Businesses are trying to harness the right data sets and analyze them in the right ways to make good decisions about products, services, customers, suppliers and much more. But BI tools come in so many forms, [1] and the choices can be overwhelming. One of those figures 1 shown below choices is whether to pursue this business intelligence in-house or utilize new cloud or SaaS BI tools.

Figure 1: SaaS- Business Intelligence

This article will attempt to explain what SaaS (software-as-a-service) business intelligence entails, the difference between on-premise and SaaS, some of the pros and cons of choosing a SaaS solution, and how to select the right BI tool for your business.

Embedded BI or Embedded Business Intelligence is the integration of reports, dashboards, and data visualizations inside an [2] application. The information is typically displayed and managed by a BI platform and is placed directly within the application's user interface to improve data usability and decision-making.

The upfront investment in purchasing and deploying a BI solution will not only save you money in the long run, but it will also improve customers’ product experience and give you a competitive edge, driving sales and generating new revenue.

Flexibility: A great benefit of working on the cloud is the flexibility it allows. Anyone of your team that has the granting can access at any time and from anywhere the reports you are working on, with the last version of it. It indeed works with real-time data that is always up to date, which avoids the arduous task of updating manually each and every report, leaving more time to focus on what matters the most: data analysis.

Save costs and time: Staying agile is a key requirement in today’s business environment. A SaaS BI tool is not only time-efficient but it also saves you costs. Cloud-based tools don’t need large installation processes, maintenance costs, or purchasing expensive software upfront. You only need to access your account [3] online; choose a subscription plan and you get all the benefits of BI SaaS within minutes.

No installation fees or constant updates are required with these kinds of tools since they update automatically. Additionally, you don’t need to pay extra for features your business doesn’t need, SaaS tools allow you to choose the best delivery model for your company’s requirements and can adapt as your business changes and grows.

SaaS BI is defined as a delivery model. In which ERP application software is employed at a hosted location, usually implemented outside of a corporation, and is accessed via protected internet by the end-user.

A deployment method or delivery model is a reference to how software is hosted. Typically, SaaS application software is hosted in the Cloud across many different servers and users access it through the internet. But On-premise software application is hosted in the servers of your facility, and users access it often via an intranet system of some kind.

References:

1. https://www.selecthub.com/business-intelligence/saas-bi-tools-pros-cons/
2. https://startuptalky.com/embedded-bi-solutions/#:~:text=What%20is%20SaaS%20BI%3F%20SaaS%20Embedded%20BI%20is,and%20decision-making.%20What%20are%20some%20SaaS%20BI%20Tools%3F
3. https://www.insideup.com/an-overview-of-saas-business-intelligence-bi/

Cite this article:

Nandhinidwaraka.S (2021) The SaaS Based Business Intelligence, AnaTechmaz, pp. 22