Not all Mobile BI is created equal – We discuss the 5 best mobile BI analytics solutions and how to connect them for the price of 4 x coffees – fortunately, it’s SUPER easy with forms2!
We don’t have to tell you how important Mobile BI or mobile business intelligence tools are – if you’re reading this, you just want to know why you should connect your multiple Mobile BI streams, and how to connect them in the best way that gives you a solid road map to make better decisions.
Sound about right? Good.
Cloud Engineering is one of the top rising jobs of 2023, so those who are (or becoming) handy with Amazon Web Services or Azure are already leading the pack when it comes to digital transformation in the Professional Services, Technology & Media as well as Financial Services Sectors.
If you’re using business connectors effectively via a low-code/no-code app then you’re miles ahead.
Being deadly with data makes you deadly with competitors.
Want to know more? Wondering how to access all your data in one place?
Read on.
What is a business connector in the context of mobile business apps or Mobile BI?
A business connector is a tool that helps different computer programs that a business uses to talk to each other. A software component that allows two or more applications to exchange data. In the context of a mobile business app, a business connector allows the app to connect to back-end systems and tech stacks and exchange data with them.
In a nutshell, it’s a digital connector that makes everything go smoother, it allows businesses to easily connect their various software systems, databases, CRM systems, ERP systems or more specific Mobile BI platforms you may have for accounting, customer relationship management, and inventory management systems. It lets you automate data exchange and improve data-driven decisions, and streamline workflows.
Some people refer to Business Connectors in this context as “middleware” that handles communication and data flow between different software systems or business apps that you may use.
It could also be known as an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) which is a type of platform that enables businesses to connect and manage their applications and data flexibly and efficiently.
If this sounds good to you, it’s exactly what we can help you build at forms2.
How to pick a mobile BI solution
If you’re not already using Mobile BI solutions, then you probably should.
Mobile BI (Business Intelligence) software solutions are vital for enterprise success. BI software solutions help you make better decisions, faster, encourage digital transformation and allow you to stay competitive – your rivals/competitors/peers are likely already using some kind of Mobile BI to make financial forecasts, spot trends and develop new strategies backed by data.
But not all mobile BI solutions are created equal—a wide variety of options are available with different features, capabilities, and price points to consider. Full disclosure – we don’t get a commission from these brands or types of Mobile BI solutions, but these are the 5 best options that our clients tend to use when creating a mobile business app and data analysis platform.
Ultimately, the best mobile BI solution for you will depend on the specific needs of your business and the platforms and tools or tech stack you’re already using. By understanding the features and capabilities of each solution and the connectors they offer, you’ll be better equipped to make an informed decision.
Fortunately, we have a quick guide to the most common connectors on our integrations page. Still, we recommend clicking here if you want a complete overview of how our mobile app builder can Connect and integrate your tech stack.
Read on to see our 5 top recommendations for the best mobile BI solutions:
The 5 Best Mobile BI solutions
1. Microsoft Power BI
This Microsoft-developed BI solution offers a range of features, including data visualisation, collaboration, and data sharing. Microsoft Power BI Mobile also offers a Salesforce connector, allowing users to easily import Salesforce data into their Power BI dashboards.
The forms2 Microsoft Power BI Form connector allows you to easily add data from forms, including repeatable entries, to your Power BI datasets in real-time, keeping your dashboards and analytics up-to-date.
2. Google BigQuery
This Google-developed mobile businesses intelligence tool is a multi-cloud data warehouse designed to handle extremely large data sets – it’s perfect for mobile BI applications because it can scale to meet the needs of any size business. It’s also designed to connect with the BigQuery BI Engine. With BigQuery BI Engine, users can create and run interactive, ad-hoc analyses on their mobile devices.
Our Google BigQuery Form connector can push data captured by your field teams directly into your Google BigQuery tables. Automatically create new tables and push selected fields to columns and basically give you all the data from your tech stack you need. Just drag and drop what you need!
This gives you a full circle approach. Pull data from BigQuery, update or create new records in your mobile forms, push back to BQ, rinse, repeat.
3. Looker Studio, formerly Google Data Studio
Looker Studio, formerly Google Data Studio, is a cloud-based, modern data platform that connects with many popular data sources such as BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. As well as Google Marketing Platform products, including Google Ads, Analytics, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360. It also connects with Google consumer and business products, such as Sheets, YouTube, and Search Console.
However, it doesn’t connect with external Mobile BI – but we can fix that! Using our API, we will be rolling out functionality soon so can get you connected to looker studio to push data directly from form entries, and pull data into forms2 data sources. This means you can view interactive dashboards, view data insights and share data in a visually pleasing way. It’s also got a free version – which is always nice!
4. Salesforce
Using Salesforce for Mobile BI is essential if you’re focused on customer service, marketing automation and analytics to help with customer relationship management.
The biggest benefit of the Salesforce CRM system is its ability to give teams a single, unified view of the customer. This allows for running reports to see where sales opportunities are, how well the team is interacting or nurturing leads and customers, trends in sales and customer service efforts etc. The ability to categorise customers in the sales funnel as leads, opportunities, or sales and the ability to run reports with any number of parameters is another major benefit.
You can basically see the entire history of the customer relationship and use that to nurture leads in a more personalised way so your customers know you care about them and you’re not treading over the same ground or flying into sales opportunities blindly.
If you’re sending emails out, Salesforce can show how many times they opened your email, what they clicked on and how many times and how often they have conversations with your sales team. This also shows you what they need when they contact customer service, so when they DO contact you, you know exactly how to help them.
Our Salesforce Form connector enables you to quickly and easily connect to objects on your Salesforce account. Enabling a one-way synchronisation to occur – where any Form output files are pushed to Salesforce objects.
We have both form and data source connectors for salesforce. So data captured on mobile forms can be pushed to objects. Objects can also be pulled into data sources for your convenience.
5. Oracle Netsuite
Oracle Netsuite is the #1 Cloud ERP and one of the best mobile business intelligence tools. A unified business management suite, encompassing ERP/Financials, CRM and e-commerce. If you’re not using this for Mobile BI in your e-commerce business, you’re missing out.
The Oracle Netsuite ERP system is essential for mobile BI as it automates financial processes that usually take a lot of time, speeds up workflow and productivity, and provides real-time visibility over your inventory – ideal for warehouse management systems applications. With its supply chain optimisation and nigh-on error-proof order management, it really takes the pressure off when it comes to getting products out the door.
The forms2 Oracle Netsuite data source connector is a real game-changer! It makes it super easy to access all the data stored within your Oracle Netsuite instances, and you can even apply filters and query multiple instances for even more options. And that’s not all, with our form connector, you can also seamlessly push new data from mobile app submissions in seconds with standard JSON syntax. Perfect for connecting with your mobile data capture apps.
The problems connecting Mobile BI solve
In a nutshell, having visibility of all your data in one place instantly improves task execution and saves time. It also allows you to make data-driven decisions you can rely on as you’re not manually compiling multiple sources of data and accidentally leaving bits out.
You can visualise all your data in one place.
Here’s the problem you’re likely having when it comes to data visualisation (and why we know so much about it):
Scenario #1
- PROBLEM → You want to see all your business data in one place
- OBJECTION → You don’t know how to connect it all in a usable format.
- SOLUTION → You need a low-code/no-code app that can do it for you.
Sound about right?
Scenario #2 – let’s dig a little deeper
- PROBLEM → You can’t make business decisions as your data is tied up in multiple mobile BI software platforms.
- OBJECTION → You have no way of visualising all your business data in one dashboard or connecting them or the knowledge on how to do so.
- SOLUTION → Use a data integration and visualisation platform like forms2 that can connect to multiple mobile BI software and display all of the business data in a single dashboard.
And build it yourself in days.
If any of that resonated with you, it’s because we’re super familiar with these scenarios, in fact, this is one of the main problems our platform solves. We give you the tools to build your own mobile business app that connects to ALL of your Mobile BI software solutions so you can make accurate decisions and find out things about your business you never knew.
Things like:
- Supply chain issues
- Stocktake
- Customer call out
- Trends
- Safety procedures
- Financial trends
- Financial reports
- And so much more
You can actually use the forms2 platform as a tool for analysing and manipulating the data FROM your mobile business intelligence tools, making it easier to make informed business decisions. Use our API to push and pull all the data you need. Additionally, your low-code/no-code business app could also provide the ability to create custom reports and dashboards tailored to specific business needs.
Best of all, you can do it yourself, in days, not weeks.
What’s The Best Way To Connect All Mobile BI Software?
The best way to connect all of your mobile BI software and solutions is to use a low-code/no-code mobile business app built with forms2 and have visibility of all your data in one place, pulled from multiple Mobile BI sources via API.
The reason it’s wise to use a low-code/no-code version is that you can build a mobile app for analytics to your exact specifications and pull/push data you need to the right people when they need it.
Here are the steps to take and what you should look out for when building your mobile data capture and analysis app connected to your Mobile BI tools:
Four steps to build a data platform for mobile business apps:
1. Centralize data with real-time collaboration and access controls.
2. Use a cloud-based solution for flexibility and security.
3. Connect to mobile BI software like Salesforce or Power BI.
4. Use pre-built connectors to share data and connect to your app.
STEP 1
The platform, like forms2, should provide a centralised view of data for all approved users, regardless of their location or device. It should also allow for real-time collaboration and sharing of data between different teams. It should also have Role Based Access Controls for safety.
STEP 2
The data platform should use a cloud-based solution, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. These are the industry standard hyperscale platforms that offer the flexibility and scalability you’re likely going to need to support a large number of users and different devices (iPhones/Android tablets etc.) They also provide the security and privacy controls needed to protect sensitive data so you’re compliant with all GDPR, HIPAA regulations etc. with your mobile forms and apps. Fortunately, our platform is built on Azure – so there’s no need to worry about data compliance and security in your low-code/no-code business app there! Speak to us today about creating your HIPAA and GDPR compliant form creator.
STEP 3
Once you’ve built your platform in a couple of days, you will need to select the specific mobile BI software and business applications that you want to connect. This could be Salesforce, Microsoft Power BI, Google BigQuery, Oracle NetSuite and Google Data Studio/Looker Studio. Fortunately, we can connect to all of these (and a lot more using our API)!
STEP 4
Once you have selected the software and Mobile BI applications you want to connect, you will need to determine how they will share data. This can be done through the use of our built-in data connectors, or our open API. APIs allow different applications to exchange data in a structured, safe format that you can rely on. Fortunately, we’ve got built-in connections that handle the heavy lifting so you don’t have to – just connect to your Mobile BI and say goodbye to expensive web development costs.
Once you have determined how your different analytics software and mobile BI solutions will share data and you’ve specified what kind of data you want to see, just use our pre-built connectors to easily connect to your low-code/no-code mobile business app.
3 reasons you should use forms2 to build an app for data visualisation
With forms2, you can make faster, data-driven decisions with real-time data visualisation.
- Unlimited connectors – connect as many Mobile BI solutions as you need to.
- You can streamline data management and analysis with forms2’s agile data delivery and automation capabilities that take the guesswork out of the analysis.
- Trust in the accuracy and security of your data with forms2’s enterprise-ready platform, ensuring proper cataloguing and protection as it connects with your existing tech stack, providing the REAL data, from your Mobile BI solutions.
If you’re looking to unlock the power of mobile BI, forms2 is an easy-to-use, low-code/no-code business app-building platform that provides an easy way to connect mobile BI sources such as Salesforce, Microsoft Power BI, Google BigQuery, Oracle NetSuite and more.
It gives you the power to sync data across multiple sources and create custom dashboards and reports that you can actually use in a way that helps your business!
You build it how you want to!
Speak to a platform specialist today about connecting your tech stack and multiple BI sources today. Make a mobile app for analytics that works for you.
14-day trial. No Fee. No obligation. Try today.
