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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Infor Birst

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/AInfor Birst offers multi-tenant cloud BI for deployment in a public or private cloud, or on-premises. It provides an in-memory columnar data store and a BI layer comprising a reporting engine, predictive analytics tools, mobile native apps, dashboards, discovery tools, and an open client interface.N/A

    Spotfire

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/ASpotfire, formerly known as TIBCO Spotfire, is a visual data science platform that combines visual analytics, data science, and data wrangling, so users can analyze data at-rest and at-scale to solve complex industry-specific problems.N/A
    Pricing
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—For Enterprise engagements, contact Spotfire directly for a custom price quote.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Considered Both Products
    Infor
    No answer on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    Chose Spotfire

    Another product that we evaluated and we are using is Birst. Spotfire has more capabilities to build additional features (development side), we can do in Spotfire all that is developed in Birst. Spotfire is less expensive.

    I noticed more support for Spotfire and more web …

    Incentivized
    Chose Spotfire
    Spotfire had the best combination of ease of use, analytical features and performance. In my subjective ratings it and one other option were the only ones to achieve the highest rating in 6 out of 7 criteria.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    46 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    39 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    48 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    33 Answers
    Features
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.4
    77 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports7.068 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.077 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.159 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.0
    78 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis8.078 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.077 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages6.127 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration7.068 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.0
    75 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web8.052 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.067 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.28 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling9.066 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    6.9
    72 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.072 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.058 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics5.833 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.3
    72 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.070 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.068 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.069 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    5.0
    54 Ratings
    43% below category average
    Spotfire
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.052 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application3.034 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile3.042 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform Connectivity
    Comparison of Platform Connectivity features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Spotfire
    7.2
    8 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Connect to Multiple Data Sources00 Ratings7.88 Ratings
    Extend Existing Data Sources00 Ratings7.48 Ratings
    Automatic Data Format Detection00 Ratings7.88 Ratings
    MDM Integration00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
    Data Exploration
    Comparison of Data Exploration features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Spotfire
    9.1
    8 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Visualization00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
    Interactive Data Analysis00 Ratings9.28 Ratings
    Data Preparation
    Comparison of Data Preparation features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Spotfire
    7.4
    8 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment00 Ratings7.28 Ratings
    Data Transformations00 Ratings8.08 Ratings
    Data Encryption00 Ratings7.05 Ratings
    Built-in Processors00 Ratings7.55 Ratings
    Platform Data Modeling
    Comparison of Platform Data Modeling features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Spotfire
    7.6
    8 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools00 Ratings7.57 Ratings
    Automated Machine Learning00 Ratings8.55 Ratings
    Single platform for multiple model development00 Ratings7.68 Ratings
    Self-Service Model Delivery00 Ratings6.76 Ratings
    Model Deployment
    Comparison of Model Deployment features of Infor Birst and Spotfire
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Spotfire
    7.4
    7 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Flexible Model Publishing Options00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
    Security, Governance, and Cost Controls00 Ratings7.07 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    RapidMiner
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Anaconda
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    IBM Watson Studio
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.5
    (99 ratings)
    8.4
    (351 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (35 ratings)
    9.6
    (30 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    8.0
    (27 ratings)
    Availability
    4.1
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    Performance
    7.5
    (6 ratings)
    7.1
    (14 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (19 ratings)
    8.7
    (27 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    8.3
    (52 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (55 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    5.3
    (6 ratings)
    8.4
    (17 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.1
    (3 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    6.0
    (24 ratings)
    8.5
    (36 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.6
    (76 ratings)
    9.3
    (36 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Infor BirstSpotfire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Infor
    Infor Birst OEM and embedded analytics are well suited for advanced analytics and business intelligence. It has flexible deployment features and a lot of configuration ability with low code - no coding ability. Ability to ingest data from multiple live data sources. Source data from multiple sources can be segregated into multiple sections based on business criteria. Easily searchable business terms (metadata) across all enterprise analytic content.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    A high level of data integration is available here it supports various data sources and so on. Collaborating features allow users to give access to the dashboard and merge data analytics with other team members. It can meet the demands of both small and large size business enterprises. A customized dashboard and reports are provided to meet the specific needs and get support of extensibility through APIs and customized scripts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Infor
    • End-to-end solution, from raw source data, ETL, warehousing and reporting, Birst is able to do everything we need in one package instead of needing to develop and maintain multiple technologies
    • Intuitive report development. The drag and drop creation of reports is simple. More complicated queries are easy to generate.
    • Very user-friendly and interactive. A lot of nice features are available both for developers and end users to streamline the process of preparing and consuming data
    • Rich API which allows us to programmatically interact with Birst
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • It has the best coding integration (python, R) of any BI product
    • The ability to work with very large datasets (10 mil+) is better than competitors
    • Export options are more complete and have better functionality
    • The data canvas is the best tool to join and transform data vs. competitors
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Infor
    • Birst prices are fairly expensive. License plus cost of users can add up pretty quickly
    • Depending on the size of data, rendering of reports can take a little bit. Need faster processing of data
    • Takes a little time to understand how to build reports, not the most intuitive UI
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • The donut chart is I guess a powerful illustrations but I hope it should be done quite simple in Spotfire. But in Spotfire there are lots of steps involve just to build a simple donut chart.
    • Table calculation (like Row or Column Differences) should be made simple or there should be drag and drop function for Table Calculation. No need for scripting.
    • Information Link should be changed. If new columns are added to the table just refreshing the data should be able to capture the new column. No need extra step to add column
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Infor
    We have been able to overcome any of the drawbacks we've found with Birst easily and it has fulfilled almost all of our analytic needs to date. Having seen their roadmap it would be highly unlikely we would move away from this platform any time soon. You simply can't beat the functionality that Birst provides for the price and the things I see coming out of the company solidify that our decision to choose Birst was the best possible choice. We have never regretted the decision.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    -Easy to distribute information throughout the enterprise using the webplayer. -Ad hoc analysis is possible throughout the enterprise using business author in the webplayer or the thick client. -Low level of support needed by IT team. Access interfaces with LDAP and numerous other authentication methods. -Possible to continually extend the platform with JavaScript, R scripts, HTML, and custom extensions. -Ability to standardize data logic through pre-built queries in the Information Designer. Everyone in the enterprise is using the same logic -Tagging and bookmarking data allows for quick sharing of insights. -Integration with numerous data sources... flat files, data bases, big data, images, etc. -Much improved mapping capability. Also includes the ability to apply data points over any image.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Infor
    I would like to see additional usability put into the ETL scripting. Recently, Birst added a nice function reference inline to formula creation which has kept me from having to return to documentation so much. The same in ETL would be very beneficial. The interface problems related to the Flex framework are being addressed in a rewrite to HTML 5, but for now they are still a hindrance to a higher usability rating.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Basic tasks like generating meaningful information from large sets of raw data are very easy. The next step of linking to multiple live data sources and linking those tables and performing on the fly analysis of the imported data is understandably more difficult.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Infor
    We frequently experience -103 errors due to us using the Live Connect functionality, which does not seem to handle even minor interruptions in connectivity, and treats all future connection attempts or data requests as errors, even if the issue does not exist any longer
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Even though, it's a rather stable and predictable tool that's also fast, it does have some bugs and inconsistencies that shut down the system. Depending on the details, it could happen as often as 2-3 times a week, especially during the development period.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Infor
    Everything runs very fast and smoothly. The only process that I wish was faster would be processing the data after uploading new data or making changes to the existing data model. It can take 15-20 minutes (roughly) to upload and process new data once you start getting into 10's of millions of rows. Given my experience with how long it takes me to pull the same data using SQL Server Management Studio, I don't think Birst is unreasonably slow - but for me to give a higher rating, I would want it to be unreasonably fast
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Generally, the Spotfire client runs with very good performance. There are factors that could affect performance, but normally has to do with loading large analysis files from the library if the database is located some distance away and your global network is not optimal. Once you have your data table(s) loaded in the client application, usually the application is quite good performance-wise.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Infor
    • Poor turnaround time
    • Low response rate when the problem at hand are large
    • Lack of infrastructural knowledge when it comes to scaling solutions
    • Lack of inter team work noticed
    • Most of the tickets are open for a long period of time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Support has been helpful with issues. Support seems to know their product and its capabilities. It would also seem that they have a good sense of the context of the problem; where we are going with this issue and what we want the end outcome to be.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Infor
    I have attended two different training sessions. The first one was my initial training on the system. It was well paced, clear and concise. If there were questions that were not able to be answered by the instructor, he took down the question and actually followed up and provided us a response quickly. The second session was specific to the dashboard and report design components. This training was very good though there were some attendants who had little or no experience and their questions slowed the class.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    The instructor was very in depth and provided relevant training to business users on how to create visualizations. They showed us how to alter settings and filter views, and provided resources for future questions. However, the instructor failed to cover data sources, connecting to data, etc. While it was helpful to see how users can use the data to create reports, they failed to properly instruct us on how to get the dataset in to begin with. We are still trying to figure out connections to certain databases (we have multiple different types).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Infor
    Although I found the online resources helpful, a lack of appropriate examples for certain tasks key to report creation and advanced modeling make the online training/documentation less than perfect. For an inexperienced BI professional, the online training would not enable a streamlined launch of the product.
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    Cloud Software Group
    The online training is good, provides a good base of knowledge. The video demonstrations were well-done and easy to follow along. Provided exercises are good as well, but I think there could be more challenging exercises. The training has also gone up in price significantly in the last 3 years (in USD, which hurts us even more in Canada), and I'm not sure it is worth the money it now costs (it is worth how much it cost 3 years ago, but not double that.)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Infor
    Have clean data! Birst flexibility allows - Start small, then introduce functionality and complexity along the way. If you try to present all the functionality [bells and whistles] and wow them, but bad data is uncovered, the end user blames the new application and turns away.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    The original architecture I created for our implementation had only a particular set of internal business units in mind. Over the years, Spotfire gained in popularity in our company and was being utilized across many more business units. Soon, its usage went beyond what the original architectural implementation could provide. We've since learned about how the product is used by the different teams and are currently in the middle of rolling out a new architecture. I suggest:
    • Have clearly defined service level agreements with all the teams that will use Spotfire. Your business intelligence group might only need availability during normal working hours, but your production support group might need 24/7 availability. If these groups share one Spotfire server, maintenance of that server might be a problem.
    • Know the different types of data you will be working with. One group might be working with "public" data while another group might work with sensitive data. Design your Library accordingly and with the proper permissions.
    • Know the roles of the users of Spotfire. Will there only be a small set of report writers or does everyone have write access to the Library?
    • ALWAYS add a timestamp prompt to your reports. You don't want multiple users opening a report that will try and pull down millions of rows of data to their local workstations. Another option, of course, is to just hard code a time range in the backing database view (i.e. where activity_date >= sysdate - 90, etc.), but I'd rather educate/train the user base if possible.
    • This probably goes without saying, but if possible, point to a separate reporting database or a logical standby database. You don't want the company pounding on your primaries and take down your order system.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Infor
    Birst was better than Domo for our needs because we could get in and tinker with it. Our impression of Domo was that it had a lot of connectors and ready to go reports, but it made too many assumptions about applications we use. We customize too much to use a "ready to go" solution like that. When we looked at Tableau, we liked its visualization capabilities, but it wasn't going to help us do the extractions, ETL, and warehousing of data. It may have come some distance since then.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Spotfire is significantly ahead of both products from an ETL and data ingestion capability. Spotfire also has substantially better visualizations than Power BI, and although the native visualizations aren't as flexible in Tableau, Spotfire enables users to create completely custom javascript visaualizations, which neither Tableau or Power BI has. Tableau and Power BI are likely only superior to Spotfire with respect to embedded analysis on a website.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Infor
    we can see that loading a lot of data can cause a noticable slow down in performance. Birst support indicated that they don't really consider anything less than 30 seconds to be an issue, but that is not the case for our customers, so we have had to change some of implementation to address this
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    In an enterprise architecture, if Spotfire Advanced Data services(Composite Studio),data marts can be managed optimally and scalability in a data perspective is great. As the web player/consumer is directly proportional to RAM, if the enterprise can handle RAM requirement accomodating fail over mechanisms appropraitely, it is definitely scalable,
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Infor
    • Being a manufacturing company we tend to lag behind technologically. But having all the data for different ERP systems in one place has been an eye opener for the executives. It has lessened the need to convert some legacy ERP systems.
    • Having such a simple reporting tool is a great asset to some of our sites that have traditionally had trouble gathering data from AS400 systems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • It is costly, so not suitable for small scale implementations.
    • Dashboards are as good as the developer, so need experience to get most out of it
    • You need to be on Spotfire 11 at least to implement out of the box visualizations
    • Integration with Python and R is a game changer, it comes very handy to onboard data scientists without much hassle
    • performance is exceptionally well.
    • Secure
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Infor Birst Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot

    Spotfire Screenshots

    Screenshot of Smart Visual AnalyticsScreenshot of Geospatial AnalyticsScreenshot of Intelligent Data WranglingScreenshot of Point-and-click Data ScienceScreenshot of Real-time Streaming Analytics