10 Cloud Analytics Tools to Consider in 2024
Businesses of all sizes understand the power of harnessing data analytics and business intelligence in making decisions that will benefit their future. However, data isn’t valuable without proper context, modeling, or thorough analysis. Further, relying on outdated or incomplete data could cause tremendous harm, lead to poor business strategy, and create revenue loss.
The right tools to access, analyze, and derive insights from your data are essential for a successful data-driven business strategy. More companies are using cloud analytics because of its many benefits, including real-time data, increased efficiency, cost savings, and accessibility. Learn more about cloud analytics and how it can generate critical insights for your business.
What are cloud analytics tools?
Cloud analytics tools are an alternative service model to on-premise data analytics and business intelligence. Instead of purchasing, storing, and maintaining your data servers and analytics software on site, cloud analytics services house your data collections on cloud-based servers. The cloud analytics platform provides software, conducts routine maintenance, and upgrades all hardware and software.
The infrastructure of cloud analytics companies is easily scalable and offers flexibility based on your business needs. It adapts with you, allowing you to turn services on or off and quickly scale up when you grow. With more than 60% of all corporate data located within cloud storage, using a cloud-based data analytics tool may be your most reasonable choice. Here are a few major benefits cloud analytics offers:
Cost savings: With cloud analytics tools, you pay a subscription fee for use of the platform rather than the upfront costs of purchasing infrastructure and ongoing fees for maintenance, upgrades, and energy consumption. Depending on your needs, cloud data analytics tools can be a significant cost savings over on-premise options. However, this isn’t guaranteed, and companies may want to also focus on non-monetary values like increased speed to innovation as a primary reason to move to the cloud.
Centralized, integrated data: Cloud analytics platforms can seamlessly integrate real-time data from multiple sources. Instead of looking at marketing automation data, customer relationship management (CRM) data, enterprise resource planning (ERP) data, and other metrics separately, it combines the information to deliver a complete view of your company. Cloud tools maximize the value you can extract from data sets.
Accessibility: Using a web-based analytics platform allows for easier access for remote employees or multiple business locations and collaboration between departments within your organization or with consultants. You can effortlessly share raw metrics, analysis reports, and data visualizations necessary to make informed decisions and drive strategy.
Top 10 platforms with cloud analytics capabilities
Every cloud analytics tool has its own specific features, but all platforms offer the same core components. These include data storage and sharing from their data warehouse, data sourcing and modeling, the cloud computing power to process, structure, and analyze large data volumes from the data warehouse, and closed-functioning analytic models for outcome predictions. Here’s an overview of the top cloud analytics platforms available:
1. Domo
Domo combines the often separate tools of data integration, visualization, app creation, governance, and security into one comprehensive cloud-based platform with the goal of optimizing value derived from data. Their cloud analytics tool is approachable and intuitive to everyone on your team, from novice data users to experienced data scientists.
People in any department can easily customize Domo’s interactive dashboards and visualizations with real-time data. This platform also lets you build apps using low-code and drag-and-drop features to streamline data, automate business tasks, and share data-driven insights with internal and external stakeholders, customers, and other partners.
Flexible, scalable solutions grow with your business. You can integrate your existing data warehouse and business intelligence tools or build custom applications for data analytics and visualization. Domo also gives users the option to incorporate a partner’s data with their own for even more customized insights.
Domo continues to receive recognition from the industry’s top analysts and leaders, including as a challenger in Gartner’s 2023 Magic Quadrant, and as a top vendor in Dresner’s Business Intelligence Market Study.
2. Board
Board’s cloud-based platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure for enhanced reliability and security. It houses 26 data centers throughout five continents, so you’re likely to find a convenient location that helps lower latency and improve user experience.
Board features a drag-and-drop user interface so anyone can run an analysis or create a report without the help of a tech professional. Their services can adjust and grow with you as your data capacity, power, and number of users change over time.
Read this comparison between Domo and Board.
3. Sisense
Sisense’s cloud analytics tools are built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure the highest level of security on their public cloud through ISO 27001 certification and SOC 2 Type II compliance. They also offer operations monitoring, data backup scheduling, and disaster recovery to ensure your valuable data’s safety.
Sisense allows you to add users, projects, and data to the cloud platform on demand with unlimited scalability. Their microservices architecture will enable you to meet higher analytics loads and concurrency when needed. You can also access their enhanced support level to deploy analytics faster and improve turnaround times.
Sisense’s AI-powered analysis works with any type of data, whether real-time or cached, in cloud data warehouses or on premise, and structured or unstructured. Your entire organization can incorporate analytics with this platform using the simple drag-and-drop methods or SQL, R, or Python for code-driven results. Learn how Sisense compares to Domo here.
4. TIBCO
TIBCO offers several cloud analytics platforms: TIBCO Spotfire, TIBCO Data Science, and TIBCO Streaming. Each tool offers different features and capabilities, which may be helpful if only a subset of your team needs access to an analytics tool.
TIBCO Data Science is designed for business users, data scientists, and data engineers but may be too complex for people without a tech background. TIBCO Streaming uses machine learning algorithms and advanced analytics on live data to offer users real-time insights and display emerging trends. Its no-code tools make for an easy setup and operation compared to TIBCO’s Data Science platform, but these tools are limited to only live data.
TIBCO Spotfire is the most comprehensive of the options, embedding data science and real-time streaming data along with historical data, visualizations, and custom applications in one tool. Spotfire also offers geoanalytics to build deeper context and insights for location-based data, which may be key for some businesses.
5. Qlik
Qlik offers an array of data analytics and business intelligence tools, including their cloud-based Qlik Sense. Qlik’s cloud platform boasts universal connectivity with apps and data sources for improved data integration and analysis. They incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence to prepare data, automate insight generation, and run predictive analytics. This feature allows users of any skill level to make the most out of the tool.
Qlik Sense is flexible to meet peak demands as users, data, and complexity grow. This tool gives users complete control over their data, including the option to combine data from any public, private, or on-premise location for analysis. Qlik’s self-service visualization lets you select, visualize, and explore your data. Find out how Qlik compares to Domo.
6. Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft’s Power BI is their cloud-based data analytics and business intelligence tool for non-technical business users delivered through Microsoft Azure. Your team can easily share, collaborate, and edit data reports and visualizations through the web or the Power BI mobile app. With its growing number of connectors, your organization can harness data from cloud and on-premise sources to create a complete picture of performance.
Power BI also integrates machine learning and AI with Copilot, a unique feature that allows users to tailor data reports and create narratives through conversational language. Users can ask questions and generate visuals or reports based on the insights, scope, style, or tone they want to achieve.
See how Domo and Power BI do when compared head to head.
7. Tableau
Tableau Cloud is a fully hosted enterprise-grade cloud analytics platform and a significant player within the analytics marketplace. Their flexibility allows organizations to leverage their existing data and tech investments while offering scalability as they grow.
Tableau Cloud offers a straightforward platform to prepare, analyze, publish, and share data. Their set of intelligent tools—Data Stories, Ask Data, and Explain Data— empowers business users to comprehend data in plain language and without a coding background. See how Tableau compares with Domo.
8. SAS
SAS Viya is a cloud-native AI and analytics service that manages, models, and deploys business data through a single platform. SAS focuses on automating more of the analytics process to achieve insights faster. This method includes their suggestion engine tool for data prep efficiency and a data governance tracker to inform users when changes occur. SAS also incorporates machine learning in its analytic models and automates tasks to help deploy comprehensive analytics projects. SAS Viya is available at four service levels, depending on your needs and tech expertise.
9. Looker
Looker is a unified, web-based business intelligence and data analytics tool built on the Google Cloud infrastructure that offers both self-service and governed BI. Users can create customized applications using Looker’s proprietary SQL-based modeling language, LookML, which provides a real-time view of data.
Looker helps companies drive insights and growth through embedded analytics, embedded apps, and an interactive dashboard for internal or external use. Analysts can use LookML to develop custom data experiences using data that’s most relevant to their goals.
Find out how Looker’s features compare to Domo’s here.
10. Yellowfin
Yellowfin offers embedded and enterprise analytics as part of its cloud-based platform. If your organization provides data analysis for clients, Yellowfin’s embedded analytics may be a good fit. Their pre-built plug-in dashboards seamlessly integrate and can provide visualizations within an application’s workflow, providing ease of use and efficient decision-making for your customers.
Yellowfin’s enterprise analytics is the better choice if you want to drive your growth and profitability. It modernizes your data from broadcasts or spreadsheets into self-serving data with actionable dashboards. This tool offers augmented intelligence to enhance data science models, automate data analysis, and guide insights. Yellowfin users can also develop a narrative that shares meaningful data discoveries in an approachable way using its data storytelling feature.
Before selecting any data analytics cloud platform, consider the features that will be most helpful to your business. What is the volume size and complexity level of your data, and will you need cloud analytics tools that can grow and scale with you? What type of analysis are you interested in running? Knowing the answers to these questions will guide you to a cloud analytics tool that helps your enterprise thrive.
Cloud analytics tools FAQ
Have additional questions about cloud analytics or how to choose the right cloud analytics platform? We’re here with the answers below.
What is a cloud analytics tool?
A cloud analytics tool is a service that allows you to view analytics data through a platform hosted on the web. Its features include gathering and interpreting multiple datasets, such as data ingestion, storage, processing, analysis, and reporting. All data storage and analysis is handled through one platform for ease of use and efficiency, so that your team can look at real-time data, generate insights, and produce reports for decision-makers or stakeholders.
What is an example of cloud analytics?
There are many cloud analytics that businesses use in their decision-making. Here are a few examples:
- Social media data
- Web use metrics
- Data from customer relationship management (CRM) system
- Enterprise resource planning information
Which features are included in a cloud analytics tool?
While specific features vary between cloud analytics tools, they all include the following core components:
- Data sourcing
- Data modeling
- High-volume processing applications
- Significant computing power to intake, clean, structure, and analyze data
- Analytic mathematical models to analyze complex data sets and predict outcomes
- Data storage and sharing through data warehouses for accessible, flexible, and scalable data needs
Investing in cloud analytics tools is not just about adopting new technology; it’s about transforming your approach to data and decision-making. By leveraging real-time insights and integrating diverse data sources, businesses can enhance collaboration, streamline operations, and foster innovation. As the landscape of data continues to evolve, embracing these tools will empower organizations to remain agile and competitive, ultimately driving sustainable growth in an increasingly data-driven world.