Top Business Analytics Companies That Will Rule the Industry in 2021

Choosing among the hundreds of business analytics companies or business intelligence consulting companies can be daunting. The reason being, there are hundreds of options out there, so how do you select the one that suits your skill, style, and needs?

We sat down and put together this quick guide to help you through the process. In this article, you will find –

• Your Checklist for Assessing Business Analytics Companies
• An Overview of Top Data Analytics Companies to Watch Out for in 2021
• A Checklist for Business Intelligence Consulting Companies

Your Checklist for Assessing Business Analytics Companies

We found that there is only one thing you should consider when selecting an analytics company – goals and vision.

I mean, here is how we thought about it, analytics companies spend a lot of money on branding. As should any company worth its salt, they carefully articulate a mission and vision that resonates with their product and service offering.

So why look any further? What a company says about what it sets out to do and how it talks about itself should be the first place we all look when choosing a corporate partner.

In addition to the mission and vision, here is a five-point checklist for qualifying data analytics companies and tools before settling on a choice – 

• Agility – Business analytics and intelligence tools need to continually adapt to ever-changing business needs and continuously improve their functionality. Therefore, consider the extent to which their tools are agile.
• Intuitive tools – Irrespective of their technical acumen, people want to spend less time working your tool and more time working their data! You can also consider how adaptive their tools are to newbies and beginners in the field.
• Community – Whether you’re just getting started or a veteran in the field, you’re bound to come across an issue or scenario that has no solution at hand. Community gives you a chance to engage other experts and enthusiasts in the space. And, depending on how vain you’re, you can also get to show off your knowledge and expertise!
• Customer Support – Data analysis companies are good as the customer support they extend to their client. You want to work with an institution that is service-oriented and is responsive to its customers’ queries.
• Customer Reviews – You will know the best analytics companies based on their customers’ reviews. Spending some time on TrustRadius and seeing what other people say about a company is an excellent final step in your selection process. 

An Overview of the Top Data Analytics Companies to Watch Out for in 2021

With the checklist at hand, we scoured through the internet, read through reviews, and came up with this list of the best data analytics companies. Following their operation mode and their approach, these companies continue enjoying their prominence or take over the industry 2021.

1.    Microsoft

Microsoft is definitely among the world’s top analytics companies and will continue to enjoy its dominance well into 2021. Microsoft provides a comprehensive suite of analytics and intelligence tools. I most certainly appreciate the focus on people first and businesses second, as stated in their goal, “to help people and businesses realize their full potential.”

So, what makes Microsoft the first one in our review? Microsoft Azure. Azureis a cloud computing software with solutions including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Azure is lauded for being agile, super intuitive, and has flexible pricing for a wide range of businesses and needs. Azure also has a dynamic and responsive community where people gather to troubleshoot and share ideas. However, according to the reviews, Azure’s key drawback is that it doesn’t support open-source features.

2.   Alteryx

Founded in 1997 and went public in 2017, Alteryx refers to itself as a ‘self-service analytics software company.’ CEO Dean Stoecker’s vision and strategy for the company is based on empowering workers to draw valuable insights from data irrespective of technical understanding. Among business analytics companies, Alteryx platform review on TrustRadius enjoys a good reputation with an 8.5 out of 10 rating. Majority of the reviewers state that the company platforms are suitable for data preparation, processing, and modeling. According to reviews on TrustRadius, the company could benefit from expanding the visualization capacity of their tools.

Alteryx also has a vibrant community where people come together to learn and engage with industry leaders on discussion forums, podcasts, and articles.

3.   Board

Board is a business analytics software that unifies Corporate Performance Management, Business Intelligence, and Advanced Analytics. Board presents itself as a single solution for all data analytics needs.

Board also presents itself as a people-oriented company to support people and businesses to bring out their best selves within the context of data analysis. I particularly like that ‘resourceful imagination’ is a core value in the Board’s corporate culture. What I think this means for employees is that there is a positive expectation and room to be creative and offer solutions to the company. For customers, it means that their tools are dynamic and useful for a wide range of analytic needs.

The Board reviews give it an 8.0 out of 10-star rating on TrustRadius, with most users stating that it has a user-friendly process for workflow implementation. Also, reviews say that the board community is not as vibrant as compared to its competitors.

4.   Sisense

Sisense is simultaneously a business intelligence and data analytics software. The company serves over 2000 clients from more than 49 countries and has its headquarters in New York. It has satellite offices in London, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Scottsdale – Arizona, Melbourne, and Tokyo.

Sisense presents itself as a customer-oriented company, stating their commitment is first to their customers, then teams and each other. Like Alteryx, Sisense prides itself on being simple enough for everyone, notwithstanding their technical acumen.

Sisense community of users can ask questions, request features, and access a list of plugins. The company recently integrated Adobe Creative Cloud into its platform to enable its partners, and customers create customized, attractive, and easy to consume analytics.

With a review of 8.2 out of 10, most people appreciate the Sisense offers excellent technical support and that the tool is regularly updated. However, some customers complain that its visualization features are underdeveloped.

5. Tableau Software

Agility is Tableau’s most significant selling point. From the Why Tableau page on its website, Tableau presents itself as a platform with the capacity to ‘take any kind of data from almost any system and turn it into actionable insights with speed and ease.’

Tableau community has an outstanding, active, and diverse membership of 1 million people and 500 user groups and forums. In 2021 the company will maintain itself as a data analytics and business intelligence software company.

Even though Tableau has an 8.2 out of 10 reviews on TrustRadius, it is one of the top data analytics companies out there. Most people appreciate Tableau for its fantastic visualization ability. However, some say that novice users will find Tableau has a very steep learning curve.

A Checklist for Business Intelligence Consulting Companies

On the other hand, you may be seeking to do a quick round-up of the most promising business intelligence consulting companies. We also sat down and developed this three-point checklist to help you in the process –

• Experience – Experience is in two forms; its staff should demonstrate sufficient experience in the field. The company, as a collective, must also have a decent level of experience as solution providers.
• Major Clients – When selecting a business intelligence consulting company, see if any notable brands enjoy their services. Such information will help you understand their reputation, level of technical proficiency, and experience.
• Customer Reviews – If you search the company on any of social proofing websites such as TrustRadius, and Gartner, you will get reactions on what has been the experience of other customers with the company. I hardly look at companies with less than 8.0 stars out of 10. I find it such an effective way of narrowing down my options.

Final Thoughts

Oh, and one more thing, employees are the building blocks of a company. Understanding their corporate culture is also very important. Because you will work with the people in the company, take time to search the company on websites like Glassdoor and see the comments left by former employees.

While disgruntled former employees unwilling to take responsibility for their dismissal leave terrible reviews on websites like Glassdoor, employee reviews are still an excellent way to gauge a company’s corporate culture. Furthermore, if you’re discerning enough, you will tell if a company has a positive or negative corporate culture based on good and bad reviews. We believe that these are worth taking the time to read through.

With this, you can now review business analytics companies or business intelligence consulting companies. In summary, besides their product or service offering, it pays to take time to gauge other people’s experience with their products and former employees’ experience working for the organization.

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