If you're looking for a self-service business intelligence (BI) tool that proves itself capable of producing data visualizations without busting your wallet, then take a look at Zoho Analytics.
With its intuitive user interface (UI), users of all skill levels should be able to easily navigate the product's functionality.
Although the Enterprise edition is simpler to use when stacked up against our Editors' Choice pick Tableau Desktop, Zoho Analytics falls behind other solutions, such as IBM Watson Analytics and Microsoft Power BI.
Still, with its affordable price, you should definitely consider Zoho Analytics.
Zoho Analytics is one application of many within an entire software suite of productivity tools and business apps.
However, like most of the other apps in Zoho's portfolio, Zoho Analytics is not dependent on the suite or any single element thereof; it works well as a standalone app. That said, Zoho has gone to some significant trouble to make integrating its apps with each other not only easy but valuable, with an easy integration process as well as shared toolbars, workspaces, and features.
Its latest integration example, however, is mainly licensing-oriented rather than feature-dependent.
Zoho also offers Zoho One, a way to purchase access to all of its products simultaneously, for a price that averages $30 per user per month.
That's a lot of software tools for a very low subscription fee, though the only technology add that Zoho One brings is some additional benefit to IT administrators who get new provisioning and access control tools via the updated Admin panel.
If you decide to avoid Zoho One and opt for standard pricing, then the structure is pinned primarily to three items: number of data rows, number of users, and number of scheduled emails for alerts or reports.
The free version allows for 10,000 rows of data, two users, and zero automated emails.
On the free version, there's some additional throttling that doesn't exist in the paid editions, mainly on the number of databases, query tables, and scheduled imports you can use in a month. A Basic edition at $25 per month provides access for two users and allows for 500,000 rows and four automated emails.
Or you can spring for the Standard tier at $50 per month, which not only lets you have up to five users but also jump up to 1 million rows of data and schedule as many as 10 emails per month.
Professional tiers go up from there and cumulate in the Enterprise edition, at $495 per month for 50 users, and up to 50 million rows and 100 emails per month.
Regardless of the edition you choose, the learning curve is a short, relatively gentle slope that nearly any user can quickly master.
Certainly that means the UI is at least fairly intuitive, but it also prominently displays a Help center, how-to videos, a snapshot tour, a selection of data samples on which to learn, and a live chat tool.
You'll find every step is like that as help is offered unobtrusively throughout the process.
Customer support is the best of any BI app I tested.
Indeed, even though I was using the free version, I got emails from an account manager offering support, with no attempts to upsell me (which is impressive).
And like most Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors, Zoho is constantly updating the software with new features you don't need to download and install since the product is accessed directly via a web browser.
In January 2018, Zoho announced that Zoho Reports will now be the primary reporting engine for HubSpot CRM (Visit Site at HubSpot) and it would also support median and mode functions in the report creation UI.
Getting Started
Loading data in Zoho Analytics is accomplished with a few clicks.
I loaded the same Comma Separated Value (CSV) files stored on my local drive that I've been using to test every BI app in this review roundup.
If you need to import data sets larger than 50 megabytes (MB) and a half a million rows, then you'll want to use Zoho's Upload Tool to compress the data.
Either way, the process is fast and simple, especially if you're familiar with such operations.
Zoho Analytics has 15 connectors on its UI but you can use Zapier, a web automation app, to connect to and extract data from another 500-plus apps. They include HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, and Salesforce.
By using the connectors, you can see your sales pipeline and funnel for various regions, view the performance of sales reps and check out your win-loss rate. Just remember: If you're going to be using large amounts of data, then check first to see if you're using the right Zoho Analytics edition.
The system also prompts the use of two-factor authentication (2FA) to increase security.
While 2FA isn't infallible by any means, it is a sensible security step.
However, you'll find the same feature available in IBM Watson Analytics and SAP Analytics Cloud.
The Discovery Process
The system alerted me to errors such as empty fields and inconsistent formatting on dates.
Once those were rectified, the system immediately offered to auto-generate reports for me.
This feature is likely to be applauded by most users because it automatically provides insights without you having to construct queries and models.
Zoho Analytics is thus useful from the start, before the user makes hardly any effort at all.
I was done in minutes, all without so much as a pretense of fashioning a query.
I'd say that's as easy as data analysis can possibly get, especially on the common queries aspect.
Yes, while it's still easier to just ask IBM Watson whatever it is you want to know, its formative artificial intelligence (AI) is clearly on the fast track to becoming a true, enterprise-grade virtual assistant.
But Zoho Analytics' automation appears to do a bit of mind reading since it can figure out by itself which reports you're most likely to want from whatever data set you've given it.
And that feature goes a long way, not just in getting business users up and running but especially in getting them to keep using the tool.
Making it a part of users' core productivity toolset—and thereby adding reliable data analysis without the need for overly heavy training—that's what companies seeking data democratization as a cultural shift are really looking for.
Zoho's not perfect there but it's certainly one of the best I've seen.
However, while the auto-generated reports are a godsend in a truly distributed BI environment, users are likely to need more complex analysis at some point.
Certainly, Zoho Analytics handles more complex queries with aplomb.
The underlying engine is a virtual muscle car.
But you need some data science skills to drive this app past the starting line.
That means beginners are welcome but moving beyond that stage is going to take some work.
Any experienced business analyst will find Zoho Analytics relatively easy to navigate.
It's an easy, drag-and-drop process to put data in the x-axis or y-axis and in any new columns you decide to create.
Furthermore, analysts can add a variety of filters and manipulate data, queries, and output visualizations as needed.
But if any of your intended business users are the least bit confused about what any of those terms mean, then they'll get lost in this system quickly.
Training will be necessary, or they will need to stick with the automated reports.
Seriously advanced users and data professionals, however, will find this system very friendly.
They can write custom Structured Query Language (SQL) queries, and run from there on a simple and elegant system designed with maximum efficiency in mind.
Data Visualizations
After the system auto-generated a slew of visualizations for me, it was a simple matter to click on the "Edit Design" tab to mod the visualizations any way I wanted.
Ditto with the "Themes" tab, which lets you make the dashboard design more sophisticated-looking or maybe just make it conform better with your company's branding efforts.
This is a very nice way to implement visualizations and rivals what I found in Microsoft Power BI (Visit Site at Microsoft Power BI) , another player known for its easy visuals.
I particularly liked the user filters that enables you to slice and dice reports and data access to readers or collaborators in compliance with their roles.
This "one report, multiple views" feature saves time, ensures compliance, and adds security in a highly efficient manner.
Text editors, resizing tools, drag-and-drop positioning, and other tools are all clean and simple and very easy to use.
I got to choose how I wanted to publish my finished operations, either as a dashboard or report.
One click produces a URL and lets me choose whether the user needs authorization to see it.
That link can connect to interactive or dynamic reports (interactive being all of the features of Zoho Analytics, even if the collaborator doesn't use Zoho Analytics themselves).
Another click let me create a slideshow and set a timer for page advancements.
That feature makes each visualization on the dashboard a separate slide.
Zoho Analytics users get creative in the types of dashboard they can generate, particularly when it comes to sports data.
They created compelling dashboards of scores from the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 FIFA Cup.
All told, Zoho Analytics is a great tool, especially for inexperienced users in a distributed BI environment.
It's also a great tool for more advanced users and for enterprise use.
Where it suffers is in advancing beginners to more complex queries.
But given its superior user support, that can be overcome if the user has the time and motivation to learn more.
The Bottom Line
Zoho Analytics is a solid option for general business users who might not be knowledgeable in analytics software.
It's also available at an attractive price.
