Mobile business applications will keep your employees connected to the real-time data that helps them make key business decisions. These 10 apps are more than just colorful charts and graphs.
Mobile business intelligence (BI) has quickly emerged as an easy way to provide real-time sales, revenue and customer data in dashboards small enough to fit on an employee’s tablet or smartphone screen. With this information, employees can make more informed decisions on the fly, which will ultimately help a company improve the bottom line as well as productivity. These 10 mobile BI applications will keep employees connected to Cognos, BusinessObjects, Salesforce, Microsoft Reporting Services and other business intelligence suites.
Roambi
Roambi Analytics provides a mobile business app that is intuitive to use and easy to integrate with systems that range from salesforce.com, SAP and IBM Cognos to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Reporting Services. This iOS app, recently listed among the “40 Best Apps for Business” in Fortune, is fast and has amazing graphics, too. Roambi Analytics ES4.4 for the iPad, for example, offers rich and crisp graphics and colors, while charts are interactive and fast to load. The product comes in three versions: Lite (free), Pro ($99 per user per year) and ES4 (contact Roambi for pricing).
Platform: iOS
Analysis: New on the iPad: Roambi Flow Telling the Story of Business Intelligence Slideshow: 15 Best iPhone Apps for Busy CEOs
PushBI
PushBI, as its name suggests, makes existing business intelligence tools go mobile by pushing data to devices either onsite or in the cloud. PushBI supports several data source types, ranging from SQL Server and SAP Business Information Warehouse to XML, Atom and RSS. Since this product provides Web-based content, you must be connected to the Internet at all time to access information.
Platform: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Mobile
Power View Mobile
As part of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services, Power View is a data visualization app launched via SharePoint. Power View Mobile has full support for Windows Mobile and is compatible with the Excel plug-in PowerPivot. Power View offers the self-service capability of the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform. Through Power Pivot, meanwhile, you can design your own reports and charts, and publish them to mobile devices. Power Pivot is priced as part Microsoft SQL Server and may require SharePoint Add-ons as well. Microsoft plans to deliver touch-based data exploration and visualization capabilities in a browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft platforms later in 2012.
Platform: Windows Phone; coming soon to Android and iOS
News: Microsoft Courts Big Data Market with SQL Server 2012
Cyfe
Cyfe provides analytics tools for small businesses. With its cloud-based service and mobile app, Cyfe provides small business owners with all-in-one business dashboards for a monthly subscription fee. Dashboards are easy to set up and include ready-to-use widgets that connect to social media, marketing, monitoring and sales data sources such as Salesforce, Google Analytics, Constant Contact, Twitter, Gmail, Amazon Web Services and FeedBurner. Cyfe also connects to internal databases and lets you combine internal and external data to create dashboards. There are currently five pricing models, ranging from a free version to a Pro version at $49 per month to a customized White Label offering (contact Cyfe for details).
Platform: Android, iOS
Review: Cyfe Bundles Small-Business Web Services in One Dashboard
SAP BusinessObjects Mobile
If you use BusinessObjects (SAP OE BI platform), SAP BusinessObjects Mobile provides robust analytics and interactive charts for the mobile workforce. Since this app uses the existing SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, it provides a strong level of security and flexibility. Using SAP StreamWork, you can discuss different reports with fellow employees; such collaboration capabilities make BusinessObjects Mobile a useful enterprise tool. The app is free to existing BusinessObjects users.
Platforms: Android, BlackBerry iOS, Symbian, Widows Mobile
