Item: Rational BI
Rating: 5
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

At the time we bought Rational BI we were a rapidly expanding company. With the increased company size we needed to be more data-driven and we also need to make more decisions based on data rather than gut feeling. One of the things we did to encourage colleagues to make decisions based on data was BI and actually showing graphs and numbers on a large screen.

Pros and Cons

Nice graphics that are quite easy understandable for viewers.
The level of customization is great. You really have the option to build the board with the graphical elements you desire.
Integrations with systems that we used. As a small company, we don't have many complex systems but generally more basic solutions. The Dropbox integration made it really easy for us to get started and it's working without problems.

Documentation for new users could be better. Sometimes it's hard for my users that are not that skilled in IS/IT to set up data connectors are understand the dynamics of data sources.
I have used several other BI solutions as well, and their GUI is okay, but surely there is also room for improvement here. Not all things are made entirely logically.
Understanding their price structure. Generally, their website looks nice, but it's not very informative when it comes to pricing, and support options. I really miss some kind of transparency and overview.

Return on Investment

Increased focus on data within the organisation.
Data-driven discussions and colleagues that relied on gut feeling are now being more challenged than before.
We didn't make an economic follow on the investment, but I'm certain that it was the right decision.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Power BI and Klipfolio

Today there are many companies providing BI solutions, and generally, I think Microsoft Power BI is the easiest go-to solution as it is part of the Office365 software. However all software solutions have their limitations, advantages, and disadvantages, but sometimes you don't need the perfect solution. You just need a solution that delivers 80-90 percent of the full potential to reach your goal and in this scope, we were really happy with Rational BI.

Key Insights

Do you think Rational BI delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Rational BI's feature set?

Yes

Did Rational BI live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Rational BI go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Rational BI again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Klipfolio, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator CC

Usability

As stated earlier it does what it is supposed to. It surely has room for improvements and it is possible to make customizations better and easier for builders or users to use. But when software delivers on the most important factors it surely is worth a recommendation and I'm sure others can benefit from it as well.

Support Rating

I haven't used the support myself, but my colleagues have been satisfied with the support. As I have understood from my colleagues the support is as you could expect. Still, the documentation could be better and that could avoid the need to contact their support, but overall we're still happy with the support as well.

Likelihood to Recommend

Definitely well suited for small companies, but again many of their competitors are also well suited in this segment. We were in general happy with the solution provided, but I'm not blown away by their solution or support. If you want to get more data-driven visual boards with data displayed in nice graphics is in my opinion a good start, and here Rational BI delivers what it should.

A BI solution that does what it must

Overall Satisfaction with Rational BI