Without a data analytics tool, it can be overwhelming for organizations to manage and use the increasing amount of data they generate everyday. This can result in chaotic data management, insufficient insights to inform decision-making, data silos, fragmented collaboration and poor data processing abilities. 

Data analytics applications solve these problems and help businesses streamline data workflow management to convert large amounts of data into actionable insights. In this article, we’ll see the top nine data analytics tools, including the factors you should consider when selecting one for your business. We’ll also look at how a data pipeline tool can make data analysis easier and more efficient.

What is data analytics?

Data analytics refers to the process of analyzing, interpreting, and deriving insights from large sets of data using statistical and computational techniques. It involves using various tools and methods to identify patterns, trends, and relationships within the data that can help organizations make informed decisions and improve their business operations.

Data analytics can be divided into several categories, including descriptive analytics, which provides insights into past performance and trends; predictive analytics, which uses historical data to forecast future events and trends; and prescriptive analytics, which recommends specific actions to optimize outcomes based on the analysis of data.

The process of data analytics typically involves collecting and cleaning data, exploring and visualizing the data, applying statistical and machine learning techniques to identify patterns and relationships, and presenting insights and recommendations to stakeholders in a clear and understandable way. Data analytics is used in various industries, including healthcare, finance, marketing, and e-commerce, among others.

Factors to consider while selecting a data analytics tool 

When you have so many options to choose from, how do you decide on the perfect tool for you? Here are the factors that you should consider when selecting a data analytics solution. 

Pricing structure

Every solution has a different pricing structure. It’s important to look into the monthly and annual subscription plans and also validate if there are any hidden fees for customer support or other advanced features. Most tools have free trials that you can benefit from and see if the software fits you. 

Integration capabilities

Validate if you need an independent solution or one that integrates with other common applications. If they integrate, you must also check how they work with third-party solutions and whether the integrations are easy to perform. 

User friendly interface

Check if the dashboards are easy to use. You can also see if reports can be created without any complications or too many steps. Analytics tools also shouldn’t be too technical to navigate otherwise it'd be difficult for your team to adopt. 

Scalability 

As data sets grow exponentially, the data analytics tool should be able to keep up with the increasing volume of data without compromising on performance and accurate results. If the tool is scalable, it can also handle more users so that multiple queries can be run without getting limited. 

Security 

Businesses must also evaluate the security frameworks of the analytics tool. That’s because these tools often are a storehouse of confidential and vulnerable information like strategic plans.

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If security is weak, data may fall into the wrong hands and can result in a data breach or a complete stoppage of normal business operations. Apart from the common security protocols, it’s also important to have controls at all process and data levels. BI tools can often be used remotely, so you must also see that the tool offers encryption and authentication.  

Collaborative features 

It’s important that everyone in your team is on the same page when you are analyzing data and drawing insights out of it. Therefore, it’s good to check if the tool has collaborative features that let you share and distribute meaningful insights across teams.

Easy deployment 

The time it takes to set up an analytics tool is crucial to bear in mind. How long will the configuration take? Does the set-up require only one person or the whole team needs to be present? It’s frustrating to invest in a tool and realize that it takes days to learn and use. Validate with the support team about the deployment and ensure that it doesn’t put a stoppage on your workflows. 

You should also keep in mind which data pipeline tool or data integration software you'll use. That’s because data analysis can happen only when you have a tool that lets you extract and load the data in a data warehouse for further analysis. 

Fivetran is built for that purpose. Whatever data analytics tool you use, you can use Fivetran to extract data from your data sources and load it into the destination of your choice. Let’s have a detailed look at our features. 

Benefits of data analytics tools 

Data analytics software platforms help businesses collect, organize, analyze and visualize data in ways that were previously impossible. With data analysis tools, you can: 

• Automate data processing and analyze large volumes of data without manual intervention. 
• Eliminate guesswork and get real-time data that supports quick decision making — for example, a customer’s buying behavior on a retail site can help you decide which products to recommend at the checkout stage so that you can sell more products.
• Get valuable information about customer behavior, trends and patterns so that you can design a personalized and seamless experience for them.
• Optimize costs as you don’t have to store and process large volumes of data on-prem.
• Improve operational efficiency as you automate all the analysis and employees can then focus on mission-critical tasks. 64% of organizations share that they've been able to increase efficiency and productivity using data analytics. 

9 Best data analytics tools

Below is a list of nine of the best data analytics software provider. We’ve listed down their features and pricing so that you can decide which one’s the perfect tool for your organization.

1. Fivetran

Fivetran is a cloud-native Big Data ETL utility that accelerates and simplifies the data analysis process with a zero-maintenance pipeline that ensures quick data delivery from the source to the data warehouse. Without the need for intricate coding, it allows users to speed up analytics and reduce the time to insights, promoting more effective data-driven decision-making. Fivetran has more than 300 pre-built connections for well-known data sources, offers pre-built data models and makes it straightforward to export and transform data. You can use programming environments, API clients, code sample libraries, and other tools to increase the performance of your Fivetran pipeline.

2. Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a robust data analysis software that lets you connect to and visualize your data to create reports that align to your KPIs. You can even get artificial intelligence (AI) powered answers (based on natural language processing methods)  to any business-related query. For example, you can ask, “show total sales by location” and it’ll show you the results. 

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Key features: 

• Pre-built 500+ connectors (like Mailchimp, Salesforce, etc.) where you can directly connect to hundreds of on-prem and cloud applications 
• Ability to collaborate on reports and share insights across the Microsoft ecosystem for analytics teams
• Work from wherever you are with Android and iOS mobile apps
• End-to-end data protection 
• Hundreds of data visualization designs to look at data and present it in creative ways
• Intuitive and user-friendly interface

Pricing options start from $9.99 user/month and may change by the country. They also offer a free trial.

3. Tableau 

Founded in 2003, Tableau is a popular tool that offers end-to-end visual data analytics services. In 2019, Salesforce acquired it. Organizations across the board use Tabelau to make data-driven decisions. 

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Here are its key features: 

• Comprehensive dashboards that display data in text, images and visual formats in a wide array of styles and layouts
• Advanced visualization functionalities like Gantt chart, Treemap, histogram, etc. 
• Easy data sharing in real-time from various data sources 
• Mobile-friendly reports and dashboards that can be accessed offline
• Feature to plot data on a map so you can analyze data geographically
• The “Ask Data” tool where you can interact with Tableau in a natural language and ask a question to get answer in a visual manner
• Can forecast trends with predictive analytics and trend lines

Tableau has a versatile pricing plan depending upon the size and needs of your team. 

4. Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a modern cloud analytics platform that lets you access data from apps, databases and cloud services to generate comprehensive business insights.

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Key features: 

• Smart and interactive visualization tools that allow you to view data in various styles
• In-context commentary (data storytelling) for data analytics that helps business analysts to extract key insights easily
• Mobile app for anywhere, anytime access
• Can connect data from hundreds of data sources and receive AI-generated analysis
• Associative technology that lets you perform calculations quickly and gives a broader context to the analysis
• Open APIs to fully customize analytics solutions and create custom apps and new visualizations

Pricing is different for different user groups. Check out the details here.

5. Sisense

A powerful business intelligence tool, Sisense (previously Periscope Data) lets you collect data from all your sources and unifies them into a central place, making it a single source of truth for your organization. 

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Here’s a list of its important features: 

• Eye-catching visualizations to give some spark to analytics 
• Easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface that helps you create smart real-time analytics and share them with your clients and team members
• Web-based dashboards so that users across the board get the same insights and don’t have to download multiple versions of a report
• Can export data in CSV, PDF, Excel, Images, etc.
• In-chip engine where users can ask any question and can get instant answers 
• Single-sign-on 
• White labeling that lets you design the interfaces to match your brand identity

Pricing is available on request. 

6. Looker 

Looker (formerly known as Google Data Studio) is a powerful tool and analytics platform that allows users to import data from Google Ads, spreadsheets, BigQuery and many other databases and creates up-to-date reports — all from a single interface.  

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Let’s look at the features it offers:  

• Integrates with around 150 SQL, ecommerce, cloud and digital advertising services
• Easy-to-view progress of various online metrics like site traffic and search rankings
• Collaborative features that let you share data with other team members so they have the data they need
• Can create brandable reports and even embed them on any web page or intranet
• Various visual styles to represent data like stacked bar, bubble map, candlestick, donut, gauge, heatmap, line map, geochart, pivot table, scatter, pie, etc.
• Compliance with SOC2 Type2, HIPAA, GDPR and robust security like user permissions and end-to-end encryption 

Looker’s pricing is available on request and is free for nonprofits and educators.

7. SAS

With SAS visual analytics, businesses can visualize data for reporting and analysis to track business performance and forecast trends. 

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Here are its valuable features: 

• Machine learning and natural language explanations to identify and visualize insights 
• Interactive dashboards and reports that you can easily share via mobile devices and web
• Self-service features where users can import their data, apply data quality functions and calculate columns.
• Data models that provide intelligent recommendations for faster decision making

You’ll have to contact their team for pricing details.

8. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is a data analytics and business intelligence platform that lets you analyze data and create visualizations to spot hidden insights. 

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Key features:

• Platform availability on cloud and on-premise 
• Connect data from files, business apps, cloud, on-prem databases with simple-to-use connectors
• Self-service data preparation that can cleanse, enrich and catalog the data
• Smart AI assistance that creates automated insights, forecasts trends, performs cognitive and what-if analysis
• Drag-and-drop, intuitive interface 
• Fine-grained permissions and secured sharing

Various types of pricing plans for on-prem and cloud that you can check here.  

9. Domo 

With clients like CISCO, Emerson and eBay, Domo is a comprehensive cloud analytics tool with a full stack of elements like dashboards, security, reporting, data science, data modeling and more — all in one platform.

Here’s a list of their key features: 

• No-code focus so even non-technical users can easily create reports
• 150+ chart types and 7,000+ custom map options with plug-and-play ad hoc data analysis
• Functionality for in-context chat, scheduled content, tasks and projects
• Drag-and-drop ETL and over 1,000 pre-built and custom data connectors 
• Ability to write data back to source systems with bi-directional flow
• Real-time alerts and push notifications 
• HIPAA compliance, multi-factor authentication, SSO integration, data encryption and personalized data permissions

Price is available on request and there’s an option to try Domo for free. 

Conclusion

The nine best data analytics tools of 2023 that we have discussed in this article offer a wide range of capabilities, including data preparation, data visualization, statistical analysis and more. These tools can help organizations to make data-driven decisions, improve business operations, and stay ahead of the competition.

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