. While instinct can play a role in decision-making, relying solely on gut feelings without considering tangible insights can be detrimental to the business.
To ensure stability in your management reports and business operations, it is essential to base the majority of your decisions on sharp metrics, facts, figures, and insights that align with your goals and initiatives.
Data-driven decision-making should be at the heart of your strategies, activities, and operations, enabling your business to thrive in a dynamic commercial landscape.
Fundamentally, using data for decision-making means relying on verified and analyzed information to work towards key business goals, rather than relying on guesswork.
In the past, the process of collecting, extracting, formatting, and analyzing data for enhanced decision-making was a time-consuming task that relied heavily on technical expertise.
However, the development and democratization of business intelligence software have empowered users without extensive technical knowledge to analyze and draw meaningful conclusions from their data.
This has reduced the need for extensive IT support to generate reports, trends, and visualizations that facilitate the decision-making process.
These advancements have given rise to the field of data science, where hacking skills and statistical expertise intersect.
Data scientists sift through large volumes of raw data to uncover valuable insights and make intelligent, data-driven business decisions. Fortunately, technology has granted direct access to all sorts of reporting tools in business intelligence – and they make it easier to present everything in visual chunks with a high degree of understanding to them.
This post highlights some of the basic concepts about business intelligence reporting tools, starting with what they are, and later on showcases some of the best reporting tools in business intelligence for your ready reference.
Let’s get started.
The Best Reporting Tools In Business Intelligence and Other Industry Verticals
Following is a collection of different reporting tools in business intelligence and various other industry sectors to give you a complete overview of their usefulness.
1. DATAPINE
datapine is a leading business intelligence reporting tool known for its exceptional features. With 24/7 access to real-time data, users can easily view dashboard reports from any device connected to the internet.
The platform provides over 80+ report templates designed for various departments, industries, and platforms. datapine’s user-friendly interface allows users to connect their data and generate interactive business dashboards effortlessly, without the need for coding.
The tool also offers multiple sharing options, including automated email reports, live dashboards, and embedded analytics. With interactive filters, users can explore data at granular levels and answer any questions that arise during analysis.
The tool allows for automated report generation and easy collaboration through sharing in different formats like email, PDF, and password-protected URLs.
datapine has received highly positive ratings, with 4.9 stars on Capterra and 4.6 stars on G2.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT REPORTING APPLICATIONS
2. Wrike
Wrike is an outstanding project management reporting application that provides a 360-view of project development in real-time.
With integration capabilities for over 400 tools, Wrike offers a centralized interface to meet all team needs. The platform includes advanced report filters that allow users to customize the data being analyzed.
Wrike simplifies project management by enabling users to generate visual reports that track project progress, task completion, time management, budget utilization, and more.
Reports can be created from scratch or using pre-built templates specific to industries and functions. Wrike caters to teams of any size, starting from 5 members, and offers extensive integrations with popular tools like Salesforce, Google, and Dropbox.
The tool has received positive ratings, with 4.3 stars on Capterra and 4.2 stars on G2.
FINANCIAL REPORTING TOOLS
3. QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online Advanced is a comprehensive financial reporting software that empowers businesses to assess their performance and make informed financial decisions.
The tool allows users to generate customizable financial reports that can be easily shared via email. The Spreadsheet Sync feature enables seamless data exchange between
QuickBooks and Excel. Real-time reporting capabilities cover financial statements such as income statements and balance sheets.
QuickBooks Online Advanced offers tailored reports to meet specific company requirements, ensuring maximum potential extraction from financial data. With ratings of 4.4 stars on Capterra and 4.5 stars on G2, the tool is highly regarded for its powerful financial reporting features.
MARKETING REPORTING PLATFORMS
4. Whatagraph
This one is a top-notch marketing reporting platform designed for agencies and in-house marketing teams.
The tool automatically extracts live marketing data from over 40+ native integrations to generate customizable reports.
Users can build visually appealing reports using templates and widgets. Whatagraph offers custom reports tailored to clients’ branding and predefined criteria-based automated reports.
Reports can be shared with clients via email to provide regular performance updates.
The tool has garnered positive ratings of 4.4 stars on Capterra and 4.5 stars on G2, making it a highly recommended marketing reporting platform.
SMALL BUSINESS REPORTING TOOLS
5. Deskera
Deskera is an all-in-one cloud-based business software that provides reporting features tailored to small and mid-sized businesses.
With multiple graph and chart options, Deskera visualizes data accurately. Reports can be shared in various formats, including print, download, email, or live URLs.
Deskera offers automated reporting with real-time updates. Users can connect multiple data sources and generate visual dashboards using templates or customizing them to meet specific needs.
FREE REPORTING TOOLS
6. WebDataRocks
WebDataRocks is a free web reporting tool that offers real-time data analysis through interactive visualizations.
It is written in JavaScript and can be easily embedded into any website, application, or web project with just a few lines of code.
The tool has an intuitive interface similar to Excel, allowing users to explore their reports using various features like filters, drill-downs, calculated fields, and conditional formatting.
Reports generated with WebDataRocks can be exported to PDF, Excel, or HTML pages for easy sharing with stakeholders.
The tool is designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes and provides a complete solution as the best free reporting software.
Key Features:
- Easy integration in less than 5 minutes with no technical knowledge required
- Excel-like features including filtering, sorting, grouping, conditional and number formatting
- Real-time data reporting from multiple devices, including PC, mobile, and tablet
IT REPORTING TOOLS
7. Jira
Jira is a software that has reporting features at its core, providing a wide range of real-time reporting capabilities for IT-related tasks.
It enables monitoring project development, issue tracking, backlog assessment, time tracking, sprint management, and more.
Jira offers three key types of reports: issues reports, agile reports, and forecast and management reports.
These reports can be transformed into visual dashboards with graphs and charts for effective data visualization.
Jira has positive ratings of 4.4 stars on Capterra and 4.2 stars on G2.
Key Features:
Real-time reporting with insights for agile decision-making
Special reporting capabilities for scrum teams, including sprint reports and burndown charts
Agile reporting for Kanban teams, including cumulative flow diagrams and control charts
RETAIL REPORTING SOLUTIONS
8. Lightspeed Retail
One of the best retail reporting solutions available is Lightspeed Retail.
It is a popular reporting tool in the retail industry. It provides comprehensive reporting capabilities to track inventory, customers, staff performance, and sales.
With features like demand forecasting, product performance analytics, customer behaviour analysis, staff productivity reports, and POS reporting, Lightspeed Retail offers a 360-degree view of a retailer’s performance.
The tool allows the customization of reports to meet specific business requirements. Lightspeed Retail has received ratings of 4.2 stars on Capterra and 4.0 stars on G2.
Key Features:
- Specific reports to boost customers, inventory, staff performance, and sales
- Mobile access for remote store monitoring
- Customizable reports to meet specific company needs
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTING TOOLS
9. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a widely recognized reporting software for social media.
It offers professional analytics and reporting capabilities to provide a comprehensive view of performance across various social media platforms.
Hootsuite allows users to generate custom reports with performance benchmarks to track engagement and drive traffic effectively.
The “Hootsuite Impact” feature helps calculate social media ROI, providing insights into the business impact of social media efforts. Hootsuite has received ratings of 4.4 stars on Capterra and 4.1 stars on G2.
Key Features:
- Custom reports for all social media platforms, focusing on relevant KPIs
- “Hootsuite Impact” feature to measure social media ROI
- Free weekly analytics report with valuable user data
ENTERPRISE ERP REPORTING TOOLS
Enterprise ERP reporting tools are designed to help large corporations manage and make sense of vast amounts of data from internal and external sources.
These tools offer advanced analytics and reporting technologies to transform raw data into actionable insights.
10. Acumatica Cloud ERP Solution
Acumatica Cloud ERP provides reporting solutions in an intuitive format to help enterprises manage their data and make informed decisions.
The tool offers real-time reports that can be generated using pre-built templates or customized to specific user requirements and branding.
Ad hoc filters allow users to find specific data within reports, which can be exported in various formats. Acumatica has received ratings of 4.5 stars on Capterra and 4.4 stars on G2.
Key Features:
- Report generation in multiple formats, including HTML, PDF, Excel, or Word
- Multidimensional reporting to analyze data across different dimensions
- Role-based reporting to securely share data based on users’ roles and needs
Conclusion:
In summary, data reporting tools are designed to streamline businesses’ operations by managing and analyzing large amounts of raw data, providing actionable insights.
Whether you’re looking for modern business reporting software or industry-specific solutions, these tools can help you optimize performance, make informed decisions, and drive growth. Consider exploring Dotnet Report, which covers many of the discussed functionalities. You can try our tool on a trial basis with full functionality.
