The dynamic nature of Microsoft Excel makes it to be considered as the perfect tool in data analytics. Excel can cope with different kind of jobs, from managing personal business to virtually running a business. It is also very common and widely available. This makes it to automatically become the first choice for many users when it comes to data analytics and visualization.

But the question is, is Excel the right tool for business analytics or is it better to use a customized data analytics tool?

As experts from Entrance Consulting (http://www.entranceconsulting.com/tibco-consulting/) would tell you, customized data analytics tools like Spotfire are the better choice when it comes to data analytics. Some of the reasons why Spotfire is better than Excel in data analytics will be discussed in this article. These are:

Excel is too simple

Excel is a versatile tool, and everybody can learn how to use it very easily. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s the right tool for more complex tasks. Spreadsheets were not developed to be used for business data analytics, and Excel doesn’t make that easier.

This is because it doesn’t have any analytics features or best-practice templates to follow. It also lacks the easy-to-use functions which assist in spotting trends or emerging issues.

Spotfire is better because:

• Spotfire is a very reliable business data analytics tool. So, it is the perfect choice for data scientists, and other users who require fast, simple insights and appropriate information.
• It presents data in a more simplified manner after summarizing the best-practice knowledge and expertise of data scientists. This method makes data analytics easier for most people, and it doesn’t limit what experts can do with it.
• Spotfire allows you to control what can be done with data through applying strict rules in order to manage and enforce its compliance.

Excel is too personal

Excel is a very personal tool. It was designed to run on PCs and to analyze relatively smaller data sets. It requires a great deal of extra effort, time and inventiveness to make Microsoft Excel perform additional functions like handling company’s data in a collaborative environment.

Spotfire is better because:

• It has integrated collaborative tools. These tools are used to bring business users and data analysts together in order get the hidden value in data assets through collaborative analysis. It also manages the distribution of results using its publication and distribution features.
• It works directly with original data, not copies as it happens most times with Excel. This eliminates the risk of data piles. Spotfire can be used to analyze and interpret data collected from a wide range of sources like Excel spreadsheet, high-end SQL databases, large ERP systems and big-data repositories.
• Spotfire is the easiest tool which can be used to analyze large data sets received from multiple sources. Also, it can be stretched further to apply analytics models for automating business applications.  Basically, it’s the next logical step for users frustrated by the limitations of Excel.

Excel is very dull

Most users believe that they can utilize Excel’s inbuilt charting tools to create 3D models. Practically, the results are very uniform, and they often fail to deliver the anticipated results. The common charts in Excel are designed to suit a wide variety of applications. However, they cannot match the kind of visualizations available in Spotfire.

Spotfire is better because:

• It has visualization tools which can be used to summarize and translate the results of complex analysis into the suitable and enlightening graphics like mapping and geocoding.
• Its visualizations are very interactive. So, users can use them to dig deeper into the data, alter the way it is viewed and research further on the data before acting on the results.
• Users can create visualization in a matter of minutes while using Spotfire. Also, expert users can develop complex applications, dashboards, and visualizations for others very easily.