Business Intelligence (BI) tools have become indispensable in the data-driven world of today. They enable organizations to make informed decisions, uncover insights, and drive business growth. However, such tools are now evolving, and traditional solutions are facing stiff competition from innovative platforms like Looker Studio.
In this article, we'll explore why Looker Studio trumps traditional BI tools and why it's becoming the go-to choice for businesses seeking advanced analytics capabilities.
Looker Studio's Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Interface
Looker Studio is designed for simplicity. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface lets you explore data visually without needing to be a tech whiz. No complex SQL queries required.
The drag-and-drop canvas gives you flexibility in designing customized dashboards and reports. Simply drag desired metrics, dimensions, filters, and visualizations onto the canvas and connect them together based on your needs. Looker Studio has over 25 visualization types - including maps, charts, tables, and more - that you can leverage to gain valuable perspectives into your data.
Looker Studio also provides predictive suggestions as you build out your analyzes. For example, it may recommend joining two data sources together or adding a specific filter or dimension to your exploration. These intelligent recommendations help guide you to impactful discoveries in your data.
Powerful Data Modeling and Transformation Capabilities
Looker Studio provides powerful data modeling and transformation capabilities to help you gain valuable business insights.
Looker Studio allows you to join multiple data sources, including databases, APIs, and files. You can then model that integrated data to match your business needs through Looker's intuitive data modeling interface. This flexibility enables fast, customized analysis across your data.
It offers a visual data transformation tool called Looker Blocks. Looker Blocks provide over 50 functions to manipulate, aggregate, filter, and transform your data without needing to write SQL queries. You can string multiple blocks together into data flows to build complex data transformations and pipelines.
The tool's modeling layer allows business users to explore data through an intuitive, visual interface without needing to understand the underlying SQL or schema. Users can drag and drop dimensions, measures, filters, and more to build dashboards, explore data, and share insights.
Governance and security are also built-in. Looker Studio enables role-based access control, audit logging, and versioning. Admins can manage data access, content, and system configuration in one place.
Seamless Integration With Google Marketing Platform
Looker Studio provides seamless integration with Google Marketing Platform, allowing you to connect your data sources and build customized dashboards and reports. It’s no surprise that this tool is used by more than 20,000 well-recognized companies.
Single Sign-On
You can sign in using your Google account credentials, eliminating the need to remember multiple logins and passwords. Your Google account allows single sign-on access to Looker Studio and Google Marketing Platform.
Unified Data Model
Looker Studio uses a unified data model that combines data from Google Marketing Platform, Google Ads, Google Analytics, and other sources into a single view. This unified model enables cross-channel analysis and a holistic view of your marketing data. You can analyze Google Ads performance alongside Google Analytics metrics or compare Google Shopping campaigns with search ads.
Shared Assets
This tool allows you to create dashboards, reports, and alerts once and share them across Google Marketing Platform products. For example, build an overview dashboard in Looker Studio and share it in both Google Ads and Google Analytics for a consistent view of key metrics. You can also share Looker Studio assets with colleagues and clients, enabling transparency and collaboration.
Custom Metrics and Dimensions
With Looker Studio, you can create custom metrics and dimensions that combine data from multiple data sources. For example, you can build a custom metric that calculates revenue per click across Google Ads and Google Analytics or a custom dimension that groups products into categories used in both your Google Merchant Center feed and Google Analytics ecommerce tracking. These custom metrics and dimensions provide flexibility to analyze your marketing data in the way that is most meaningful for your business.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Looker Studio provides a superior business intelligence experience as compared to traditional BI tools. With its innovative approach, robust features, and seamless experience, Looker Studio gives you an analytical edge to make data-driven decisions and gain a competitive advantage. Out of its users, 33% are from small companies (fewer than 50 employees), 45% from medium-sized, and 22% from large companies (over 1000 employees). When evaluating BI solutions, Looker Studio should be at the top of your list.
Call-to-Action
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