What are BI tools?

Microsoft Power BI

At Blue Dynamic, we have a soft spot for Microsoft tools — and BI solutions are no exception. Microsoft Power BI is, in our view, the most comprehensive suite for enterprise BI. It’s an integrated tool for interactive data visualization and analysis, offering extensive capabilities for data collection, dashboard and report creation, and cloud-based data sharing through Power BI Service across your entire organization.

BI tools like Microsoft Power BI enable (among other things):

Easy data analysis from multiple sources
Advanced interactive visualizations
Data and insight sharing across the organization
Integration with Office and MS Teams
Better control over business processes
Data security and permission management

If you’ve been using Microsoft tools like Word or Excel for years, the Power BI environment will feel comfortably familiar. Its interface mirrors the user experience of other MS products. Beyond that, it integrates easily with Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and more — importing data from Excel and exporting visualizations to PowerPoint is truly easy peasy.

Tableau

Tableau enables the creation of interactive and visually engaging dashboards that are exceptionally user-friendly. It’s a highly dynamic tool when it comes to designing visualizations and supports strong collaboration — teams can analyze data together and add comments directly.

Both Tableau and Microsoft Power BI allow you to present data in various ways and create interactive management dashboards. They both connect to a wide range of data sources — Excel, CSV, Salesforce, and more. At first glance, they look quite similar: both provide quick and clear access to all your key business data.

Microsoft Power BI is developed by Microsoft, so if you already use Office, integrating it into your workflow will be seamless.

SAS Viya

Beyond the two BI giants dominating popularity charts, another strong player deserves mention — SAS Viya. Although its interface isn’t the most modern, it’s a robust and capable platform worth attention. Let’s see why.

The application includes a rich library of visualizations across multiple categories. Despite being rooted in technology dating back to the 1970s, it’s surprisingly flexible. When creating reports, users can benefit from simple drag-and-drop functionality without extra setup. You can customize axis labels, chart colors, background, transparency, and more. Working in SAS Viya feels a bit like using a vintage graphic editor — nostalgic, yet powerful.

However, even with plenty of automation options that simplify dashboard creation and personalization, SAS Viya isn’t without flaws. The interface feels dated — expected from a tool with such history — but its slower performance and the sheer number of available features can make it challenging to master.

IBM Cognos Analytics

IBM Cognos Analytics is another excellent BI tool, known for its automated data visualization capabilities and advanced AI-powered features. No matter what task you’re working on, the platform includes an intelligent assistant ready to help — quick, natural, and efficient.

This assistant can even help you create graphs. Simply describe the data you want to visualize, and it will suggest relevant chart types. Its AI goes further — it can perform predictive analytics using multiple algorithms, including seasonality modeling.