Item: Zoho Analytics
Rating: 9
Author: Owen Swift

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Zoho Analytics to grapple with data sets generated by our other software tools: accounting, CRM, sales engagement, and marketing. Often times these tools don't have very good analytic capabilities built in, so we export their data to Zoho Analytics for a more refined analysis. We have multiple users that need to access this data and we also need to distribute the analysis sets to our various client. Some of our data tables have rows > 10,000 records and relations to other tables so Excel is not an option at that point.

Pros and Cons

Graphically construct an analysis from multiple data tables
Granular user access controls to data tables and filters
Integrations both direct and via API with third party tools
Excellent integration with other Zoho apps like CRM and Books

Limited options to distribute reports. Would like to be able to distribute to S3, FTP, Zoho WorkDrive, and other destinations automatically.
The application is designed for GUI use, and while it does support writing SQL this feels awkward
Not as many formatting options for report output as I would like

Return on Investment

This has automated what used to be the manual construction of reports in Excel, saving employee time
This has given us visibility into data that we didn't get before due to limits of analysis in other software.
Competing analysis software always seemed more expensive

Usability

The GUI and interface allow you to get started very quickly without having to learn much about how it operates. The application is built for GUI users - people who don't want or need access to the raw SQL queries. If you are an SQL person, then you may find it convenient to set up queries in SQL and then give your end users/viewers interactive filters.

Scalability

I have used data tables with 10s of thousands of rows. In the age of big data, this is small but it's big for me. I haven't seen issues with the platform as I've increased the number of rows over time so it's hard to say what the upper limits would be.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Excel

Excel is really the other alternative I've used for analysis. Anyone who's used it knows that it's fine if you have a single 2 dimensional table, and not suitable when you have multiple tables that have multiple relations. Mapping out relationships in Zoho Analytics was pretty easy to do - I could take my larger excel tables and put them right into analytics and then map the relationships.

Key Insights

Do you think Zoho Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zoho Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did Zoho Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zoho Analytics go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zoho Analytics again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Cliq, Canva, Google Workspace, Clearout, ClearoutPhone, NeverBounce a ZoomInfo company, PhantomBuster, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Sign, Zoho People, Zoho Survey, Zoho Expense, Zoho Forms, Zoho Social, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Connect, Zoho Flow

Likelihood to Recommend

In terms of value for the money, I think Zoho Analytics is very strong. If you are a small company that wants access to a powerful analysis platform, and need to support multiple users (either employees or clients) then Zoho Analytics is great. If you are using the Zoho One subscription then the value increases even more.

Easy, powerful analytics if you are a small business

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Zoho Analytics