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In business intelligence (BI), reading up more about the latest trends and developments in data visualization tools are crucial to any data analyst. If you’re someone who’s working in BI, I’m sure you’ll understand why blogs can be so crucial in better understanding the world of analytics in BI!
If you’re here simply for a guide to the best resources in business intelligence, then stick around as well. The blogs that I’ll introduce below are perfect for both beginners and advanced BI specialists alike. Here’s a compiled list of 11 of my most-read BI blogs.
What Are The Best Business Intelligence Blogs?
1. Microsoft Power BI Blog
About:
The Microsoft Power BI Blog is a reliable resource of information regarding Microsoft analytics software. This blog comes from the well-known Power BI tool, which is used by many analysts and businesses for understanding their data. Power BI is typically used for simple extraction, cleaning and presentation of data visualizations, which is highly-utilized for it’s powerful reporting and dashboards. Under the BI category of the Microsoft Power BI Blog, one would read about up-to-date information on any product updates of Power BI.
Why I Chose This Blog:
To the business intelligence analysts out there crushing their data, this might seem like an obvious choice! What better place to look for BI content other than the blog belonging to Microsoft themselves. With many articles being added to the blog on new updates to the Microsoft data analytics stack, there’s always good content to be expected from this business intelligence blog. Moreover, there’s other similar topics within the field of data science/analytics that interested data analysts should be interested in.
Recommended Article:
Humana Enhances its Healthcare Data Usage with Power BI and Azure
Link:
2. Tableau Blog
About:
Once again, Tableau is no foreign word to most BI analysts.
Coming from the popular data visualization software and workflow management tool, Tableau, the Tableau blog provides you with the latest trends in business intelligence as well as key product updates to their data products. This blog is updated with fresh, new content every 2-3 days, which is why I’m already subscribed to this blog.
Why I Chose This Blog:
There’s so much to offer from this blog! Firstly, there’s always a good, fresh flow of new content to read every few days. So you’ll hardly ever run out of articles to read. Secondly, I find myself coming back to this blog whenever I get prompted to update my Tableau Desktop app on my PC to learn all about the new features and fixes made. The product updates help me out a bunch because of how timely the posts are made, just when an update to a product hits.
As a frequent user of Tableau in my daily work, I appreciate all the products updates in the blog that help me in improving my daily functions in BI.
Recommended Article:
Tableau and Outbreaks Near Me puts the ‘public’ back in public health
Link:
3. Sisense Blog
About:
Although not directly targeted at BI per se, the Sisense blog is another blog that I appreciate reading more about the larger area of analytics. The Sisense blog is one that comes from Sisense, who offer embedded analytics solutions for BI. This blog covers such a wide variety of topics so you’ll be sure to find something that you love.
Why I Chose This Blog:
Ranging from topics in data-driven business to digital transformation through analytics to actual technical information on databases, I was spoilt for choice when I browsed the articles the first time. If you enjoy consuming and reading wide in the larger analytics umbrella, this blog is a good start that offers more than just topics within BI.
Recommended Article:
Unlocking Data Storage: The Traditional Data Warehouse vs. Cloud Data Warehouse
Link:
4. ChristianSteven BI Blog
About:
The ChristianSteven BI Blog is managed by ChristianSteven, which offers products in BI automation. Hence, their blog provides many hidden gems of information about BI. If you’re looking some good, under-rated BI-related content, the ChristianSteven BI Blog offers some really comprehensive articles that can satisfy all your burning questions. This blog offers a good range of content too, with tutorials, comprehensive guides and explanations as well as bigger ideas within big data such as data ethics.
Why I Chose This Blog:
This blog is one of the few blogs that I go to for comprehensive answers to my problems in Power BI. As a data analyst, my work can sometimes lead me to using Power BI instead of the usual Tableau. The ChristianStevens BI blog is one of the few great resource for me as I learn about new concepts in Power BI. If you’re a BI specialist working with Power BI, I would suggest checking out some of the articles from the blog.
Recommended Article:
What Are the Most Common Power BI Data Shaping Techniques?
Link:
5. ScienceSoft Blog
About:
ScienceSoft is a software consulting firm but their blog offers an excellent lineup of articles within the field of BI. Despite being a blog belonging to a software company, the articles within the BI category sure do not disappoint as well. Articles are typically written with the reader in-mind, providing much value to the average BI analyst (that’s you and I).
Why I Chose This Blog:
Having read through quite a number of their articles, I can summarize them in one word – comprehensive. Not only do the articles cover smaller areas within BI such as cloud analytics, but they also provide well-summarized information through infographic visuals. Also, if you’re interested in other areas of BI such as strategy or BI product reviews, you should really not miss out on the ScienceSoft Blog.
Recommended Article:
Do You Consider Cloud Data Analytics? – Well, You’d Better Do!
Link:
6. Paul Turley’s SQL Server BI Blog
About:
Written by a proven BI professional, Paul Turley’s SQL Server BI Blog is a credible and useful resource for beginners and intermediate users. Blog posts are written by Paul Turley, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP (Most Valued Professional) and Principal Consultant for 3Cloud Solutions. In his blog, Paul typically shares his expertise on areas within the Microsoft Data Platform and the other various applications within BI. As the name of the blog also suggests, his blog also covers topics in SQL server.
Why I Chose This Blog:
Paul Turley’s a true professional and truly knows a wealth of information about BI. This blog stood out to me when I first chanced upon it because it was among the first to be run by and individual professional and not by a content team of a BI company. That means that whatever advice given in the articles are sure to be unbiased. If you’re looking to find a blog that offers a relatively constant update of Microsoft data platform articles then this is for you.
Recommended Article:
Link:
PAUL TURLEY’S SQL SERVER BI BLOG
7. Datapine
About:
The BI category of the Datapine blog makes for a fine resource for those of you who enjoy reading about non-technical aspects of business intelligence. The topics covered are typically targeted towards business owners and not data professionals. Therefore, this might be a gem for some and a miss for the others.
Why I Chose This Blog:
Their articles are long and comprehensive – perfect for someone who is relatively new to the business side of BI. With so much content to consume, I found myself learning quite a bit from the articles in the Datapine blog. In addition, the blog offers other areas within the field of data science that cover parallel fields outside of business intelligence. So if you’re someone who’s looking for good resources other than just BI, this blog is for you too.
Recommended Article:
A Guide To Starting A Career In Business Intelligence & The BI Skills You Need
Link:
8. VisualBI
About:
The VisualBI blog is run by a BI company, VisualBI. This blog offers a really good selection of topics. You would typically stumble upon some tutorials on Microsoft Power BI, or an introductory article to Snowflake. Based on what I’ve read across this blog, the articles are written for a more technical audience with very specific answers to problems found in several BI platforms.
Why I Chose This Blog:
Articles on the VisualBI blog tend to be more technical, which is helpful in laying out proper foundations to terminologies and logic of databases. The VisualBI blog would really be for any of you who are willing to learn about technicalities and delve deeper into the many features offered by common data visualization tools.
Recommended Article:
Automate admin tasks with tabcmd
Link:
9. InfoSol Blog
About:
The InfoSol blog is another blog run by a BI company. This blog offers quite a large amount of content on analytics within SAP Business Objects, which is perfect for those who are looking for comprehensive information on a lesser-known BI platform. Most articles are written by, Paul Grill, the Co-Founder and CEO of InfoSol Inc. himself. With a wealth of experience in IT and BI of 40 years, Paul is someone you’ll trust to get your BI knowledge from.
“data holds amazing nuggets that can be used to create limitless BI solutions that make a difference in people’s lives”
Paul grill – co-founder & CEO of InfoSol Inc
Why I Chose This Blog:
Here’s a secret gem to this blog – the tech tips series! With over 50 articles written just on tech tips and hacks for your BI work, I was pretty impressed with the level of detail and technicality of the content just from the quick tips. If you’re looking for some bite-sized, yet detailed information on the various BI platforms, you might want to give the tech tips articles on the this blog a read!
Recommended Article:
Using Business Intelligence to Uncover the Past in Ancient Egypt
Link:
10. Betterbuys BI Blog
About:
Here’s a surprising entry to my top BI blogs – the Betterbuys BI blog! Although it might seem a little off, do hear me out. Betterbuys is known for its comprehensive software reviews, even for software beyond BI. Having said that, this blog offers really high quality and high-value content, especially for those looking to make a purchase of any BI license for their business.
Why I Chose This Blog:
As mentioned, Betterbuys gives great breakdowns and comparisons of BI software as well as pricing guides to help you with your next BI software purchase. What I found useful was their software comparisons and their usefulness for different business sizes. The articles do provide their recommendations for each specific business size.
Recommended Article:
Link:
11. Clicdata
About:
The Clicdata blog is written by Clicdata, a company that offers products and solutions in BI. This blog covers mostly topics that are easy to read, without much need for a technical understanding. However, the content is still comprehensive. Being a slightly more business-focused blog, this blog is perfect for business executives to learn more about the analytics side of BI.
Why I Chose This Blog:
The blogs here are simply enjoyable and informative. As articles are focused on high-level descriptions of BI, you can be sure not to bump into too much technical jargon. If you’re relatively new to the area of business intelligence, the Clicdata blog is a good place to start.
Recommended Article:
WHY SPREADSHEETS AREN’T ENOUGH FOR YOUR BUSINESS DATA
Link:
Conclusion
That was quite a number of blogs to sieve through! Having narrowed down to my most-read and most-treasured blogs, these are the 11 business intelligence blogs that I would recommend. As a data analyst working within the business intelligence function, I have come to head back to these same few trusted blog sites for information. Therefore, if you are working in a similar function as myself, do check out these articles! I’m positive that they wouldn’t disappoint.
My Favorite Learning Resources:
My Recommended Learning Platforms!
| Learning Platform | What’s Good About the Platform? | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coursera | Certificates are offered by popular learning institutes and companies like Google & IBM |
| 2 | DataCamp | Comes with an integrated coding platform, great for beginners! |
| 3 | Pluralsight | Strong focus on data skills, taught by industry experts |
| 4 | Stratascratch | Learn faster by doing real interview coding practices for data science |
| 5 | Udacity | High-quality, comprehensive courses |
My Recommended Online Courses + Books!
| Topic | Online Courses | Books | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Data Analytics | Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate | – |
| 2 | Data Science | IBM Data Science Professional Certificate | – |
| 3 | Excel | Excel Skills for Business Specialization | – |
| 4 | Python | Python for Everybody Specialization | Python for Data Analysis |
| 5 | SQL | Introduction to SQL | SQL: The Ultimate Beginners Guide: Learn SQL Today |
| 6 | Tableau | Data Visualization with Tableau | Practical Tableau |
| 7 | Power BI | Getting Started with Power BI Desktop | Beginning Microsoft Power BI |
| 8 | R Programming | Data Science: Foundations using R Specialization | Learning R |
| 9 | Data Visualization | – | Big Book of Dashboards |
