September 14, 2019
What is MS Excel?
MS Excel is a spreadsheet software and is better suited for numerical modeling and analysis. It does provides data storage facility but is not beneficial in the long run. It is an assortment of cells arranged in the form of rows and columns. It is easy to store data, perform calculations, format the cells and adjust layouts to generate the reports. The application also provides various analytical tools for the accurate analysis of huge loads of data.
What is BI?
Business Intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for data analysis which delivers key business insights and helps users to make informed decisions. Business Intelligence tools have become essential in every company in the modern business landscape.
Advantages of both Excel & BI
Here are some benefits of using Excel;
- Many organizations use Excel for a wide variety of needs, be it for organizing information or even using it as a database for data analytics.
- Excel is relatively inexpensive as it comes with Microsoft Office as a part of the Windows package
- Spreadsheets are beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses that operate on low budgets.
- Excel is cost-effective in nature and easy to use.
- From pivot tables to look-ups, no single feature beats Excel for ad hoc analysis.
- Excel is ideal for doing research and gathering information as it allows users to insert or add text, numbers and also images in a structured format.
- Excel even allows users to work with formula and perform “what-if” analysis.
- Excel provides decent graphics, charts, and graphs to display your data.
Here are some benefits of using BI Reporting Tools;
- BI solution is used to generate quick and easy reports.
- BI tools can generate insightful reports of the business from financial budgets to inventory lists to employee performance.
- This allows the management and executives to make quick and informed business decisions based on the findings of the reports.
- BI reporting tools can handle a large amount of data
- Even data gets updated automatically on BI reporting tools
Limitations of Excel
Here are some limitations of using Excel;
- At times, Excel is used to gather data from various reports and databases.
- For a longer period of time, users don’t even imagine that they are working with incorrect data as it is extremely hard to identify errors in excel.
- Though Excel is quite easy to use, at times gets complex and complicated when used to gain insights from organizational data.
- Excel consumes a quality time when it comes to entering a huge amount of data if it had to be done manually.
- Version control is also one of the most critical problems while using Spreadsheets.
- Users cannot run reports on Excel data
- Data stored in Excel can run a great risk of loss and manipulation
Benefits of BI over Excel
Excel can perform a lot of things but cannot provide in-depth insights for better decision making. No matter how cautiously an operator prepares an Excel document, every such Excel document lacks integrity, traceability, integration of data, consistency, security, and capability for planning as well as decision-making. Here, BI Reporting tools come into the picture where it tries to bridge the loopholes of Excel.
Every business needs affordable, easy to use Business Intelligence (BI) tools, like, EasyReports one of the leading business intelligence tools available in the market that provides affordable analytical and reporting solutions. It is used to make accurate reports, confident decisions and ensure business results. The BI solution comes with complete integration capabilities for Tally ERP.9, Microsoft NAV, and SAP B1.
Here are some benefits as to why BI tools like EasyReports, are preferred over MS Excel;
- When users have huge data that does not fit in spreadsheets
- Data spans across multiple tables, databases or other sources
- The data is transactional in nature
