The best BI tool is not the most popular one, but the tool that fits your goals, your technology landscape, and your people. We help you make an informed choice through a structured selection process and an honest assessment. If Qlik, Power BI, Fabric, or TimeXtender is the best fit, we can implement it for you as well. If another solution is a better fit, we will tell you and help you find a provider that can implement it.
Yes, we are fans of Qlik, Power BI, Fabric, and TimeXtender, and we implement them every day. That is precisely why we also know where they fall short and where they are not a good fit. Knowing a tool inside and out means understanding not only what it can do, but also what it cannot do. That makes our assessment more useful than that of a provider that only knows one product and tries to apply it everywhere.
Take Power BI. For many organizations, it has become the obvious choice: it is often already included in their Microsoft contract, and no one is criticized for choosing it. It is often a perfectly good choice, too. But not always. Sometimes you need a data model or an approach to analysis where another tool is stronger. In that case, the obvious choice may ultimately cost you more than it delivers. We look at what fits your needs, not at what the market currently considers the safe option.
And if the best solution is one we do not implement, we will tell you. We have no interest in recommending something that will not work, because sooner or later, a tool that is not a good fit will run into problems, and no one benefits from that. In that case, we will help you find a reliable provider that can build it. Honest advice can sometimes take longer, but it can save you from an expensive mistake.
Choosing the right tool is not a matter of watching a few demos and trusting your gut. We follow a structured process, so the decision is transparent and you know exactly why you chose a particular tool.
We look beyond the tools we implement ourselves. In more than twenty years in this field, we have encountered all kinds of platforms, from BusinessObjects and Cognos to Tableau, Looker, dbt, and Sigma. This broad experience allows us to assess a package based on what it can actually do rather than what the brochure promises, and to understand which tool performs well in which situation.
At the same time, we know our own platforms—Qlik, Power BI, Fabric, and TimeXtender—down to the smallest detail. That may sound like a reason to question our neutrality, but the opposite is true. Because we implement these tools every day, we know exactly where they excel and where they reach their limits. We apply that same depth when assessing other packages, making our judgment sharper than that of an advisor who has never built anything themselves.
And that hands-on experience is precisely what many tool selection recommendations lack. A package may appear to do everything in the brochure, like a car with an endless list of options. Only when you drive it every day do you discover how those options actually work and whether they suit your people, your data, and your way of working. Our advice is not based on a brochure, but on practical experience configuring these tools and making them work. That means we understand what a decision will mean in practice, not just what a vendor promises.
Once the decision has been made, the real work begins. This is where our dual role comes together: we provide independent advice on the selection, and we can also implement many of the tools ourselves.
If you choose Qlik, Power BI, Fabric, or TimeXtender, we can implement it for you, with the same people who got to know you during the selection process. You will not have to explain your situation all over again to a new team, because we carry the knowledge gained during the selection process into the implementation.
If you choose a package that we do not implement, that is not a problem. We will have helped you make the right choice, and that is what matters. In that case, we will connect you with a reliable partner that can implement the package, so you are not left without support afterward. Our independence does not end with the recommendation.
In a brief conversation, we’ll explore your situation and whether a structured selection process is the right next step.
That’s a fair question. We partner with Qlik, Power BI, Fabric, and TimeXtender, and we implement them every day. But that also means we know their limitations, and we have no interest in recommending a tool that isn’t right for you. Sooner or later, the wrong choice will cause problems, and our reputation is at stake too. If the best option is a product we don’t implement, we’ll tell you and help you find a reliable provider that does.
That depends on the scope of the decision and how many products you want to compare seriously. A selection process involving a longlist, evaluation, and proof of concept for two or three products can easily take several weeks to a few months. The proof of concept is usually the most decisive and time-consuming part. In a brief conversation, we’ll define the scope together so you know what to expect in advance.
Then we’ve done our job well: you’ve chosen the tool that best fits your needs. We won’t implement it, but we’ll put you in touch with a reliable provider that can. This way, you won’t be left on your own after making the decision.
Yes. For vendors, a serious selection process is an opportunity to demonstrate what their product can do, so they are usually happy to participate in demos and a proof of concept. We make sure those demos and tests follow your criteria rather than the vendor’s sales pitch, giving you an objective view.
A structured selection process takes time, but the wrong choice costs much more. A tool that doesn’t fit means spending years working with something that causes friction, plus the cost of potentially switching later. The time you invest now in a well-founded decision pays off by helping you choose the right tool the first time. And we tailor the depth of the process to the importance of the decision: not every selection needs to be equally extensive.
Choosing a tool is often part of a bigger picture. If you don’t yet know what direction to take with your data, strategic advice is a more logical starting point, with the tool selection following from it. Once the choice has been made, and it is one of our platforms, we handle the implementation as a consulting engagement. This selection process sits right between the two: from choosing an option to making a well-founded decision.
Do you need to choose a tool, or would you first like to discuss which direction to take? We’d be happy to think it through with you. Email us, call us, or schedule an appointment directly at a time that works for you.