, a free tool from Google, is one option.<\/span><\/h4>\nIt works best with various Google ecosystem tools. Instead of importing files from your desktop, you import them from Google Drive, for example. You have complete control over who sees your reports, which neither Power BI Free nor Tableau Public provides. However, if you’re coming from Tableau or Power BI, you’ll notice a distinct lack of features.<\/span><\/p>\nTier 3: Scalable data analytics<\/span><\/h3>\nAll Tier 1 and Tier 2 products (for the most part) handle ETL, data storage, and visualization in a single location. It’s difficult to build a scalable solution if you only use them. Going one step further necessitates replacing our simple analytics pipeline’s ETL and storage components. Most cloud providers provide free trials, but some are permanently free, albeit with restrictions.<\/span><\/p>\nDatabricks<\/b> is a sophisticated product that can solve only a subset of our problem’s ETL, storage, and analytics. Databricks Community Edition is its free version. If you want to do any repetitive analysis, there are serious limitations. It also requires knowledge of Python, R, Scala, or SQL, so it does not meet our ‘non-developer’ requirements.<\/span><\/p>\nGoogle BigQuery<\/b> – the Google Data Warehouse platform – is our choice. For casual analysis, Google provides generous free quotas. While it is not as simple to set up as Power BI or Tableau, it is manageable and can be handled without coding. It only handles ETL and storage, but you can connect any Tier 2 tools to access the data. This means that your data will be stored in the Google Cloud and accessible via the BI tool of your choice, such as Excel, Power BI, or Google Data Studio.<\/span><\/p>\nData Analytics Tools Comparison<\/span><\/h2>\nSummarizing the main plusses and minuses of most used free data analytics tools.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n| Tool<\/span><\/td>\n | Plusses<\/span><\/td>\n | Minuses<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Excel<\/span><\/td>\n | \n\n- Excellent for quick analysis<\/span><\/li>\n
- Simple to set up<\/span><\/li>\n
- You probably already have it<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n- Sharing is difficult<\/span><\/li>\n
- Visualisations not very good<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n| Power BI Free<\/span><\/td>\n | \n\n- Very good graphs<\/span><\/li>\n
- Greater data size than Excel<\/span><\/li>\n
- Works well with Excel<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n- Controlled sharing is difficult<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n| Tableau Public<\/span><\/td>\n | \n\n- Very good graphs<\/span><\/li>\n
- Greater data size than Excel<\/span><\/li>\n
- Superb analytics capabilities<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n- More complex than Power BI<\/span><\/li>\n
- All reports are visible to the entire web<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n| Google Data Studio<\/span><\/td>\n | \n\n- Simple to set up<\/span><\/li>\n
- Good control over sharing<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n- Less powerful than Power BI or Tableau<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n| Google BigQuery<\/span><\/td>\n | \n\n- For a data warehouse, simple to set up<\/span><\/li>\n
- Scalable<\/span><\/li>\n
- Any BI tool can connect to BigQuery<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n- For simple analytics tasks, doesn\u2019t justify the overheads<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Analytics setup: what you should do yourself and what you should outsource<\/span><\/h2>\nTypically, you do not hire an in-house data analyst; instead, YOU are the data analyst. You ask the right questions and then analyze the answers. External consultants can assist you in the analysis steps if you have good ones on board.<\/span><\/p>\nIf you run a small business, you’re also the person who configures analytics tools like Power BI. You should be getting external help if any of the following happens.<\/span><\/p>\n\n- If the alternative cost is becoming prohibitively expensive and you cannot devote enough time to marketing, sales, or running your business, hire someone to handle the technical setup.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Secondly, if your setup is getting too complex for you to handle \u2013 be it due to the scope, the visual requirements, or the need for specialized skills such as Python.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A common usage scenario is to hire outside help to do the initial technical setup and then take over for minor changes in the future. Hiring professionals may appear expensive, but you get what you pay for: they will complete the tasks faster than you would.<\/span><\/p>\n\n | | | | | | | | | | |
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