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February 3, 2009
Want BI but Can't Afford It? How about Free Business Intelligence Software?
Free BI - More than Just "Better than Nothing"
So, you are a small or mid-market firm operating in this time of recession. You're struggling to make ends meet, and the amount of data you produce is overwhelming you. Your small IT department has more projects than it can handle, and your users are all running in different directions, creating different mismatched reports. You know you need BI. But at this time, it seems like an extravagant expense. In this environment, is free business intelligence software something that can solve your problems, or is it a little more than a placebo?
The answer is, it depends.
Like most things, free reporting software comes in different guises, operates on different technologies and, as such, offers wildly different benefits. You need to make sure that the one you get is right for you.
Although it's free, free business intelligence software still requires *some* investment in time--for data connection, report building and end-user training. So, make sure that your investment is not on something you'll end up not using.
Finding the Right Free BI Software
A Google search will give you a variety of options. So, if this is your first BI solution, what should you look for? Here is a brief list of some of the variables you should take into consideration.
1 - Make sure it's really free. You don't want to get into a ponzi scheme that gets you to start relying on a "free" BI solution only to suddenly cut you off down the road and force you to upgrade or lose all your reports.
2 - Make sure it's been around for a while. This is pretty much self-explanatory.
3 - Make sure it offers a variety of support methods. These include things like well-attended forums that you can visit for free all the way to paid support if you need it.
4 - Make sure it is Web-based. You'd be surprised what a good free Web-based business intelligence or reporting software can offer. Advantages include easy accessibility, easy navigability, easy sharing and more.
5 - Make sure it's feature-rich. The fact that it's free doesn't mean it has to be a bare-bones, flat and non-interactive software. There is free reporting software out there that has a full suite of features including visualization features with drill-down capability, data grouping, interactive sorting and paging, etc.
6 - Make sure you *can* upgrade if you want. As we have said before, steer clear of a free BI product that forces you into a bait-and-switch scheme. But if you eventually feel that you need or can afford more features, make sure your free BI solution can be upgraded without you having to rebuild your entire architecture and without you losing your reports. Towards this, make sure that the free solution and the upgrade both run on the same technology.
An established free reporting software available immediately for download--as long as you find the right one--is a great alternative to both not having BI and to going with the (sometimes) uncertain path of an open-source project.
Posted by Hound of the BI-skervilles at February 3, 2009 11:00 AM
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