Salesforce Reporting Tools: Customize or Integrate?

To date, there are over 300 business intelligence, reporting, and data visualization tools available on the market. These solutions are designed to generate detailed reports and perform complex data analyses to convert them into intuitive and interactive charts, graphs, and dashboards.

This makes it easier for users to understand patterns, trends, and insights and to predict future trends and outcomes. By providing accurate, real-time analysis, BI tools enable better and faster strategic and operational decisions.

As a result, by optimizing operations and identifying inefficiencies, such solutions help reduce costs, prevent costly errors, and save.

According to a Gartner study, companies that implement BI and reporting tools see an average 20% increase in revenue. This growth is driven by enhanced market responsiveness and more customer-centric decision-making.

Salesforce offers its own reporting and analytical tools like a Report Builder for building standard and custom reports as well as solutions like CRM Analytics (formerly Einstein Analytics and Tableau CRM).

In this blog post, we’ll compare the advantages and disadvantages of customizing Salesforce’s default reporting features versus purchasing and integrating a third-party reporting app.

Additionally, we’ll review the top 10 Salesforce reporting tools, highlighting their pros and cons, and offer tips on selecting the best reporting app for your needs.

Why Customize Native Salesforce Report Features to Make Them Work for Your Business

Customizing default Salesforce reporting features involves tailoring the standard functionalities provided by Salesforce to better suit the specific needs and preferences of your organization.

What Native Salesforce Reporting Features Can Be Customized

From our experience working with Salesforce, we can tell you that customizing its reporting features can significantly enhance your data analysis and decision-making processes. Here are some of the key customization options available:

• Report Layout Customization: Salesforce administrators and users can customize the layout of their Salesforce reports by rearranging fields, adding summaries, and adjusting formatting options to enhance readability and usability.
• Custom Fields and Formulas: Within Salesforce users can create custom fields within their objects, which can then be included in reports to provide additional insights. Formula fields allow users to create calculated fields based on existing data and derive new metrics.
• Custom Report Types: Salesforce users with appropriate permissions can create custom report types to define which objects and relationships should be considered in a report, providing more flexibility in reporting across multiple objects.
• Filtering and Grouping: Salesforce offers robust filtering and grouping options, allowing users to refine their reports to narrow down data to specific criteria, ensuring that reports only show relevant information. Also, data can be grouped by specific fields (e.g., by sales region, product category) to provide summarized views.
• Dashboards: Users can create dashboards to visualize their reports and key metrics in any graphical format like a chart, gauge, and a table, providing a comprehensive overview of data trends and performance indicators.

Besides that, SF users and admins can customize visual elements within Salesforce reports and use conditional formatting to highlight key data points. Further, these reports can be scheduled to run at specific intervals and sent to designated recipients automatically.

Salesforce also allows the setup and configuration of alerts and notifications to inform users of important changes and role-based report customization to show different data based on the user’s role and permissions.

More sophisticated and complex Salesforce reports and data visualizations may require an SF developer’s help or integration with external business intelligence solutions with more advanced capabilities.

As a Salesforce Crest consulting partner, we at Ascendix can help clients configure and customize their Salesforce reports and dashboards or build completely custom reports within Salesforce for any business and industry needs of any complexity.

Salesforce Reporting Customization Pros:

• Tailored Insights: Customizing default Salesforce reporting features allows organizations to generate reports that are tailored to their specific business needs, providing more relevant and actionable insights.
• Lower Initial Costs: By customizing Salesforce reporting features there is no additional software purchase required.
• Seamless Integration: Reports are a part of the in-built Salesforce feature set so there will be no compatibility issues.
• Scalability: Salesforce’s customizable reporting features can scale with your organization’s growth and evolving reporting needs, providing a flexible solution that can adapt to changing requirements over time.
• Familiar Interface: A unified Salesforce interface ensures a consistent user experience.
• Central Point of Support: Users can get support on SF reports directly from the Salesforce support team or external SF consulting partners.

Salesforce Reporting Customization Cons:

• Complexity: Customizing default Salesforce reporting features may require a certain level of technical expertise and familiarity with Salesforce’s reporting tools, which could be challenging for users with limited expertise.
• Time and Resources: Implementing customizations to Salesforce reports may require time and resources to design, develop, and test the changes, potentially leading to delays or additional costs.
• Compatibility Issues: Customizations to Salesforce reporting features may introduce compatibility issues with future updates or changes to the Salesforce platform, requiring adjustments to ensure continued functionality.
• Maintenance: Customized Salesforce reporting tools may require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure they remain relevant and accurate as business requirements evolve, adding to the administrative overhead for managing Salesforce reporting.

Buying and Integrating Third-Party Reporting Apps

Buying and integrating third-party reporting apps involves procuring specialized reporting tools from external vendors and integrating them with your Salesforce instance.

These Salesforce reporting apps offer advanced reporting and analytics capabilities beyond what is available natively in Salesforce, providing organizations with additional insights and functionalities to enhance their decision-making processes.

Third-Party Salesforce Reporting Apps Features

Advanced data visualization features in third-party Salesforce reporting apps, such as interactive dashboards and rich visualizations, significantly enhance the user experience. These tools enable the creation of dynamic, interactive dashboards that offer an intuitive and engaging way to view and interact with data.

These dashboards support various chart types, graphs, heat maps, and other visual elements, making it easier to understand complex data sets at a glance. On top of this, Salesforce data visualization and business intelligence tools have:

• Advanced Analytics: Third-party Salesforce reporting apps often offer more sophisticated analytics capabilities, such as predictive analytics, machine learning algorithms, and advanced data visualization techniques.
• Customization Options: These Salesforce reporting tools typically provide extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor reports and dashboards to their specific business needs and preferences.
• Data Integration: Third-party Salesforce reporting apps can integrate with a wide range of data sources beyond Salesforce, enabling organizations to consolidate data from multiple systems and generate comprehensive reports.
• Automation and Scheduling: Many Salesforce BI tools offer automation and scheduling capabilities, allowing users to schedule report generation, distribution, and updates at predefined intervals.

Third-Party Salesforce Reporting Apps Pros:

• Specialized Functionality: Salesforce reporting apps offer specialized functionalities and features tailored to specific industries or business requirements, providing organizations with more targeted insights and analysis.
• Expanded Data Sources: Integrating business intelligence software allows organizations to leverage data from a variety of sources beyond Salesforce, enabling more comprehensive and holistic reporting.
• Advanced Analytics: These apps often incorporate advanced analytics techniques, such as predictive modeling and trend analysis, to uncover valuable insights and trends hidden within the data.
• Scalability: Third-party reporting tools can scale with the organization’s growth and evolving reporting needs, providing a flexible solution that can adapt to changing requirements over time.

Third-Party Salesforce Reporting Apps Cons:

• Cost: Purchasing and integrating Salesforce data visualization and reporting apps can involve significant upfront costs, including licensing fees, implementation costs, and ongoing maintenance expenses.
• Integration Complexity: Integrating third-party BI tools with Salesforce and other systems may require technical expertise and resources, potentially leading to implementation challenges and delays.
• Data Security and Compliance: Sharing sensitive data with third-party vendors may raise concerns about data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance, requiring organizations to carefully evaluate the vendor’s security measures and compliance standards.
• Dependency on Vendor: Organizations may become dependent on the third-party vendor for ongoing support, updates, and maintenance, which could pose risks if the vendor experiences issues or discontinues support for the reporting app.
• User Adoption: Introducing new reporting tools may require additional training and change management efforts to ensure user adoption and maximize the benefits of the investment.

Comparison of Top 10 Reporting Tools for Salesforce

Now, let’s compare the 10 best Salesforce reporting tools.

    Tableau

Tableau, as well as Salesforce CRM Analytics (formerly Tableau CRM), offers advanced data analytics and visualization capabilities, allowing users to explore Salesforce data and gain actionable insights.

It leverages AI-driven analytics to deliver predictive insights and recommendations.

Key Features:

• CRM Analytics offers native Salesforce integration offering contextual insights, AI-powered predictions, and industry-specific dashboards and KPIs.
• This solution provides predictive and prescriptive insights, enhanced by statistical modeling and machine learning, automating actions within Salesforce.
• It also allows users to take actions directly from insights within Salesforce, embeds visual and predictive insights into Salesforce record pages, and enables users to share and collaborate on analytics within Slack.
• This tool ensures data governance, visibility, and compliance with Salesforce’s security standards.

Tableau/CRM Analytics Pros:

• It enhances customer-centric decision-making by facilitating the creation and customization of reports and dashboards.
• Supports integration with various data sources and third-party tools.
• This business intelligence tool offers AI-powered predictive analytics and detailed data visualizations.
• Both Tableau and CRM Analytics have frequent updates and a supportive community.
• It helps monitor and manage associates’ activities and productivity.

Tableau/CRM Analytics Cons:

• Users report frequent system downtimes, connectivity issues, occasional auto-disconnects, and delays in email responses, impacting workflow.
• Some updates can disrupt existing workflows, requiring users to re-learn features.
• New users may find it difficult to utilize all features within CRM Analytics due to outdated or incomplete documentation.
• Complex functionalities may require advanced knowledge or additional training.
• CRM Analytics and Tableau have high costs, especially for smaller businesses or those needing extensive customization.

   Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a widely used business intelligence tool that enables users to analyze data, create interactive reports, and share insights across the organization.

It offers seamless integration with Salesforce data and other external sources.

Microsoft Power BI Features:

• Advanced data-analysis tools help turn data into visual insights with robust AI features.
• Microsoft Power BI unifies the data environment and helps create datasets from any source and add them to the OneLake data hub for a single source of truth.
• It offers integration with Microsoft 365 and infuses insights into everyday apps to aid decision-making.
• User-friendly interface of MS Power BI allows easy report creation,
• It has free training resources.
• With Microsoft Power BI users can start quickly with a user-friendly report-creation experience and hundreds of templates.
• It enhances usability by embedding reports in your own apps using Power BI Embedded.

Microsoft Power BI Pros:

• Power BI can help create interactive dashboards and reports with real-time refresh capabilities.
• It supports numerous data sources for easy data import and integration.
• This business intelligence tool is a Low-code/no-code platform suitable for both technical and non-technical users.
• It is a cost-effective solution, with a Pro license priced at $10 per month.
• This reporting software provides monthly updates, AI integration (like Copilot for DAX creation), and mobile accessibility.

Microsoft Power BI Cons:

• Microsoft Power BI performs slower when handling large datasets.
• It has the potential for improvement in customer support responsiveness.
• This business intelligence software requires an initial learning curve and additional training for complex features.
• Power BI has query editor limitations and slower report processing with extensive data.
• This tool has delays and interruptions when uploading reports from the desktop application to the cloud.

    Looker

Looker is a cloud-based business intelligence platform that allows users to explore and analyze data from various sources, including Salesforce.

It offers data modeling capabilities and advanced visualization tools for creating insightful reports.

Features:

• Data modeling,
• Interactive dashboards,
• Embedded analytics,
• Collaborative analytics.

Looker Pros:

• Looker is easy to use with drag-and-drop options and pre-built data models, making it accessible even for non-technical users.
• This reporting tool supports multiple data sources, including third-party connectors like Facebook Ads, allowing comprehensive data analysis.
• It facilitates easy sharing and collaboration on dashboards and reports, enhancing team productivity.
• This business intelligence software provides real-time data visualization and insights, which are crucial for timely decision-making.

Looker Cons:

• Looker can be slow when handling large datasets or complex queries, impacting user experience.
• It has basic charting tools with limited customization options and insufficient control over data refreshes.
• This reporting app has limited integration capabilities with non-Google platforms and requires internet connectivity for most functions.
• Beginners may find it overwhelming initially, requiring time to familiarize themselves with all features.

   Domo

Domo is a cloud-based business intelligence platform that provides real-time insights and data visualization tools.

Powered by AI and data science and built on a secure data foundation that integrates with both cloud and legacy systems, Domo enables companies to optimize critical business processes swiftly and effectively.

It offers integration with Salesforce and other data sources, allowing users to create interactive dashboards and reports.

Features:

• Real-time data insights,
• Interactive dashboards,
• Data connectors,
• Mobile analytics.

Domo Pros:

• Domo is highly flexible in creating tailored data experiences and visualizations.
• This Salesforce reporting tool has a user-friendly interface, enables straightforward content creation, and automates user management.
• It is a powerful, no-code transformation tool that is easy to use and maintain.
• Domo provides good support for technical and non-technical issues, although this is also noted as an area needing improvement by some users.

Domo Cons:

• Domo tool requires a significant investment of time and capital to establish a useful data warehouse.
• It is difficult to alter dataset schemas, leading to potential downstream issues.
• This reporting tool for Salesforce has simple alerts and triggers, lacking detail for more complex data events.
• Domo has slower performance with large datasets and limited ability to mass-edit content.
• It has only manual organization of dashboards with no options for automatic sorting.

   Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a self-service data visualization tool with augmented analytics for visualization, dashboards, natural language analytics, and more that enables users to create interactive dashboards and reports.

Combined with AI-powered insights, Qlik Sense reveals hidden data relationships and performs rapid calculations, and offers seamless integration with Salesforce data and other enterprise systems.

This BI tool transforms analytics from passive to active, helping users uncover insights that traditional query-based tools might miss.

Features:

• Associative analytics,
• Interactive dashboards,
• Data storytelling,
• Collaboration tools.

Qlik Sense Pros:

• Qlik’s associative technology provides intuitive data exploration, revealing hidden insights.
• With this Salesforce BI tool users can create and analyze data without extensive IT support, thanks to the user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop functionality.
• It is a robust platform for integrating and managing data from various sources, enabling comprehensive data analysis.
• Qlik Sense offers a wide range of interactive and customizable visualizations.
• This app has an extensive knowledge base and a responsive support team.

Qlik Sense Cons:

• Qlik Sense tool requires data experts to handle multiple or unstructured data sources.
• Its native customization options and flexibility in design and layout are somewhat restricted.
• Users can experience slow performance with larger datasets.
• This Salesforce reporting tool has high licensing costs, which may be prohibitive for small companies or large-scale deployments.
• Changing dataset schemas can disrupt downstream content.
• This solution has simple alerting mechanisms and lacks advanced analytics out-of-the-box.

   Sisense

Sisense is an AI-driven, customizable business intelligence platform, that allows users to analyze complex data sets and create interactive dashboards.

Trusted by over 2,000 global companies, Sisense drives innovation, market disruption, and meaningful change. This app offers integration with Salesforce and other data sources for comprehensive reporting.

Features:

• Data preparation,
• Embedded analytics,
• Predictive analytics,
• Machine learning.

Sisense Pros:

• Sisense has faster loading, and operation compared to other BI tools like Power BI.
• It is user-friendly, and easy to learn, with minimal IT involvement.
• This reporting tool for Salesforce has a transparent pricing model.
• Sisense supports various data sources and integrates well with CRM systems.
• It has diverse visualization options and customizable dashboards.

Sisense Cons:

• Its functionality is powerful but complex and lacks sufficient documentation.
• Sisense has a smaller online community compared to larger BI tools.
• This app has slow data fetching and processing with custom SQL queries.
• Sisense has insufficient documentation for advanced features; support can be inconsistent.
• Solution updates may break existing dashboards and data models, requiring rework.

  Infor Birst

Infor Birst is a cloud-based business intelligence and analytics platform that offers end-to-end data management and visualization solutions.

Built with patented automation and machine learning technologies, Birst connects teams and external enterprise systems including Salesforce across the enterprise through a trusted analytics network.

This approach allows organizations to unify siloed and diverse data sources, extracting insights to optimize assets, improve process efficiencies, and boost customer satisfaction.

Features:

• Data integration,
• Self-service analytics,
• Automated reporting,
• Multi-tenant architecture.

Infor Birst Pros:

• This reporting tool has strong processing capabilities and robust infrastructure.
• It enables an easy creation of custom measures and attributes, and intuitive report design tools.
• Burst provides seamless integration with multiple applications and data sources.
• This app offers impressive dashboards with a variety of visualizations like bar graphs, trend charts, and pie charts.
• Infor Burst includes efficient tools for smart decision-making and data governance.

Infor Birst Cons:

• Birst’s user interface can be improved for simplicity and better understanding.
• It has slow performance when exporting extensive data and rebuilding cubes.
• This reporting app lacks comprehensive documentation for advanced features.
• Burst has limited options for custom charts and visualizations.
• This solution has high licensing costs, especially for small companies.
• It has a steep learning curve initially but improves with use.

   Yellowfin

Yellowfin is another reporting tool for Salesforce that offers data discovery, reporting, and collaboration tools. It is an analytics suite that combines action-based dashboards with automated analysis and data storytelling.

It offers an exceptional analytical experience, enabling users to engage with and act on data effectively.

With Yellowfin, users can integrate and embed advanced analytics into apps, enhance customer experience with self-service analytics, replace legacy BI applications create data-driven applications, and close the loop on analytics with unique data products.

Yellowfin Pros:

• Yellowfin business intelligence tool has an intuitive drag-and-drop report builder.
• This reporting tool has an easy-to-use and visually appealing interface.
• It enables business users to create reports without extensive IT support.
• Yellowfin seamlessly integrates with multiple applications.
• This app is good for embedding analytics into other systems.
• It Offers extensive options for creating and customizing dashboards.

Yellowfin Cons:

• It has slow performance when handling large datasets and during report editing.
• This app has some limitations in customization and complexity in creating advanced visualizations.
• Yellowfin has insufficient documentation for advanced features and a steep learning curve for new users.
• It is slow to implement new ideas and suggestions.
• There can be challenges with getting timely support and limited resources for customer assistance.

   GoodData

GoodData is a cloud-based business intelligence and analytics platform that harnesses AI and automation to enable data-driven decision-making.

The platform provides real-time, self-service data insights, empowering every end user to access and utilize analytics at the point of work.

Trusted by over 140,000 businesses and 3.2 million users globally, it provides integration with Salesforce and other data sources for creating customized reports.

Features:

• Embedded analytics,
• Data monetization,
• Predictive analytics,
• Data governance.

GoodData Pros:

• GoodData BI tool is good for embedding analytics into SaaS platforms with white-labeling features.
• This reporting app has responsive customer support and a helpful community.
• It has strong developer APIs and embedding options.
• GoodData is effective for distributed analytics and managing multiple workspaces.

GoodData Cons:

• It has a steep learning curve for beginners.
• This solution performs slowly with large datasets and complex operations.
• GoodData has restrictions on some advanced features and customizations.
• This solution has insufficient and confusing documentation for some JS libraries and advanced functionalities.
• Comprehensive support options are only available to Enterprise Tier customers.

   Grow

Grow is a no-code, full-stack business intelligence (BI) platform that allows organizations to connect, explore, and gain insights from their data. Combining ETL, data warehousing, and visualization in one user-friendly platform,

Grow empowers teams to make real-time, informed decisions that drive accelerated growth. This app offers integration with Salesforce and other data sources, allowing users to create customizable dashboards and reports and access the data they need without waiting for an analyst.

Features:

• Real-time data insights,
• Customizable dashboards,
• Data connectors.

Grow Pros:

• The platform is fully customizable from data sources to visual displays.
• Grow makes it easy to combine raw data into useful metrics and deploy dashboards quickly.
• Its sales and onboarding teams are supportive, making implementation simple and effective.

Grow Cons:

• Grow business intelligence tool has limited options for customizing labels and colors within each metric.
• It is relatively expensive compared to other tools.
• This app has some small limitations in the visual configuration of metrics and reporting.

Expert Tips for Selecting the Best Salesforce Reporting Tool

As someone who has worked extensively with Salesforce reporting tools, I can offer some expert advice to help you make the best choice for your organization.

• Understand Your Requirements: Define your reporting needs, including data sources, visualization preferences, and user access.
• Evaluate Integration: Consider how well the reporting tool integrates with Salesforce and other systems in your tech stack.
• Customization and Flexibility: Ensure the tool allows for extensive customization of reports and dashboards to meet specific business needs.
• Scalability: Assess whether the tool can accommodate your current and future data volumes and reporting complexity.
• Vendor Reputation and Reviews: Research vendor reputation and read user reviews to gauge the reliability and effectiveness of the tool.
• User-Friendliness: Look for intuitive interfaces and user-friendly features to minimize training requirements.
• Cost Consideration: Balance the benefits of advanced reporting features against the additional cost of third-party tools.
• Advanced Analytics Features: Choose tools that offer advanced analytics capabilities like predictive modeling, AI, and machine learning.
• Security and Compliance: Verify that the tool complies with industry standards and has robust security features to protect sensitive data.
• Support and Community: Consider the availability of customer support and a strong user community for troubleshooting and best practices.
• Implementation and Training: Assess the ease of implementation and the availability of training resources to facilitate smooth adoption.

How Ascendix an Help with Salesforce Reporting Tools

When it comes to Salesforce reporting, organizations have two primary options: leveraging standard Salesforce reports or investing in third-party reporting applications. Both approaches offer unique benefits and considerations, making the choice between them dependent on the specific needs and priorities of the organization.

So, if you rely heavily on manual data extraction or Excel for reporting and want to automate this process or build tailored reports that combine different types of data,

We will help you conduct an in-depth assessment of your current reporting processes and identify key pain points to customized Salesforce reports and dashboards to align them with your business goals.

Also, we can help with the creation of:

• Custom fields to capture additional data points and apply filters to segment data for more precise insights.
• User-friendly dashboards that visualize critical metrics like sales trends, daily, weekly, and monthly sales performance, purchase patterns, and feedback.
• Scheduled reports and automated alerts to notify stakeholders of critical changes and trends without manual intervention and much more.

Our professionals will train your team to use these new tools effectively and provide ongoing support to ensure they can adapt to any changes or new requirements.

In case you need more advanced analytics, Ascendix will assist your organization in integrating Salesforce with a business intelligence platform like CRM Analytics (Tableau).

Book a free consultation call and we will show you how you can get better visibility into key sales and customer metrics and increase the efficiency of your organization.