There are hundreds of ERP Software Providers and even more consultants telling you what to do.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the 5 best ERP analytics tools for teams who need to get a bit more information out of their system without the huge lift and IT support.

But if you aren’t analyzing your own data because it's too difficult to understand, then you’ll be on the backfoot when you need to back up the reporting with more insights.

What is ERP Analytics?

ERP analytics utilizes ERP software and services to collect and analyze data generated by organizational activities.

It involves parsing data from business operations and presenting reports, dashboards, and visualizations through graphs, charts, and maps to convey performance metrics, trends, and patterns.

This enables users to gain insights by streamlining their efforts to search, merge, and query data, facilitating informed business decisions. To read more about ERP Analytics, check out our blog post: What is ERP Analytics?

1. Athenic AI - Fastest  Ad Hoc Reporting

Athenic is the best tool for Ad Hoc reporting, with a natural language platform that quickly retrieves answers and graphs from raw SQL data with just a question.

Like a Google search JUST for your database, we are the most intuitive tool on this list.

I built Athenic for teams who need quick insights but don’t have time to go digging through databases, building pivot tables, and fumbling with SQL. In fact, it works alongside all the other tools here to make them more powerful and make you look like a superhero.

Athenic Features

• Q & A Natural language dashboard
• Unlimited sharing in just a click
• Fast support team
• Integrates with CSV, Google Sheets, and Tableau
• Embeddable so your stakeholders can ask questions without your help
• Transparent and low pricing makes it the perfect added layer for Ad Hoc reports

Athenic Costs

Starter - $10 Per Month

Pro - $60 per month

Enterprise - Custom pricing

Check out our Pricing page for more information. With unlimited sharing, you don't need 100s of accounts to get your reporting into the right hands, and the per-user, per-month model is easy to scale. I built Athenic to sit on top of other analytics software, and this pricing matched that goal.

Start your free trial here.

2. Tableau - Best for Sophisticated, Custom Dashboards

Tableau is considered one of the best data analytics platforms in the market, with end-to-end analytics capabilities and the ability for data teams to build completely custom workflows and dashboards.

This is the best data visualization tool on the list.

Tableau is for teams who need to handle a TON of data with a single platform and have the big data teams to back it up.

Tableau Features

• Robust admin features for big organizations
• Custom interactive dashboards
• Predictive modeling
• collaboration tools to keep the conversation all in one place
• Data quality monitoring

Tableau Pricing

Viewer - $15 per month

Explorer - $42 per month

Creator - $75 per month

Tableau’s pricing is based on how many users you have and the work your users will do on the tool. Unfortunately, each viewer needs their own account, which can get expensive for the big organizations that Tableau caters to. Fortunately, viewer accounts are pretty inexpensive!

3. Pecan.ai - Best for Predictive Analytics

The SQL-based machine learning tool helps users build new models in hours, with templates for common business problems ready to launch out of the box.

This is the best tool on my list for advanced data teams making the leap into machine learning.

Pecan adds an AI superpower to your existing data team, made for teams who need to build custom predictive modeling.

Pecan.ai Features

• Easy-to-build predictive questions
• Native integrations with most mainstream databases
• Pre-built SQL templates for FAQs
• Automatic data prep as soon as you upload
• Deploy predictions straight into your existing systems

Pecan Costs

Starter - $50 Per Month

Professional - $280 per month

Enterprise - Custom pricing

Additional Costs - $30/per seat, $30/batch, $5/trained model

4. Phocas - Best for Financial Forecasting

Phocas is for teams trying to find a single source of truth for their ERP data with hundreds of seamless integrations.

This is the most robust end-to-end BI tool on this list.

Phocas gives teams complete oversight of their business by combining ERP data with CRM data and other sources.

Phocas Features

• Completely Self-Serve
• Built-in dashboards,
• Customizable reports
• Intuitive workflows for collaboration across teams
• Ongoing support

Phocas Costs

Phocas has a custom pricing package. You’ll have to chat with the sales team to get a price for you.

5. Power BI - Reliable Legacy System

PowerBI is the go-to for a lot of small teams creating a single source of truth from their ERP data.

It’s been the favorite legacy solution for over a decade.

PowerBI is great for teams with a lot of data and need a quick and easy way to put it into custom reports, it's especially useful if you’re already using Microsoft, as you’ll find some familiarity with the user experience.

PowerBI Features

• Free initial setup
• Connects with Excel spreadsheets, cloud services, streaming data, on-premise databases, and more
• Real-time updating dashboards
• Shareable reports and datasets
• Collaborative framework

PowerBI Costs

Free - $0

Pro - $10

Premium - $20

PowerBI matches its easy-to-use features with simple pricing, including a free tier that is robust enough to start out with just about any database.