Birst - Detailed Review
Sales Tools
Birst - Product Overview
Introduction to Birst
Birst is a comprehensive business intelligence (BI) platform that facilitates data-driven analysis and decision-making across entire organizations. Here’s a brief overview of its primary function, target audience, and key features:Primary Function
Birst serves as an integrated Networked BI platform that combines data from various sources into a single, unified analytical environment. This platform enables the creation of accurate, actionable content to support business decisions by merging data from different sources, such as existing data warehouses, flat or structured files, and cloud business applications.Target Audience
Birst is primarily used by large and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those in the Information Technology and Services, and Computer Software industries. The platform is most often utilized by companies with over 10,000 employees and revenues exceeding $1 billion. However, it also caters to smaller and medium-sized businesses across various sectors.Key Features
Home and Dashboards
- The Home interface is the central entry point for BI developers, data analysts, and administrators. Business users can be configured to directly access dashboards, bypassing the Home interface.
- Dashboard authors can create and view interactive dashboards containing reports built in Designer and Visualizer. Users can browse, drill down into details, and share dashboards via email or through the Birst Mobile app.
Visualizer and Designer
- Visualizer allows business users and report writers to explore enterprise data quickly and get answers to business questions.
- Designer is used by data analysts and report writers to create pixel-perfect reports and charts that can be added to dashboards, printed, scheduled, or exported to other formats.
Admin Interface
- The Admin interface is used by developers, data analysts, and administrators to manage user data stores, report catalogs, user accounts, and access permissions.
Deployment Options
- Birst offers multiple deployment options, including Birst Cloud (a multi-tenant BI solution hosted by Infor), Birst Appliance (for on-premise deployment as a virtual machine), and Birst Embedded (for integrating BI content into other applications).
Data Integration and Analysis
- Birst uses Automated Data Refinement (ADR) and a transformation language (ETL) to automatically merge and refine data from various sources, creating a unified user data store. This allows for real-time querying of on-premise data sources through Birst Live Access and the ability for end users to upload local data for analysis.
Mobile and Embedded Capabilities
- Birst Mobile provides responsive dashboards on mobile devices, ensuring business users can access critical data anywhere.
- Birst can be embedded into other applications, enabling tight integration and enhancing the user experience.
Birst - User Interface and Experience
User Interface Overview
The user interface of Birst, a cloud-based business intelligence and analytics platform, is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, particularly in the context of sales tools and broader business analytics.Visual Discovery and Interaction
Birst features a visual discovery interface that allows users to explore data intuitively. This interface includes consumer-friendly features such as drag-and-drop, double-click, auto-complete search, guided visualizations, and visual filtering. These tools enable users to interact with data in a seamless and interactive way, making it easier to explore and analyze enterprise data.Dashboards and Reporting
Birst’s dashboards are highly interactive and responsive, built on design principles that promote a dynamic user experience. Users can organize reports created in Visualizer and Designer onto these dashboards, adding powerful filters, key performance indicators (KPIs), geo maps, and text boxes. The dashboards support flexible, drill-anywhere capabilities, allowing users to drill down into details easily. This functionality is available both on web browsers and through the Birst Mobile app, ensuring consistency across different devices.Ease of Use
The platform is praised for its ease of use, especially in terms of setup and administration. Users find the interface easy to navigate, with features like drag-and-drop and visual filtering making data exploration straightforward. However, some users note that while the initial use is intuitive, there can be a learning curve for more advanced features, and occasional issues with loading times when handling large datasets.Mobile Accessibility
Birst Mobile allows business users to access and interact with dashboards, charts, and reports on the go. The mobile interface leverages the same HTML5 technology as the desktop version, ensuring a consistent user experience across all devices. This allows users to filter information and drill into reports for more detail, even when not at their desks.Customization and Flexibility
The platform offers significant customization options. Users can create pixel-perfect reports and charts using Designer, which can then be added to dashboards. The Visualizer tool helps in presenting data seamlessly, allowing customization of objects on dashboards, including the use of 3D objects. This flexibility makes it easier for users to create reports and dashboards that meet specific business needs.Overall User Experience
The overall user experience with Birst is generally positive. Users appreciate the platform’s ability to handle large datasets, its integration with external data sources, and the ease of creating visual presentations. The customer support is also highly regarded, with users noting that the support team is professional and quick to address concerns. However, some users mention occasional issues such as slow loading times with large datasets and the need for more frequent updates with new features.Conclusion
In summary, Birst’s user interface is designed to be user-friendly, interactive, and highly customizable, making it a valuable tool for business analytics and sales teams. While there are some learning curves and occasional performance issues, the overall user experience is positive, with strong support for both desktop and mobile use. Birst - Key Features and Functionality
Overview
Infor Birst, while not exclusively a sales tool, incorporates several advanced analytics and AI-driven features that can significantly benefit sales and business intelligence. Here are the key features and how they work:Smart Insights
Birst’s Smart Insights is a prominent feature that leverages AI and machine learning to help business users, including those in sales, understand the variables driving their key performance indicators (KPIs). This capability does not require specialized data science expertise and automatically generates visualizations and dashboards to explain KPI behavior. Smart Insights identify meaningful relationships between KPIs and business variables, providing actionable insights that can inform sales strategies and improve performance.Anomaly Detection
Birst plans to introduce anomaly detection as part of its Smart Analytics capabilities. This feature uses AI to identify unusual patterns or outliers in data, which can be crucial for sales teams to detect unexpected changes in customer behavior, sales trends, or market conditions. Early detection of anomalies can help sales teams respond promptly and make informed decisions.Natural Language Generation and Querying
Another upcoming feature is natural language generation and querying, which allows users to interact with the system using natural language. This can simplify the process of extracting insights from data, enabling sales teams to quickly ask questions and receive relevant answers without needing technical expertise. This feature can enhance the speed and ease of accessing critical sales data.Intelligent Alerting
Intelligent Alerting is another AI-powered feature that will be introduced. This capability uses machine learning to generate alerts based on significant changes or trends in the data. For sales teams, this means receiving timely notifications about important events, such as changes in customer behavior or sales performance, allowing them to take immediate action.Data Integration and Networked BI
Birst allows users to bring in their own local data and link it to analytic instances across a corporate network. This Networked BI capability ensures that sales teams have access to a complete and integrated view of their data, enabling better decision-making and more accurate forecasting. By integrating data from various sources, sales teams can get a holistic view of customer interactions, sales performance, and market trends.Embedded Analytics and Reporting
Birst offers embedded analytics and reporting features that allow sales teams to access analytics directly within their workflow. This includes dashboards, reports, and data visualizations that provide real-time insights into sales performance, customer behavior, and market trends. These features help in making data-driven decisions and optimizing sales strategies.Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning
Birst incorporates advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities that enable predictive and diagnostic analytics. For sales teams, this means they can forecast demand, identify potential customers, and analyze sales trends more accurately. These advanced analytics help in optimizing sales processes, improving customer satisfaction, and enhancing overall business performance.Conclusion
In summary, while Birst is not a dedicated sales tool, its AI-powered features and advanced analytics capabilities make it highly valuable for sales teams by providing personalized insights, automating data analysis, and enhancing decision-making processes. Birst - Performance and Accuracy
Performance
Birst’s performance is a mixed bag, with both strengths and weaknesses. Here are some key aspects:Data Integration and Processing
Birst is praised for its automated data integration capabilities and its ability to handle large data sets. It uses a high-performance In-Memory Data Store and a ROLAP engine, which provides full ad hoc analysis capabilities without the need for physical OLAP cubes.Speed and Efficiency
However, users have reported issues with the speed of data processing and data refresh. Some users have noted that the platform can be slow when exporting extensive data or rendering and filtering reports, which can impact report generation capabilities.Scalability
While Birst is flexible and scalable, its performance issues are more pronounced with large amounts of data, making it more suitable for small and midsize companies rather than larger enterprises.Accuracy
Birst is generally strong in terms of data accuracy due to several features:Unified Data View
Birst uses “intelligent unification technologies” to map and model data from multiple sources, ensuring a consistent view of data across different systems. This helps in optimizing complex processes and maintaining data integrity.Automated Data Refinement
The platform offers patented automated data integration capabilities, which refine data automatically, reducing the likelihood of human error. It also supports time-series measures and manages slowly changing dimensions, conformed dimensions, and snapshots automatically.Predictive Analytics
Birst’s advanced predictive analytics engine leverages machine learning algorithms to generate accurate and personalized insights. This engine is integrated with the R statistics package, allowing for the operationalization of R-based models, which enhances the accuracy of predictive analytics.Limitations and Areas for Improvement
Despite its strengths, there are several areas where Birst could improve:Documentation and Support
Users have reported inconsistent and often incorrect documentation, which can make the learning curve steep. Additionally, support turnaround times can be very long, sometimes extending to several months.Bugs and Stability
Some users have experienced bugs and platform stability issues, such as the platform stalling when processing data for ad-hoc reporting. These bugs have sometimes gone unaddressed for years, and new releases have impacted pre-existing features.User Interface
While the platform is generally user-friendly, some users have suggested that the graphics and visual appeal of the reports could be improved. In summary, Birst offers strong data integration, unified data views, and advanced predictive analytics, which contribute to its accuracy. However, it faces challenges with data processing speed, scalability with large data sets, and user support, which are areas that need improvement. Birst - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure of Infor Birst
Pricing Model
Infor Birst uses a quote-based pricing model, which means the exact cost can vary depending on the specific needs of the organization.Starting Cost
The pricing for Infor Birst starts at $2,500 per month.Licensing and Subscription
- There are different licensing options, including on-premise and cloud-based subscriptions.
- For example, an on-premise basic license can cost around $30,000 per year for 20 users.
Features Across Plans
While the exact tiers are not explicitly defined, here are some features that are generally available across different plans:- Business Intelligence Tools: Automated reporting, big data analytics, data visualization, client reporting, and more.
- Data Management: Data integration, data governance, data preparation, and data warehouse tools.
- Analytics: Predictive analytics, OLAP tools, and self-service BI tools.
- Deployment Options: Supports public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises deployment.
Free Option
Historically, Birst offered a free cloud-based analytics edition called Birst Express, which allowed users to connect to Salesforce.com and other data sources for data visualization and reporting. However, this option may not be currently available as it was introduced in 2012.Training and Support
Infor Birst provides various training resources, including documentation, in-person training, live online sessions, videos, and webinars. However, these may not be included in the base cost and could be additional.Cost of Ownership
The total cost of ownership includes license/subscription costs, maintenance costs, installation/implementation costs, customization costs, data migration costs, and recurring/renewal costs. These can add up quickly, depending on the scale and complexity of the implementation.Summary
In summary, while Infor Birst does not offer a straightforward tiered pricing structure, it provides a comprehensive set of features across its plans, with costs starting at $2,500 per month. The pricing is quote-based, and additional costs for licensing, maintenance, and other services can apply. Birst - Integration and Compatibility
Birst: A Comprehensive Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform
Birst, as a business intelligence and analytics platform, is notable for its seamless integration and broad compatibility across various tools and platforms.
Native Integration with Infor CloudSuite
One of the key strengths of Birst is its native integration with the Infor CloudSuite Distribution (CSD) environment. This integration allows users to drill back from visualizations and dashboards directly into the CSD application, ensuring a smooth workflow without the need to switch between platforms.
Integration with Other Infor Tools
Birst is fully integrated with other Infor tools, such as Infor Mingle. It supports widgets in Mingle and integrates into user workspaces, enabling employees to interact with BI insights directly within their everyday tools. This integration boosts productivity and ensures insights are available exactly where they are needed.
Unified User Management
Birst simplifies administration by allowing user management through IFS security, the same system used for other Infor applications. This centralized approach ensures consistency across systems and eliminates the need for separate user and security management for different BI platforms.
Multi-Platform Support
Birst can be implemented in various architectures, including public and private clouds, on-premises, and hybrid environments. This flexibility makes it adaptable to different organizational needs and infrastructure setups.
Mobile Capabilities
Birst offers strong mobile capabilities, including HTML5 and native app delivery, along with offline support. This ensures that users can access critical business information and analyze data on demand using their mobile devices.
Data Unification
Birst uses “intelligent unification technologies” to map and model data from multiple sources, whether they are in cloud applications, transactional systems, data lakes, or elsewhere. This capability unifies complex data into a single, consistent view, making it easier to analyze and use the data for decision-making.
Virtual Business Intelligence
Birst’s multi-tenant architecture allows for the creation of virtual BI tenants that can relate to one another. This enables decentralized teams to use their virtual copies of the data, blended with local data, to deliver quality results without the need for physical replication of BI infrastructure.
Compatibility with Various Data Sources
Birst can connect to and load data from multiple sources, including ERP systems, data lakes, and spreadsheets. It supports the creation of reports, dashboards, and KPIs using data from these diverse sources, ensuring that users can access and analyze all relevant data in one place.
Conclusion
In summary, Birst’s integration capabilities and compatibility across different platforms and devices make it a versatile and efficient business intelligence solution that can be seamlessly integrated into various organizational environments.
Birst - Customer Support and Resources
Support Channels
Immediate Assistance
Partner Support
Expert-Led Support and Training
Expert Support
Training Sessions
Technical Resources
Documentation
Data Navigator
AI-Driven Insights and Analytics
Smart Analytics
Networked Business Analytics
Community and Partnership Support
Partnership Benefits
By leveraging these support options and resources, users of Birst can ensure they are getting the most out of the platform and resolving any issues efficiently.
Birst - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Infor Birst
Comprehensive Data Integration and Analysis
Infor Birst is a powerful business intelligence and analytics platform that enables organizations to collect, integrate, analyze, and visualize data from various sources. It supports both centralized and decentralized BI teams, ensuring everyone works with the same governed metrics.
Networked BI and Data-as-a-Service
Birst’s “networked BI” concept allows users to blend their local data with centrally managed data sets, providing a unified view and eliminating data silos. This feature enables true data-as-a-service, where data can be shared instantly across the organization.
Advanced Analytics and AI Capabilities
Birst introduces Smart Analytics, powered by Infor Coleman AI, which uses machine learning algorithms to discover hidden relationships in data and present them in easy-to-understand dashboards. This capability helps business users make better decisions without relying on data scientists.
User-Friendly Interface and Self-Service Analytics
The platform is designed to be user-friendly, requiring minimal training. It empowers users to quickly access, analyze, and visualize data without extensive technical knowledge, reducing the need for IT or data expert intervention.
Flexible Deployment Options
Birst supports public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises deployment, as well as integration with various data sources, making it versatile for different organizational needs.
Cost Efficiency
According to Nucleus Research, Infor Birst offers significant cost savings compared to other leading analytics platforms, with a nearly $50,000 total cost of ownership savings.
Disadvantages of Infor Birst
Performance Issues
Several users have reported that Birst’s performance can be slow and inconsistent, particularly in data processing and data refresh, which can impact report generation capabilities.
Documentation and Support
Users have complained about inconsistent and often incorrect documentation, as well as long support turnaround times, which can extend up to several months. This can make troubleshooting and resolving issues challenging.
Learning Curve and Proprietary Query Language
The use of a proprietary query language can make the learning curve steep for some users. Additionally, the platform’s code has been reported to be buggy, with frequent stalls when processing data for ad-hoc reporting.
Scalability Limitations
While Birst is flexible and scalable, it is often rated as more suitable for small and midsize companies rather than larger enterprises due to its performance issues with large amounts of data.
Setup and Onboarding
Some users have found the setup processes unclear and have required in-house IT support for onboarding, which can add to the initial implementation time and complexity.
By considering these points, organizations can make a more informed decision about whether Infor Birst aligns with their specific needs and capabilities.
Birst - Comparison with Competitors
When Comparing Birst Sales Analytics with Other AI-Driven Sales Tools
When comparing Birst, specifically its sales analytics capabilities, with other AI-driven sales tools, several key points and alternatives come to light.
Unique Features of Birst Sales Analytics
- Advanced Analytics and Business Intelligence: Birst Sales Analytics offers advanced analytics, business intelligence, and reporting features that are tightly integrated with CRM systems. It provides forecasting, dashboards, and native analytics capabilities, which are particularly useful for sales teams needing deep insights into sales performance and customer data.
- Data Governance and Modeling: Birst stands out with its strong data governance and modeling capabilities, allowing business units to create data models that can be promoted to the enterprise level. This ensures consistent and reliable data across the organization.
- Embedded Analytics: Birst integrates analytics directly into business applications, such as Infor ERP systems, providing prebuilt ETL, data models, and dashboards. This seamless integration enhances the usability and accessibility of analytics for sales teams.
Alternatives and Comparisons
Salesforce Einstein
- AI-Powered CRM: Salesforce Einstein, part of Salesforce Sales Cloud, offers AI-powered insights, content generation, and automation. It is particularly strong in generating personalized sales content, summarizing sales calls, and providing predictive analytics. While it shares some similarities with Birst in terms of AI-driven insights, Einstein is more focused on CRM integration and sales process automation.
- Key Difference: Salesforce Einstein is more geared towards automating sales processes and providing real-time coaching, whereas Birst Sales Analytics focuses on advanced analytics and business intelligence.
Clari
- Revenue Forecasting and Automation: Clari uses AI to analyze conversations and deal activities, providing revenue forecasts and automating workflows. It streamlines CRM data and offers guidance on high-impact activities and qualified leads. Clari is strong in deal inspection and pipeline health monitoring, which is different from Birst’s focus on advanced analytics and data modeling.
- Key Difference: Clari is more focused on revenue forecasting and workflow automation, whereas Birst delves deeper into data analysis and business intelligence.
Gong.io
- Conversation Intelligence: Gong.io combines customer interaction data with AI analysis to provide insights into sales conversations. It logs buyer actions, generates automated takeaways from calls and emails, and suggests action items. Gong.io is strong in conversation intelligence and real-time feedback, which complements but does not replace the advanced analytics offered by Birst.
- Key Difference: Gong.io is more focused on analyzing sales conversations and providing real-time coaching, whereas Birst is centered on comprehensive sales analytics and business intelligence.
Allego and Showpad
- Content Organization and Delivery: Allego and Showpad focus on AI-driven content organization, delivery, and sales coaching. They provide tools for generating sales content, organizing marketing and sales materials, and offering real-time guidance. While these tools enhance sales performance through content management, they do not offer the same level of advanced analytics and business intelligence as Birst.
- Key Difference: Allego and Showpad are more focused on content management and sales coaching, whereas Birst is specialized in advanced analytics and business intelligence.
Conclusion
In summary, Birst Sales Analytics stands out for its advanced analytics, data governance, and integration with business applications. While other tools like Salesforce Einstein, Clari, Gong.io, Allego, and Showpad offer valuable AI-driven features for sales teams, they each have different strengths and focus areas, making Birst a unique option for teams needing deep analytical capabilities.
Birst - Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Birst
What is Birst and what are its key features?
Birst is a cloud-native business intelligence (BI) platform that combines data from multiple sources and automates connections to various data sources, including SQL databases, Infor ERP systems, Salesforce, and Dropbox. It provides a user-friendly interface for creating dashboards, reports, and performing data analysis. Key features include the use of dashlets, drill-down chart functionality, table analysis, and the ability to export data to PDF or Excel.
What are dashlets in Birst, and how are they used?
Dashlets are individual components that can be added to or removed from a Birst dashboard. They are reusable units of functionality that provide key performance information or metrics. Users can use dashlets to drill down into specific data sets, apply filters, and view results in various formats such as tables, charts, and heat maps. Dashlets can be maximized, customized, and exported to PDF or Excel.
How does Birst integrate with other data sources?
Birst integrates with a variety of data sources, including Infor ERP systems, Salesforce, Dropbox, and SQL databases. It allows users to access data independently outside of their ERP system via a standard web browser. This integration enables users to combine data from multiple sources and automate connections, providing a comprehensive view of business performance.
What is Birst Smart Analytics, and how does it use AI?
Birst Smart Analytics is a set of AI-enabled capabilities powered by Infor Coleman AI. It uses machine learning algorithms to discover meaningful relationships between business attributes and key performance indicators (KPIs). Smart Insights, a part of Smart Analytics, automatically generates visualizations and dashboards that explain KPI behavior without requiring specialized expertise. This feature transforms the BI experience from descriptive to diagnostic and predictive.
Can users customize and export dashboards in Birst?
Yes, users can customize and export dashboards in Birst. Dashboards can be modified by adding columns, breaking down data by region, and adding percentages of sales. Users can also export dashboards and dashlets to PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, or CSV, and distribute them via email or other means.
How does Birst facilitate collaboration and data sharing?
Birst allows users to annotate dashboards with “sticky notes” to collaborate with peers. Dashboards and reports can be securely shared throughout the organization, and results can be distributed via email, file servers, or mobile devices. This facilitates collaboration and ensures that critical analysis is accessible to all relevant stakeholders.
What types of visualizations and reports can be created in Birst?
Birst offers a wide range of visualizations and reports, including summary boxes, drill-down charts, Geo or heat maps, sales by customer type charts, and interactive tables. Users can create pivot tables, visualize data, and perform ad-hoc queries without involving IT. The platform also supports pixel-perfect banded reporting and in-dashboard ad-hoc pivot tables.
How does Birst handle real-time alerts and notifications?
Birst empowers users to stay on top of their data with real-time alerts and notifications. This feature allows users to receive immediate updates on key metrics and performance indicators, enabling timely decision-making.
Can Birst be used by non-technical users?
Yes, Birst is designed to be user-friendly for non-technical users. The platform provides consumer-grade ease of use, similar to a desktop application, allowing business users to explore data, create dashboards, and perform analysis without requiring specialized IT expertise.
What kind of support and training resources are available for Birst users?
Birst users have access to various support and training resources, including community forums like the Dragon Den by Agile Dragon Group, which offers free content and paid training to support users throughout their Birst journey. This includes guidance on building dashboards, creating reports, adding filters, and managing user access.
Birst - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Birst in the Sales Tools AI-Driven Product Category
Overview and Capabilities
Birst, an Infor product, is a comprehensive cloud-based business intelligence and analytics platform that integrates and analyzes data from multiple sources. It stands out for its ability to unify data, provide personalized insights, and support predictive analytics. Key features include Smart Insights, which use machine learning to identify meaningful relationships between key performance indicators (KPIs) and business variables, and automated data refinement (ADR) technology that simplifies the creation of data warehouses without requiring specialized expertise.
AI-Driven Capabilities
Birst’s Smart Analytics, powered by Infor Coleman AI, introduce several AI-enabled capabilities such as anomaly detection, natural language generation and querying, and Intelligent Alerting. These features help business users gain insights from data more quickly and scalably, often discovering relationships that might have gone unnoticed otherwise.
User Benefits
Birst is particularly beneficial for organizations seeking to streamline their data analysis and decision-making processes. Here are some key user groups that would benefit most:
- Marketing Teams: Birst’s Marketing Analytics Accelerator integrates online and offline marketing data, providing a complete view of the customer acquisition process. This helps marketers create greater awareness, acquire new customers, and nurture existing relationships more effectively.
- Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Birst offers features like complete supply chain visibility, production planning and optimization, quality control analytics, and cost analysis. These capabilities help manufacturers optimize processes, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency.
- General Business Users: The platform’s user-friendly interface and automated data refinement make it accessible to users without specialized data science skills. It enables decentralized teams to use virtual copies of data blended with their local data, improving consistency and collaboration.
Recommendation
Birst is highly recommended for small to midsize companies and departments within larger enterprises that need to integrate and analyze data from various sources efficiently. Here’s why:
- Ease of Use: Birst’s automated data refinement and user-friendly interface make it easier for non-technical users to build and manage data warehouses and gain insights.
- Comprehensive Analytics: The platform offers a wide range of analytics capabilities, including predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and natural language querying, which can significantly enhance decision-making processes.
- Integration and Unification: Birst’s ability to unify data from multiple sources into a single view is a significant advantage, especially for organizations with disparate data systems.
However, it’s important to note that larger enterprises with complex data analysis needs might encounter performance issues, such as slow data processing and refresh times, which could impact report generation capabilities.
In summary, Birst is a strong choice for organizations looking to leverage AI-driven analytics to make data-driven decisions, especially those needing to integrate and analyze data from multiple sources efficiently.