The Future of Business Intelligence is Open Source

Technology

Living in a technologically advanced society has prompted every individual to generate some kind of data. Today we all generate a high quantum of data, making around 2.7 zettabytes of information made available on the internet. Businesses that have accessibility to this data, have provided them with new doors, shifting their focus more towards data-driven business decisions.

What is Open Source Business Intelligence (OSBI)?

OSBI usually refers to the utilization of open-source tools and software for the analysis of data to gather useful insights for a business. Organizations use this information to make data-driven decisions that help them reach their business goals. Most of the time, companies use either an entire open source software or go for various open source tools available in the market for completing their tasks in a data analytics framework.

Open source business intelligence can also be defined as useful business data that a company does not trade using traditional software license agreements. It is an alternative for the company that is looking to aggregate more data with the help of data mining without investing in fee-based tools.

Although most of the time, open source business intelligence products have free labels, they may be available with subscription fees. Marketers often offer them user-friendly presentations along with various kinds of maintenance and support. Many OSBI products come with reporting tools, online analytical processing tools, and data-mining resources. Sometimes OSBI tools may offer less-friendly solutions in comparison to other specific tools sold in the IT market.

Comparison between open source and free

While both the terms are used interchangeably to describe OSBI software, they vary in their meanings. The word ‘Free’ actually refers to the freedom users have access to and can make changes to it. Free software is a platform that allows users the freedom to share, study, and modify it. Thus it establishes both open code and freedom to share the code with others.

Open source tools need to meet a specific set of criteria including:

• It must be free to redistribute
• Must have publically accessible source code
• It should be open for modification and distribution in various formats, different from the original
• The tool must not restrict the usage of other software

To conclude, free software is more of a term than actual. Freeware mostly refers to platforms that are available for free without paying any charge and need not be open source. For example, Facebook, Telegram, etc., are freeware, but they are not free for users to modify.

Why the future of business intelligence is open source?

One of the major reasons for businesses to adopt open-source systems is the scarcity of data scientists. Companies looking to expand their data science capabilities struggle to fight a shortage of the right talent in the data science field.

Open-sourcing their data along with technology helps them march forward, keeping pace with the current market scenarios.

Most of these open source software doesn't require expensive hardware compared to other software readily available in the market.

There are many reasons to use open source. Some of the most critical are:

• Portability: Freedom to change providers gives users an extra confidence in the vendor's products and services. It is an important criterion when a company wants to switch providers because of budget constraints or due to compliance. Portability with open source frees businesses from being locked in, enabling them for broader thinking and develop future strategies.
• Multicloud along with hybrid support: Open source is very closely related to a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy. Hybrid computing ensures your current resources are easily migrated to a cloud, whereas multi-cloud ascertains you can dig into the data and capabilities in more powerful ways. Open source provides you more liberty, asserting that you, but not your vendor are in control.
• Helps create more outlets: Open source provides more avenues to the managers with lessons helping them gain insights for new ideas bubbling in a continuously increasing online world. Marketers get an idea of what excites and motivates their customers more.

Are open source business intelligence tools worth investing in?

The answer largely depends on the business's unique needs.

For organizations having a talented team open source can be a good option, and for some businesses it may not be a realistic idea.

It will help if you explore various online communities for open source tools, and do research before finalizing one.

Identify your requirements, rank them, and find whether the open source will meet your unique needs, or requires a more robust approach.

Read Also : How Business Intelligence Improves Visibility of Data?

Introduce business intelligence in your organization now

Nobody can ignore the advantages that business intelligence offers to a business.

BI is gaining popularity in the data-driven world, improving business productivity with fact-based decision-making.

Referred as the future of analytics in businesses, BI will be a game changer in the coming years.

eComstreet is your right partner offering OSBI according to your unique needs.