Best Analytics ToolsComparative study of the capabilities of different BI & Analytics tools

Objective• With these analysis we are tying to identify and compare the best “BI

and Analytics tool” present in the market.

Tools under considerationAlthough there are many competitors in the space. Gartner has identified 3 market leaders.1. Tableau2. Qlik3. Microsoft

Hence we are considering the above 3 tools for comparison.

The inception story

Power BI

• Founded in 2003 as a result of Stanford Project• Owns the patent to VizSQL

Qlik-Sense

• Derived from the much mature QlikView, the organization has been in this space since 1993.

• Launched in September 2014

Tableau

• Was launched as past of MS Excel (Power Pivot, Power Query etc.)• Launched as independent product in 2014

Data AcquisitionPower BI

•Directly connects to 40+ data sources.•Live and extracted data connection possible.•Custom data connectors present and sharable.•Data blending from different sources possible.

Qlik-Sense•Live and extracted data connection possible.•Customer data connectors present.•Large pool of published data on Qlik Data Market.•Data blending from multiple sources possible.

Tableau •Connects to many unique services like Visual Studio Online, ZenDesk, Ziosk etc.•Live and extracted data can be connected.•Also partial and full refresh options are available based on the connected service.

Analytics CapabilitiesPower BI •Loads of functions present to achieve all analytical requirement.

•Addressing and partitioning possible at table, pane and cell level. •R integration possible to achieve advance analytical calculations but charts and plots cannot be consumed.

Qlik-Sense •Fully stocked function library including statistical distributions, trigonometric and hyperbolic functions.•R integration possible using OpenCPU API.

Tableau •Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is present with strong library of functions and analytical capabilities.•R engine can be directly executed inside Power BI. Charts and plots can also be consumed.•Cortana enables natural language search & analytics.

Visualization CapabilitiesPower BI •Easy-to-use and build visualizations.

•Suggestions based on selected dimensions and measures.

Qlik-Sense •Object to show KPI’s are natively present.•Extension of visualization with programming knowledge possible.

Tableau•Advance charts like gauge, waterfall are part of native collections.•Extended visualizations (coding) can be created and added and shared.•R plots and D3.js plots can also be consumed •Reports from different data sources can be pinned to a single dashboard.

Third Party IntegrationPower BI

•Basic R Integration possible.•Custom Map Service like MapBox can be used.•Can be embedded into webpages using Javascipt API.

Qlik-Sense•R integration possible.•Can be embedded into webpages Mashups API.•SDK also present to be used in web-application and custom software.

Tableau•R engine can be directly used inside Power BI.•Integration with custom visual gallery like D3.js possible.•Advance embedded facilities.

Product FamilyPower BI •Free – Public, Reader.

•Licensed – Desktop, Server, Online.

Qlik-Sense •Qlik Sense Desktop & Qlik Sense Cloud

Tableau •Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Power BI Mobile.•Free versions available.

Conclusion• All 3 products are addressing a similar problem but have their own

different approach.• Where Tableau is focusing on simple drag-drop self-BI features, Power

BI comes in leveraging the vast health and wealth of Microsoft.• With the acquisition of R by Microsoft and its integration of D3.js

engine for visualization, its one of the most favorable BI products of the future.