How SQL Integrates into Four Popular BI Tools

The application and use of SQL within different BI tools are what sets many of them apart, helping shape what they can offer to clients.

Typically, businesses can use the solutions and insight that SQL provides to assist in making data-driven business decisions that could result in a sizable competitive edge. Integrating SQL into BI tools allows for instant access to company data, helping businesses to generate insight with ease.

Choosing the best BI tools for your company will be easier if you understand how each one works with SQL to produce data visualizations. Let's break down some common tools and how they're enriched by SQL.

Most Common BI Tools for SQL

A premium data-visualization tool for SQL is a smart choice if you need a more advanced product that you can use straight away.

Each tool has a unique approach to SQL and data presentation. Therefore, the best BI tool for you could be completely distinct to what works for another business. We'll cover some of the most impressive integrations of SQL into BI tools:

1. Power BI
2. Looker
3. Metabase
4. Tableau

Let's break these down further.

SQL and Power BI

The Microsoft ecosystem includes a range of business intelligence tools, including Access, Excel, SQL Server, and Power BI from Microsoft.

Power BI allows you to create queries using the Power Query Editor. You can go to advanced settings and use SQL directly or select one of the options available in the menu to construct a straightforward query with little to no code. This easy-to-use system is a fantastic way of producing insight from business data.

Although powerful, Microsoft ecosystem tools will always work best with Power BI. If Microsoft products don't dominate your technology stack, you might see a few minor glitches.

Power BI uses a proprietary XML language called Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to model and show data after you've collected it with SQL.

Looker and SQL

Looker is a data analytics platform and BI tool that makes exploring, examining, and sharing real-time business statistics simple. More than 2,000 businesses globally utilize it, including Twilio, The Economist, and (of course) Google. Google Cloud purchased it in February 2020.

Looker's mission is to enable any user, division, or client to leverage contemporary BI and analytics to support any data-driven workflow. LookML is one of the significant inventions of Looker. It enhances SQL to make it collaborative, extensible, and modular. It also uses Git for version control.

Looker models data and generates SQL queries using a proprietary language called LookML. Although it made a stir when it was first introduced, it is now almost another language that should be taught alongside a thorough mastery of SQL.

With LookML, you can define terms like "net revenue" or "gross margin." As everything is maintained in a single data repository, it's a good idea to make sure all your employees use the same terms. With technical knowledge being a must, compared to some of the other tools in this article, Looker targets a tech-savvy audience a little more.

Thanks to its cloud-based interface, the tool offers exemplary security that meets most security standards, including SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, and other regulations with enterprise-grade encryption. They take great pride in their award-winning support personnel, so you won't have to worry if something goes wrong. Finally, despite Google owning Looker, you can use it with whichever analytic database you like.

This is a strong option if you're looking for a BI tool that handles SQL well.

Metabase and SQL

Metabase is a favorite of companies like Revolut and N26 for sharing data and analytics. As a popular tool, employees typically use Metabase to pose queries and gain insight from data.

Anyone can quickly and easily find answers from data using Metabase. However, using SQL and the integrated notebook editor can also be used for more complex queries. To enable the addition of variables to searches and the creation of interactive visualizations that anybody can modify and examine, they have slightly enhanced SQL.

As a bonus, Metabase is compatible with all the necessary data warehouses, including Redshift, BigQuery, and Azure. Whether you're using one of these, or even Postgres for analytics, Metabase provides a good platform for interacting with company data.

Metabase also offers a supportive discourse group and in-depth material that will quickly turn you into a Metabase Hero. As a very easy-entry BI tool, this is a wonderful place to begin using SQL for more insight.

Tableau

The king of business intelligence, Tableau, has long-standing SQL visualization tools. Although it was a pathfinder, after Salesforce acquired it, most other products have caught up. Tableau offers a variety of options and filters for data queries, as well as a Custom SQL option for coding your own queries.

Tableau is a legacy powerhouse with solid visualization capabilities but hasn't advanced much in accessibility. If you want to use this BI tool to the best of its ability, you need to sink the time in to actually learn how to put the system to use.

Tableau has one of the largest user bases among all business intelligence solutions, meaning that there is a large community that will offer support if you need help. While worth it in the long run, this isn't the best option if you're looking for fast access to data insight.

Final Thoughts

Finding the business intelligence tool that best suits your organization's workflow may require trial and error, as each has a different approach to SQL data queries. The good news is that there is no reason not to dive in and give these tools a try since they all come with a free trial option (or are entirely free in the case of open-source applications).

The vast majority of BI tools offer SQL integrations, with many of their main features and functions actually relying on SQL. As businesses begin to harvest more data, the need for BI tools that effectively use SQL increases. At the modern rate of data capturing, it's no wonder that SQL has become one of the most important skills for businesses to integrate.

The four tools on this list demonstrate the synergy that SQL and BI can have, with the former helping streamline and boost the productivity of the latter.