Do you seem to be confused about which business intelligence software to choose from between MicroStrategy, Tableau and Power BI?
Having expertise in Data science is one thing, spotting the right business intelligence solution to use is another.
In this article, we will discuss the various differences in terms of features and important factors of each of them to help you make an informed decision at the end of it all.
Also, we will conclude this article by telling you which option is the best tool to be used for data science.
What is business intelligence (BI)?
It is no surprise that business intelligence is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Organizations today generate data at a rapid rate.
There is the need to use business data to make smarter decisions.
Daily, companies are looking for methods and tools to turn data into actionable insights.
This is where business intelligence can assist to play critical role.
Business intelligence refers to the procedure that leverages software and services to translate data into actionable insights helping the strategic officers of a company take the right data-driven and tactical business decisions.
Importantly, business intelligence tools handle and analyze datasets, present analytical findings in summaries, reports, graphs, dashboards, maps and charts to give users detailed intelligence about the status of the business.
What are MicroStrategy, Tableau, and Power BI?
To proceed, it’s important we have an overview understanding of the various business intelligence solutions in question.
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy is a modern open enterprise platform that connects every user and every application to all your data.
It helps with creation of the building blocks of your business which can also be reused, accelerating collaboration and development of your suite of BI applications.
It connects your teams to any data source in a single click.
With MicroStrategy, you can deliver trusted insights to the right person, in the right place at the right time.
Tableau
Tableau is business intelligence solution that enables anyone to connect to data in a few clicks, visualize and create interactive, sharable dashboards with a simplicity and efficiency. In 2019, Tableau was acquired by SalesForce.
It is a bit more dynamic because instead of focusing only on organizations and businesses, they also have a community and collaboration program.
Power BI?
Power BI is a business analytics service that is developed by Microsoft. And because it is owned by Microsoft, there are tons of other options such excel, word, PowerPoint. It fits into the ecosystem pretty well.
Power BI comes with its own desktop application that has a lot of synergies with MS Excel. So it makes use of the same backend which you can use power query to access where you want to get to.
The system has much more robust frontend where it can allow you to visualize data more easily. Because it comes with different multiple offerings, you may be right to call it a business service analytics.
It can be accessed via the computer and smartphone. One unique thing about Power BI is that it is so simple such that any Microsoft Excel user can also comfortably use it.
Guides to Choosing a Business Intelligence Software Tool
As you look at selecting your favorite business intelligence solution, it helps to focus on these five crucial guides:
- Make a good analysis of your existing data sources
It is important that any new or incoming system must have the capacity to carry your existing data. You either achieve that directly or through mapping of data structures and manual conversions.
Because if you do not know what data you generate or even where they exist, it might be almost impossible to determine the best business intelligence solution to be used.
- Determine Your Objectives
If you are aiming to get the best out of business intelligence and analytics, it’s crucial to identify the functionalities you require in order to find a good match.
For example, what type of reporting and data visualization do you need?
- Decide which changes you want to establish
Any major initiative, might involve some changes to both IT infrastructure and business processes. Therefore, it’s expedient to match your business needs, desires and requirements with the appropriate business intelligence tool and ensure it delivers the flexibility, ability, and the needed scalability to meet up with the current needs in the industry.
- Review to be sure if other sources of data can improve business results.
Fundamentally, the primary reason to go for a more advanced business intelligence tool is to add a variety of useful features and capabilities.
Some of the important considerations for instance are, tying cloud repository, building framework with edge computing companies to extend data collection across a supply chain and so on.
- Appraise the Vendors
Often times, vendors and software providers approach business intelligence in different ways.
You may want to ask yourself if the vendor is more given to on-prem or cloud or even hybrid.
Basically, an important factor in selecting a tool in this case is matching the requirements with features offered, framework supported and its roadmap.
A huge criterion is to find a vendor who can provide the greatest value from your data, support business transformation and continue to add value to the business.
To help with more information for easier assessment, we consider a comparison table with several factors.
MicroStrategy vs Tableau vs Power BI: Comparison table
| Factor | MicroStrategy | Tableau | Power BI | Winner |
| Visualization | *Connects to and blends data from any of the sources *Using inbuilt wrangling function to clean and prepare data. *Using visualization to find new insights. | *Pure straightforward visualization *Clean visualization approach *Great build on features *Visually Analysis data speedily. *Build effective dashboards for strategic decision makers *Monitors and measure data effectively *Shares data and visuals without hitches. | *SDK for visualization with custom visuals *Drag and drop features *Data import capabilities | Tableau |
| Cost | $600 Pricing Model: Per User Payment Frequency: One Time | *Not so cheap initial cost($30 to $40 per month) *Cheaper total cost of ownership | *Cheaper initial cost ($10 per month) *Not so cheap in terms of total ownership cost | Tableau |
| Integration | *Provides integration with Microsoft Office Suite- good *Integration process not so simple | *Lesser integration capabilities compared to Power BI. *Curated approach to visualization. | *Greatly integrates with several other relevant solutions such as excel, outlook, word, etc. | Power BI |
| Data Management | *Data wrangling *Data modeling with less efficiency | *Data shaping is fair *No m language function *Modeling not as sophisticated as in Power BI | *Great with data shaping * M language lets you do many things with ease. *Great with data modeling also due to power Pivot and SQL functions. | Power BI |
| Customization | Good | Very good | Good | Tableau |
| Speed | Speed is good | Speed is good | Very good | Power BI |
| Support | Good rating | Very good rating | Good rating | Tableau |
| Scalability | Good rating | Very good rating | Good rating | Tableau |
| Market Share | *Third position in this comparison. | *Next to Power BI | *Leads among the three | Power BI |
| Peculiar features | *MicroStrategy data visualization system has mapping and in-built geocoding features. | *Possess a mapping functionality and can plot longitude and latitude coordinates and connect to spatial files. *Tableau has an in-built geocoding that allows for administrative places to be mapped automatically *Tableau queries relational databases, Cloud databases, OLAP cubes, and spreadsheets. | *Filtering is superb and efficient | Power BI and Tableau |
In summary, we may also need to take a look at some of the pros and cons of these tools before drawing our final conclusion.
MicroStrategy
Pros
- Has advanced features, includes a “hyper intelligence” function with solid automation capabilities.
- MicroStrategy has extremely strong and flexible business intelligence framework with a strong group of features.
- Sophisticated data governance features alongside strong security.
- Visualization output is superb
Cons
- Uneasy initial setup process especially involving large dataset
- A bit costly
- Have some issues collaborating with other platforms.
Tableau
Pros
- Data visualization
- Ease of Implementation
- Quickly Create Interactive visualizations
- Mobile Support and Responsive Dashboard
- Tableau can handle large amounts of data
- Tableau Business Strategy
- Use of other scripting languages in Tableau
Cos
- No automatic report refreshing feature to help with scheduling.
- No Custom Visual Imports
- Restriction of formatting and limited 16 column table displays.
- Static and always single value parameters
- Dashboard layout issue with different developer’s screen resolution.
- Data Preprocessing limitation
Power BI
Pros
- Highly affordable
- Wide range of customizations
- Integrates easily with multiple other platforms
- Can import data from a wide range of data sources
- Prompt Updates
- Power BI Embedded
- Personal gateway tool used to authenticate on-prem data sources
- Great data accessibility
- Interactive visualization
Cons
- Poor ability to handle complex relationships between tables
- Lack of many options to configure your visualizations as per your requirements.
- Crowded User Interface
- Rigid Formulas
- Complex to Understand and Master
Conclusion
When it comes to advance features, awesome visualization and the likes, both Tableau and Power BI to some extent MicroStrategy are all doing great.
However, for beginners who may wish to quickly learn and work with a business intelligence tool, Power BI stands out.
Also if you are talking about ability to integrate with multiple other solutions and platforms, Power BI will be the best choice.
Do let us know what you think generally about our option if you may have a contrary opinion.