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Both France and United Kingdom along with some other European has shaped the history of our modern world. The historical ties between France and the UK, and the countries preceding them, are long and complex, including conquest, wars, and alliances at various points in history. The Roman era saw both areas, except Scotland and Northern Ireland, conquered by Rome, whose fortifications exist in both countries to this day, and whose writing system introduced a common alphabet to both areas; however, the language barrier remained. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 decisively shaped English history, as well as the English language. In the Middle Ages, France and England were often bitter enemies, with both nations' monarchs claiming control over France, while Scotland was usually allied with France until the Union of the Crowns. Some of the noteworthy conflicts include the Hundred Years' War and the French Revolutionary Wars which were French victories, as well as the Seven Years' War and Napoleonic Wars, from which Great Britain emerged victorious.The last major conflict between the two was the Napoleonic Wars in which coalitions of European powers, financed and usually led by the United Kingdom fought a series of wars against the First French Empire and its client states, culminating in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. There were some subsequent tensions, especially after 1880, over such issues as the Suez Canal and rivalry for African colonies. Despite some brief war scares, peace always prevailed. Friendly ties between the two began with the 1904 Entente Cordiale, and the British and French were allied against Germany in both World War I and World War II; in the latter conflict, British armies helped to liberate occupied France from the Nazis. Both nations opposed the Soviet Union during the Cold War and were founding members of NATO, the Western military alliance led by the United States. During the 1960s, French President Charles de Gaulle distrusted the British for being too close to the Americans, and for years he blocked British entry into the European Economic Community, now called the European Union. De Gaulle also pulled France out of its active role in NATO because that alliance was too heavily dominated by Washington. After his death, Britain did enter the European Economic Community and France returned to NATO.In recent years the two countries have experienced a quite close relationship, especially on defence and foreign policy issues; the two countries tend, however, to disagree on a range of other matters, most notably the European Union.France and Britain are often still referred to as "historic rivals" or with emphasis on the perceived ever-lasting competition that still opposes the two countries. French author José-Alain Fralon characterised the relationship between the countries by describing the British as "our most dear enemies".Unlike France, the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020, after it voted to do so in a referendum held on 23 June 2016. It is estimated that about 350,000 French people live in the UK, with approximately 400,000 Britons living in France.France economic strength:The economy of France is highly developed and free-market-oriented. It is the world's seventh-largest economy by 2020 nominal figures and the tenth-largest economy by PPP. As of September 30, 2020, it is the 3rd largest economy of Europe, after the economy of Germany and the United Kingdom.La Défense, the financial hub of France.Paris, a leading global city, has one of the largest city GDP in the world and is the first city in Europe (and 3rd worldwide) for the number of companies classified in Fortune's Fortune Global 500. Paris has been ranked as the 2nd most attractive global city in the world in 2019 by KPMG. La Défense, Paris's Central Business District, was ranked by Ernst & Young in 2017 as the leading business district in continental Europe, and fourth in the world. The OECD is headquartered in Paris, the nation's financial capital. Other major economic centres include Lyon, Toulouse (centre of the European aerospace industry), Marseille, Nice and Bordeaux.France's economy entered the recession of the late 2000s later and appeared to leave it earlier than most affected economies, only enduring four-quarters of contraction.France has nominal GDP of $2.6 trillion and $3.0 trillion by power purchasing parity.A member of the Group of Seven (formerly Group of Eight) leading industrialized countries, as of 2020, it is ranked as the world's tenth-largest and the EU's second-largest economy by purchasing power parity. France joined 11 other EU members to launch the euro in 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc (₣) in 2002.France has a diversified economy, that is dominated by the service sector (which represented in 2017 78.8% of its GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounted for 19.5% of its GDP and the primary sector accounted for the remaining 1.7%. The fifth-largest trading nation in the world (and second in Europe after Germany). It is the third-largest manufacturing country in Europe behind Germany and Italy. France is also the most visited destination in the world, as well as the European Union's leading agricultural power.France was in 2019 the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe, Europe's second-largest spender in Research and development, ranked among the 10 most innovative countries in the world by the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, as well as the 15th most competitive nation globally, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report.According to the IMF, in 2020, France was the world's 20th country by GDP per capita with $39,257 per inhabitant. In 2019, France was listed on the United Nations's Human Development Index with a value of 0.901 (indicating very high human development) and 23rd on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2019.In 2018, France was the 5th largest trading nation in the world, as well as the second-largest trading nation in Europe (after Germany). In 2008, France was the third-largest recipient of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $118 billion, ranking behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially monetary transfers to banks located there) and the United States ($316 billion), but above the United Kingdom ($96.9 billion), Germany ($25 billion), or Japan ($24 billion). In the same year, French companies invested $220 billion outside France, ranking France as the second-largest outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($311 billion), and ahead of the UK ($111 billion), Japan ($128 billion) and Germany ($157 billion).Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. The three largest financial institutions cooperatively owned by their customers are located in France. The Paris stock exchange (French: La Bourse de Paris) is an old institution, created by Louis XV in 1724. In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels merged into Euronext. In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York stock exchange to form NYSE Euronext, the world's largest stock exchange. Euronext Paris, the French branch of the NYSE Euronext group is Europe's 2nd largest stock exchange market, behind the London Stock Exchange. French companies have maintained key positions in the insurance and banking industries: AXA was in 2019 the world's third-largest insurance company by total non-banking assets. The leading French banks are BNP Paribas and the Crédit Agricole, both ranking among the top 10 largest banks by assets according to a 2020 S&P Global Market Intelligence report. According to the same source, Société Générale and Groupe BPCE were in 2020 the world's 17th and 19th largest banks, respectively.France is a member of the Eurozone (around 330 million consumers) which is part of the European Single Market (more than 500 million consumers). Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. France introduced the common European currency, the Euro in 2002.France is a part of a monetary union known as” EuroZone” (Shown in dark blue), and of the “European Single Market” (shown in light blue).France economic sectors:Agriculture:France has historically been a large producer of agricultural products. Extensive tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe (representing 20% of the EU's agricultural production) and the world's third-biggest exporter of agricultural products.Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as internationally recognized processed foods, are the primary French agricultural exports. Rosé wines are primarily consumed within the country, but Champagne and Bordeaux wines are major exports, being known worldwide. EU agriculture subsidies to France have decreased in recent years but still amounted to $8 billion in 2007. That same year, France sold 33.4 billion euros of transformed agricultural products. France produces rum via sugar cane-based distilleries almost all of which are located in overseas territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion. Agriculture is an important sector of France's economy: 3.8% of the active population is employed in agriculture, whereas the total agri-food industry made up 4.2% of French GDP in 2005.Champagne widely regarded as a luxury good originates from The Champagne region in Northeast France.Tourism:With 89 million international tourist arrivals in 2018, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (83 million) and the United States (80 million). It is third in income from tourism due to the shorter duration of visits. The most popular tourist sites include (annual visitors): Eiffel Tower (6.2 million), Château de Versailles (2.8 million), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (2 million), Pont du Gard (1.5 million), Arc de Triomphe (1.2 million), Mont Saint-Michel (1 million), Sainte-Chapelle (683,000), Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg (549,000), Puy de Dôme (500,000), Musée Picasso (441,000), and Carcassonne (362,000).The Eiffel Tower is the world’s most-visited paid monument an icon of both Paris and France.France, especially Paris, has some of the world's largest and most renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world (5.7 million), the Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million), mostly devoted to Impressionism, the Musée de l'Orangerie (1.02 million), which is home to eight large Water Lily murals by Claude Monet, as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou (1.2 million), dedicated to contemporary art. Disneyland Paris is Europe's most popular theme park, with 15 million combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009.Energy sector:Électricité de France (EDF), the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, is also one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2018, it produced around 20% of the European Union's electricity, primarily from nuclear power. France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the G8, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power. As of 2016, 72% of the electricity produced by France is generated by 58 nuclear power plants. In this context, renewable energies are having difficulty taking off. France also uses hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, such as the Eguzon dam, Étang de Soulcem and Lac de Vouglans. France derives most of its electricity from nuclear power the highest percentage in the world.Transport:The railway network of France, which as of 2008 stretches 29,473 kilometres (18,314 mi) is the second most extensive in Western Europe after that of Germany.It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at 320 km/h (199 mph) in commercial use. The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. Rail connections exist to all other neighbouring countries in Europe, except Andorra. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both underground services (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes) and tramway services (Nantes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier...) complementing bus services.A TGV Duplex crossing the Cize–Bolozon viaduct. The train can reach a maximum speed of 360 kilometres per hour (220 mph).There are approximately 1,027,183 kilometres (638,262 mi) of serviceable roadway in France, ranking it the most extensive network of the European continent. The Paris region is enveloped with the densest network of roads and highways that connect it with virtually all parts of the country. French roads also handle substantial international traffic, connecting with cities in neighbouring Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco. There is no annual registration fee or road tax; however, usage of the mostly privately owned motorways is through tolls except in the vicinity of large communes. The new car market is dominated by domestic brands such as Renault (27% of cars sold in France in 2003), Peugeot (20.1%) and Citroën (13.5%). Over 70% of new cars sold in 2004 had diesel engines, far more than contained petrol or LPG engines. France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie.There are 464 airports in France. Charles de Gaulle Airport, located in the vicinity of Paris, is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across the world. Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in Marseille, which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 12,261 kilometres (7,619 mi) of waterways traverse France including the Canal du Midi, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean through the Garonne river.Air France is one of the biggest Airlines in the world.Science and Technology:Since the Middle Ages, France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement. Around the beginning of the 11th century, Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, reintroduced the abacus and armillary sphere and introduced Arabic numerals and clocks to Northern and Western Europe.The University of Paris, founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important universities in the Western world. In the 17th century, mathematician René Descartes defined a method for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, while Blaise Pascal became famous for his work on probability and fluid mechanics. They were both key figures of the Scientific Revolution, which blossomed in Europe during this period. The Academy of Sciences was founded by Louis XIV to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.The Age of Enlightenment was marked by the work of biologist Buffon and chemist Lavoisier, who discovered the role of oxygen in combustion, while Diderot and D'Alembert published the Encyclopédie, which aimed to give access to "useful knowledge" to the people, a knowledge that they can apply to their everyday life. With the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France with scientists such as Augustin Fresnel, founder of modern optics, Sadi Carnot who laid the foundations of thermodynamics, and Louis Pasteur, a pioneer of microbiology. Other eminent French scientists of the 19th century have their names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré, physicists Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, who remained famous for their work on radioactivity, the physicist Paul Langevin and virologist Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV AIDS. Hand transplantation was developed on 23 September 1998 in Lyon by a team assembled from different countries around the world including Jean-Michel Dubernard who, shortly thereafter, performed the first successful double hand transplant. Telesurgery was developed by Jacques Marescaux and his team on 7 September 2001 across the Atlantic Ocean (New York-Strasbourg, Lindbergh Operation). A face transplant was first done on 27 November 2005 by Dr Bernard Devauchelle.France was the fourth country to achieve the nuclear capability and has the third-largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. It is also a leader in civilian nuclear technology. France was the third nation, after the former USSR and the United States, to launch its own space satellite and remains the biggest contributor to the European Space Agency (ESA). The European Airbus, formed from the French group Aérospatiale along with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), designs and develops civil and military aircraft as well as communications systems, missiles, space rockets, helicopters, satellites, and related systems. France also hosts major international research instruments such as the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility or the Institut Laue–Langevin and remains a major member of CERN. It also owns Minatec, Europe's leading nanotechnology research centre.The SNCF, the French national railroad company, has developed the TGV, a high-speed train that holds a series of world speed records. The TGV has been the fastest wheeled train in commercial use since reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 April 2007. Western Europe is now serviced by a network of TGV lines.The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) has been ranked by the Nature Index 2020 as the fourth institution with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals in the world. France itself was the 6th nation globally with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2020, which is valid for the calendar year 2019.As of 2018, 69 French people have been awarded a Nobel Prize and 12 have received the Fields Medal.Now, let us return to the military might of France:France has the sixth-largest defence budget in the world and the first in the European Union (EU). It has the largest armed forces in size in the European Union. According to Credit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military.The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. Besides, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10; thus making France the most successful military power in European history.In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century.Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence.[4] Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself.Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners.France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, doing so in 1960 under the government of Charles de Gaulle. The French military is currently thought to retain a weapons stockpile of around 300 operational (deployed) nuclear warheads, making it the third-largest in the world, speaking in terms of warheads, not megatons.[7] The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe, developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while having a means of nuclear deterrence under sovereign control.France did not sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which gave it the option to conduct further nuclear tests until it signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 and 1998 respectively. France denies currently having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984. France had also ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1926.The French Armed Forces (Forces armées françaises) are the military and paramilitary forces of France, under the President of the Republic as supreme commander. They consist of the French Army (Armée de Terre), French Navy (Marine Nationale, formerly called Armée de Mer), the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l’Espace), and the Military Police called National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale), which also fulfils civil police duties in the rural areas of France. Together they are among the largest armed forces in the world and the largest in the EU. According to a 2018 study by Crédit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military, and the most powerful in Europe, only behind Russia.France the sixth most powerful military on Earth and the third-biggest nuclear power by warheads.France has a special military corps, the French Foreign Legion, founded in 1830, which consists of foreign nationals from over 140 countries who are willing to serve in the French Armed Forces and become French citizens after the end of their service period. The only other countries having similar units are Spain (the Spanish Foreign Legion, called Tercio, was founded in 1920) and Luxembourg (foreigners can serve in the National Army provided they speak Luxembourgish).France is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN and a recognised nuclear state since 1960. France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France's annual military expenditure in 2018 was US$63.8 billion, or 2.3% of its GDP, making it the fifth biggest military spender in the world after the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.The current French nuclear force consists of four Triomphant class submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 ASMP medium-range air-to-ground missiles with nuclear warheads, of which around 50 are deployed by the Air and Space Force using the Mirage 2000N long-range nuclear strike aircraft, while around 10 are deployed by the French Navy's Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) attack aircraft, which operate from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The new Rafale F3 aircraft will gradually replace all Mirage 2000N and SEM in the nuclear strike role with the improved ASMP-A missile with a nuclear warhead.France has major military industries with one of the largest aerospace industries in the world. Its industries have produced such equipment as the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank among others. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M. France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices.France has consistently developed its cybersecurity capabilities, which are regularly ranked as some of the most robust of any nation in the world.The Bastille Day military parade held in Paris each 14 July for France's national day, called Bastille Day in English-speaking countries (referred to in France as Fête Nationale), is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe. Other smaller parades are organised across the country.Now let's see the economic and military strength of friendly rival of France the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The economic strength of the United Kingdom:The economy of the United Kingdom is a highly developed social market and market-orientated economy. It is the fifth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), ninth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and twenty first-largest by GDP per capita, constituting 3.3% of world GDP.London the historic capital and financial centre of the United Kingdom.The UK is one of the most globalised economies and comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2019, the UK was the fifth-largest exporter in the world and the fifth-largest importer. It also had the third-largest inward foreign direct investment and the fifth-largest outward foreign direct investment. In 2020, the UK's trade with the 27 member states of the European Union accounted for 49% of the country's exports and 52% of its imports.The service sector dominates, contributing around 80% of GDP; the financial services industry is particularly important, and London is the second-largest financial centre in the world.Edinburgh is ranked 17th in the world, and 6th in Europe for its financial services industry in 2021. Britain's aerospace industry is the second-largest national aerospace industry. Its pharmaceutical industry, the tenth-largest in the world, plays an important role in the economy. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 26 are headquartered in the UK. The economy is boosted by North Sea oil and gas production; its reserves were estimated at 2.8 billion barrels in 2016, although it has been a net importer of oil since 2005. There are significant regional variations in prosperity, with South East England and North East Scotland being the richest areas per capita. The size of London's economy makes it the largest city by GDP per capita in Europe.In the 18th century, the UK was the first country to industrialise, and during the 19th century, it had a dominant role in the global economy, accounting for 9.1% of the world's GDP in 1870. The Second Industrial Revolution was also taking place rapidly in the United States and the German Empire; this presented an increasing economic challenge for the UK. The costs of fighting World War I and World War II further weakened the UK's relative position. In the 18th century, the UK was the first country to industrialise, and during the 19th century, it had a dominant role in the global economy, accounting for 9.1% of the world's GDP in 1870. The Second Industrial Revolution was also taking place rapidly in the United States and the German Empire; this presented an increasing economic challenge for the UK. The costs of fighting World War I and World War II further weakened the UK's relative position. In the 21st century, the UK retains the ability to project power and influence around the world.Government involvement is primarily exercised by Her Majesty's Treasury, headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Since 1979 management of the economy has followed a broad laissez-faire approach. The Bank of England is the UK's central bank, and since 1997 its Monetary Policy Committee has been responsible for setting interest rates, quantitative easing, and forward guidance.The currency of the UK is the pound sterling, which is the world's fourth-largest reserve currency after the United States dollar, the Euro and the Japanese yen, and is also one of the 10 most valued currencies in the world.The UK is a member of the Commonwealth, the G7, the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, NATO, the United Nations Security Council, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United Nations.As of 2021, Britain has nominal GDP of $2.64 trillion fifth largest and biggest.And is the world’s 9th largest and biggest by power purchasing parity of $2.98 trillion.it has the 21st highest GDP per capita $39,229 making it one of the richest and highly advanced country in Europe and the World.The UK service sector makes up around 79 per cent of GDP. London is one of the world's largest financial centres, ranking 2nd in the world, behind New York City, in the Global Financial Centres Index in 2020.London also has the largest city GDP in Europe. Edinburgh ranks 17th in the world, and 6th in Western Europe in the Global Financial Centres Index in 2020. Tourism is very important to the British economy; with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world. The creative industries accounted for 7 per cent GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6 per cent per annum between 1997 and 2005.Following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, the functioning of the UK internal economic market is enshrined by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 which ensures trade in goods and services continues without internal barriers across the four countries of the United Kingdom.The Industrial Revolution started in the UK with an initial concentration on the textile industry, followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steelmaking. British merchants, shippers and bankers developed an overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century. As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7 per cent of national output in 2003.The automotive industry employs around 800,000 people, with a turnover in 2015 of £70 billion, generating £34.6 billion of exports (11.8 per cent of the UK's total export goods). In 2015, the UK produced around 1.6 million passenger vehicles and 94,500 commercial vehicles. The UK is a major centre for engine manufacturing: in 2015 around 2.4 million engines were produced. The UK motorsport industry employs around 41,000 people, comprises around 4,500 companies and has an annual turnover of around £6 billion.The aerospace industry of the UK is the second or third-largest national aerospace industry in the world depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £30 billion.Jaguar XE Jaguar cars are manufactured, designed and developed in the United Kingdom.BAE Systems plays a critical role in some of the world's biggest defence aerospace projects. In the UK, the company makes large sections of the Typhoon Eurofighter and assembles the aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It is also a principal subcontractor on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's largest single defence project – for which it designs and manufactures a range of components. It also manufactures the Hawk, the world's most successful jet training aircraft. Airbus UK also manufactures the wings for the A400 m military transporter. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial aircraft and it has more than 30,000 engines in service in the civil and defence sectors.The UK space industry was worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employed 29,000 people. It is growing at a rate of 7.5 per cent annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the UK Space Agency. In 2013, the British Government pledged £60 m to the Skylon project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the SABRE engine to be built.The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures.Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60 per cent of food needs with less than 1.6 per cent of the labour force (535,000 workers). Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. The UK retains a significant, though much-reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.In the final quarter of 2008, the UK economy officially entered recession for the first time since 1991. Following the likes of the United States, France and many major economies, in 2013, the UK lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978 with Moodys and Fitch credit agency, but, unlike the other major economies, retained its triple-A rating with Standard & Poors.By the end of 2014, UK growth was the fastest in both the G7 and in Europe, and by September 2015, the unemployment rate was down to a seven-year low of 5.3 per cent. In 2020, coronavirus lockdown measures caused the UK economy to suffer its biggest slump on record, shrinking by 20.4 per cent between April and June compared to the first three months of the year, to push it officially into recession for the first time in 11 years.The UK has an external debt of $9.6 trillion dollars, which is the second-highest in the world after the US. As a percentage of GDP, external debt is 408 per cent, which is the third-highest in the world after Luxembourg and Iceland.Canary Wharf and the City Of London both are financial centres of UK.During the Second World War, the UK was one of the Big Three powers (along with the U.S. and the Soviet Union) who met to plan the post-war world; it was an original signatory to the Declaration by United Nations. After the war, the UK became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and worked closely with the United States to establish the IMF, World Bank and NATO. The war left the UK severely weakened and financially dependent on the Marshall Plan, but it was spared the total war that devastated eastern Europe. In the immediate post-war years, the Labour government initiated a radical programme of reforms, which had a significant effect on British society in the following decades. Major industries and public utilities were nationalised, a welfare state was established, and a comprehensive, publicly funded healthcare system, the National Health Service, was created. The rise of nationalism in the colonies coincided with Britain's now much-diminished economic position so that a policy of decolonisation was unavoidable. Independence was granted to India and Pakistan in 1947. Over the next three decades, most colonies of the British Empire gained their independence, with all those that sought independence supported by the UK, during both the transition period and afterwards. Many became members of the Commonwealth of Nations.The UK was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its first atomic bomb test in 1952), but the new post-war limits of Britain's international role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956. The international spread of the English language ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture. As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries. In the following decades, the UK became a more multi-ethnic society than before. Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s, the UK's economic performance was less successful than many of its main competitors such as France, West Germany and Japan.In the decades-long process of European integration, the UK was a founding member of the alliance called the Western European Union, established with the London and Paris Conferences in 1954. In 1960 the UK was one of the seven founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), but in 1973 it left to join the European Communities (EC). When the EC became the European Union (EU) in 1992, the UK was one of the 12 founding members. The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007, forms the constitutional basis of the European Union since then.Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the Conservative government of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher initiated a radical policy of monetarism, deregulation, particularly of the financial sector (for example, the Big Bang in 1986) and labour markets, the sale of state-owned companies (privatisation), and the withdrawal of subsidies to others.[142] From 1984, the economy was helped by the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues.Around the end of the 20th century, there were major changes to the governance of the UK with the establishment of devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The statutory incorporation followed acceptance of the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK is still a key global player diplomatically and militarily. It plays leading roles in the UN and NATO. Controversy surrounds some of Britain's overseas military deployments, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq.The coalition government of 2010 introduced austerity measures intended to tackle the substantial public deficits which resulted. In 2016, 51.9 per cent of voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The UK remained a full member of the EU until 31 January 2020.The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the UK. Emergency financial measures (such as the furlough scheme) and controls on movement (known as lockdown measures) have been put in place. The number of people who have died from the virus in the UK has exceeded 100,000.The military strength of the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:The British Armed Forces are also known as Her Majesty Armed Forces. responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and the Crown dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.Since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 (later succeeded by the United Kingdom), the armed forces have seen action in a number of major wars involving the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the First World War, and the Second World War. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Today, the British Armed Forces consist of: the Royal Navy, a blue-water navy with a fleet of 79 commissioned ships, together with the Royal Marines, a highly specialised amphibious light infantry force; the British Army, the UK's principal land warfare branch; and the Royal Air Force, a technologically sophisticated air force with a diverse operational fleet consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The British Armed Forces include standing forces, Regular Reserve, Volunteer Reserves and Sponsored Reserves.The Head of the Armed Forces is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, to whom members of the forces swear allegiance. Long-standing constitutional convention, however, has vested de facto executive authority, by the exercise of Royal Prerogative, in the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence. The Prime Minister (acting with the Cabinet) makes the key decisions on the use of the armed force. The UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the British Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, as required by the Bill of Rights 1689. The Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines among all other forces do not require this act. The armed forces are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence, headed by the Secretary of State for Defence.The United Kingdom is one of five recognised nuclear powers, is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is a founding and leading member of the NATO military alliance, and is a party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Overseas garrisons and training facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Bahrain, Belize, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, Montserrat, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore and the United States.During the later half of the seventeenth century, and in particular, throughout the eighteenth century, British foreign policy sought to contain the expansion of rival European powers through military, diplomatic and commercial means – especially of its chief competitors; Spain, the Netherlands and France. This saw Britain engage in a number of intense conflicts over colonial possessions and world trade, including a long string of Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch wars, as well as a series of "world wars" with France, such as; the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). During the Napoleonic wars, the Royal Navy victory at Trafalgar (1805) under the command of Horatio Nelson (aboard HMS Victory) marked the culmination of British maritime supremacy and left the Navy in a position of uncontested hegemony at sea. By 1815 and the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had risen to become the world's dominant great power and the British Empire subsequently presided over a period of relative peace, known as Pax Britannica.With Britain's old rivals no longer a threat, the nineteenth century saw the emergence of a new rival, the Russian Empire, and a strategic competition in what became known as The Great Game for supremacy in Central Asia. Britain feared that Russian expansionism in the region would eventually threaten the Empire in India. In response, Britain undertook a number of pre-emptive actions against perceived Russian ambitions, including the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) and the British expedition to Tibet (1903–1904). During this period, Britain also sought to maintain the balance of power in Europe, particularly against Russian expansionism, who at the expense of the waning Ottoman Empire had ambitions to "carve up the European part of Turkey". This ultimately led to British involvement in the Crimean War (1854–1856) against the Russian Empire.The beginning of the twentieth century served to reduce tensions between Britain and the Russian Empire, partly due to the emergence of a unified German Empire. The era brought about an Anglo-German naval arms race which encouraged significant advancements in maritime technology (e.g. Dreadnoughts, torpedoes and submarines), and in 1906, Britain had determined that its only likely naval enemy was Germany.The accumulated tensions in European relations finally broke out into the hostilities of the First World War (1914–1918), in what is recognised today, as the most devastating war in British military history, with nearly 800,000 men killed and over 2 million wounded. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, the end of the German Empire, the Treaty of Versailles and the establishment of the League of Nations.Although Germany had been defeated during the First World War, by 1933 fascism had given rise to Nazi Germany, which under the leadership of Adolf Hitler re-militarised in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. Once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Second World War began (1939–1945). The conflict was the most widespread in British history, with British Empire and Commonwealth troops fighting in campaigns from Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East and the Far East. Approximately 390,000 British Empire and Commonwealth troops lost their lives. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers and the establishment of the United Nations (replacing the League of Nations).According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United Kingdom has the fourth- or eighth-largest defence budget in the world.For comparison's sake, this sees Britain spending more in absolute terms than France, Germany, India or Japan, a similar amount to that of Russia, but less than China, Saudi Arabia or the United States. In September 2011, according to Professor Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute, current "planned levels of defence spending should be enough for the United Kingdom to maintain its position as one of the world's top military powers, as well as being one of NATO-Europe's top military powers. Its edge – not least its qualitative edge – in relation to rising Asian powers seems set to erode, but will remain significant well into the 2020s, and possibly beyond." The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence and announced a £178 billion investment over ten years in new equipment and capabilities.The United Kingdom is one of five recognised nuclear-weapon states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains an independent nuclear deterrent, currently consisting of four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines, UGM-133 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and 160 operational thermonuclear warheads. This is known as Trident in both public and political discourse (with nomenclature taken after the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missile). Trident is operated by the Royal Navy Submarine Service, charged with delivering a 'Continuous At-Sea Deterrent' (CASD) capability, whereby one of the Vanguard-class strategic submarines is always on patrol.According to the British Government, since the introduction of Polaris (Tridents predecessor) in the 1960s, from April 1969 "the Royal Navy’s ballistic missile boats have not missed a single day on patrol", giving what the Defence Council described in 1980 as a deterrent "effectively invulnerable to pre-emptive attack".In contrast with the other recognised nuclear-weapon states, the United Kingdom operates only a submarine-based delivery system, having decommissioned its tactical WE.177 free-fall bombs in 1998.The House of Commons voted on 18 July 2016 in favour of replacing the Vanguard-class submarines with a new generation of Dreadnought-class submarines. The programme will also contribute to extending the life of the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missiles and modernise the infrastructure associated with the CASD.Former weapons of mass destruction possessed by the United Kingdom include both biological and chemical weapons. These were renounced in 1956 and subsequently destroyed.The British Armed Forces maintain a number of overseas garrisons and military facilities which enable the country to conduct operations worldwide. All of Britain's permanent military installations are located on British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or former colonies which retain close diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom and located in areas of strategic importance. The most significant of these is the "Permanent Joint Operating Bases" (PJOBs), located on the four overseas territories of Cyprus (British Forces Cyprus), Gibraltar (British Forces Gibraltar), the Falkland Islands (British Forces South Atlantic Islands) and Diego Garcia (British Forces British Indian Ocean Territories). While not a PJOB, Ascension Island (another BOT) is home to the airbase RAF Ascension Island, notable for use as a staging post during the 1982 Falklands War, the territory is also the site of a joint UK-US signals intelligence facility.Qatar is home to RAF Al Udeid, a Royal Air Force outpost at Al Udeid Air Base which serves as the operational headquarters for No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group and its operations across the Middle East. A large Royal Navy Naval Support Facility (NSF) is located in Bahrain, established in 2016 it marks the British return East of Suez. In support of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), the United Kingdom retains a naval repair and logistics support facility at Sembawang wharf, Singapore. Other overseas military installations include; British Forces Brunei, British Forces Germany, the British Army Training Unit Kenya, British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada, British Army Training and Support Unit Belize, and British Gurkhas Nepal.Some British Overseas Territories also maintain locally raised units and regiments; The Royal Bermuda Regiment, the Falkland Islands Defence Force, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and the Royal Montserrat Defence Force. Though their primary mission is "home defence", individuals have volunteered for operational duties. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment mobilised section-sized units for attachment to British regiments deployed during the Iraq War. The Isle of Man, a Crown dependency hosts a multi-capability recruiting and training unit of the British Army Reserve.Since 1969 Britain has had a military satellite communications system, Skynet, initially in large part to support East of Suez bases and deployments. Since 2015 Skynet has offered near-global coverage.Royal Navy:The Royal Navy is a technologically sophisticated naval force, and as of January 2021 consists of 79 commissioned ships with an additional 13 support vessels of various types operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Command of deployable assets is exercised by the Fleet Commander of the Naval Service. Personnel matters are the responsibility of the Second Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command, an appointment usually held by a vice-admiral.The Surface Fleet consists of aircraft carriers, amphibious warfare ships, destroyers, frigates, patrol vessels, mine-countermeasure vessels, and other miscellaneous vessels. The Surface Fleet has been structured around a single fleet since the abolition of the Eastern and Western fleets in 1971. The recently built Type 45 destroyers are technologically advanced air-defence destroyers. The Royal Navy has commissioned two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, embarking an air-group including the advanced fifth-generation multi-role fighter, the F-35B.A submarine service has existed within the Royal Navy for more than 100 years. The Submarine Service's four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines carry Lockheed Martin's Trident II ballistic missiles, forming the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. Seven Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines have been ordered, with four completed and three under construction. The Astute class are the most advanced and largest fleet submarines ever built for the Royal Navy and will maintain Britain's nuclear-powered submarine fleet capabilities for decades to come.Royal marines:The Royal Marines are the Royal Navy's amphibious troops. Consisting of a single manoeuvre brigade (3 Commando) and various independent units, the Royal Marines specialise in amphibious, arctic, and mountain warfare.[73] Contained within 3 Commando Brigade are three attached army units; 383 Commando Petroleum Troop RLC, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, a field artillery regiment based in Plymouth, and 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers.[74] The Commando Logistic Regiment consists of personnel from the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy.British Ground Forces:The British Army is made up of the Regular Army and the Army Reserve. The army has a single command structure based at Andover and known as "Army Headquarters". Deployable combat formations consist of two divisions (1st Armoured and 3rd Mechanised) and eight brigades. Within the United Kingdom, operational and non-deployable units are administered by two divisions, Force Troops Command, and London District.The Army has 50 battalions (36 regular and 14 reserves) of regular and reserve infantry, organised into 17 regiments. The majority of infantry regiments contains multiple regular and reserve battalions. Modern infantry has diverse capabilities and this is reflected in the varied roles assigned to them. There are four operational roles that infantry battalions can fulfil: air assault, armoured infantry, mechanised infantry, and light role infantry. Regiments and battalions e.g.: the Parachute Regiment, exist within every corps of the Army, functioning as administrative or tactical formations.Armoured regiments are equivalent to an infantry battalion. There are 14 armoured regiments within the army, ten regular and four yeomanry (armoured reserve), of which four are designated as "Armoured", three as "Armoured Cavalry", and six as "Light Cavalry". Army 2020 Refine has seen developments which will further modify the Royal Armoured Corps. with two existing regiments forming the core of two new STRIKE Brigades. These two regiments, along with the Armoured Cavalry will be equipped with the "Ajax" armoured fighting vehicle, a new £3.5 billion procurement programme. The Ajax will be employed in the task organisation and roles of both Armoured Cavalry and Medium Armour. With a slight exception of the Household Cavalry, which maintains quasi-autonomy within the Household Division, armoured regiments and their yeomanry counterparts collectively form the Royal Armoured Corps.Arms and support units are also formed into similar collectives organised around specific purposes, such as the Corps of Royal Engineers, Army Air Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps.Royal Air Force:The Royal Air Force has a large operational fleet that fulfils various roles, consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. Frontline aircraft are controlled by Air Command, which is organised into five groups defined by function: 1 Group (Air Combat), 2 Group (Air Support), 11 Group (Air and Space operations), 22 Group (training aircraft and ground facilities) and 38 Group (Royal Air Force's Engineering, Logistics, Communications and Medical Operations units). In addition 83 Expeditionary Air Group directs formations in the Middle East and the 38 Group combines the expeditionary combat support and combat service support units of the RAF. Deployable formations consist of Expeditionary Air Wings and squadrons—the basic unit of the Air Force. Independent flights are deployed to facilities in Afghanistan, the Falkland Islands, Iraq, and the United States.The Royal Air Forces operate multi-role and single-role fighters, reconnaissance and patrol aircraft, tankers, transports, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and various types of training aircraft. Ground units are also maintained by the Royal Air Force, most prominently the RAF Police and the Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regt). The Royal Air Force Regiment essentially functions as the ground defence force of the RAF, optimised for the specialist role of fighting on and around forward airfields, which are densely packed with operationally vital aircraft, equipment, infrastructure and personnel. The Regiment contains nine regular squadrons, supported by five squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment. In addition, it provides the UK's specialist Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear capability. It also provides half of the UK's Forward Air Controllers and the RAF's contribution to the Special Forces Support Group. By March 2008, the three remaining Ground Based Air Defence squadrons (equipped with Rapier Field Standard C) had disbanded or re-rolled and their responsibilities transferred to the British Army's Royal Artillery.I provided this long, boring argument for you. It’s up to you to decide who is more powerful.But if you look at facts and statistics United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a much more powerful and bigger economic and military beast.France has the seventh most powerful military in the world whereas Britain has the eighth-most powerful military in the world.France is the seventh biggest economy nominally with a GDP of $2.551 trillion dollars and tenth-largest by power purchasing parity GDP of $2.954 dollars.The United Kingdom has the 5th largest economy nominally with a GDP of $2.638 trillion dollars and 9th largest by power purchasing parity GDP of $2.979 trillion dollars.France has $39,257 GDP per capita which ranks 20th in the world and United Kingdom has $39,229 GDP per Capita which ranks 21st in the world.Both are NATO allies and maintain permanent seats in the UN security council both are considered major world powers.

15 Best Business Intelligence Tools For Small And Big BusinessFREE DEMOVISIT WEBSITESisense: Top BI SolutionUSER SATISFACTION99%OUR SCORE9.7What is the best business intelligence tool for small and big businesses?The best business intelligence tool for small and big businesses is Sisense because of its scalable architecture and extensive set of features that adapt to the requirements of any business size. From data consolidation and filtering to analytics and reporting, this platform has everything you need to make sense of your numbers. Moreover, the platform’s interface is simple enough to use for beginners and powerful enough to handle the requirements of professionals.Small companies and large enterprises may have its fair share of differences but there’s one thing they have in common: the need for actionable insights to improve their business. Luckily, business intelligence tools can serve as a middle ground that can cater to the needs of all business sizes. They are easy enough to use for small businesses, scalable enough for growing companies, and powerful enough to manage large datasheets for enterprises.With these software solutions, organizations big and small can now make sense of complex big data without hassle. These solutions can collect, analyze and convert such data into understandable reports that can provide businesses with valuable insights, which in turn drives corporate profits.However, with the plethora of BI tools on the market and the various factors you have to consider as you browse, beginning the selection process can be quite overwhelming. In this article, we will take a look at the some of the best business intelligence software for small and big businesses, carefully assessing their features, functionalities, and pricing. This way, it is easier for you to narrow down your options.The 15 Best Business Intelligence Tools for Small and Big BusinessesSisenseLookerdatapineZoho AnalyticsYellowfinAnswer DockHotjarReportPlusQlikViewTableauSAP BusinessObjects LumiraSAP Crystal ReportsSAP Business IntelligenceDatadogQualtrics Research CoreBusiness intelligence tools are currently being used for strategic corporate goals, which include KPI measurement, cost-effective deployment of resources, business health planning and generation of insights to quickly make strategic decisions, among many others. What’s good about such solutions is that they help businesses employ business intelligence across the organization. They are also easily deployed, utilized and integrated with any company’s system.So why use business intelligence tools? The benefits of business intelligence tools far outweigh the investments they entail. They can help businesses gain valuable insights to affect growth, resolve urgent concerns, collate marketing data more quickly, provide a real-time view of the organization and allow for the anticipation of future outcome using predictive analytics and forecasting.Source: ZionmarketresearchAs more and more business organizations turn to business intelligence software for growth, the market for such tools is expected to further expand. In fact, the global BI software market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of around 7.1% from 2019 through 2020, reaching a total of $32.4 billion. This market expansion is expected as the technology has made strides in helping businesses grow.New BI software trends have been immensely providing organizations with new capabilities. Data discovery, which used to be the turf of experts in advanced analytics is now made easy using these platforms. This is accomplished through visual analytics, allowing decision makers to access and immediately act on data. Perhaps one of the most important trends in BI solutions is their provision of mobile support and cloud deployment, allowing users to access and analyze information from any device.Let’s walk you through all the important aspects of each product, highlighting its unique strengths and features, pointing to specific applications and discussing any drawbacks you should consider.1. SisenseBI software Sisense enables businesses to collate, analyze and view data, which can be used in making sound business decisions and to come up with strategic plans. The tool aggregates all needed information into a singular dashboard with its drag-and-drop functionality and provides you with a granular view of your data. Users can come up with reliable analysis using visual reports as a basis, making the process far easier and hassle-free. The platform’s interface is easy to use, allowing users to learn system navigation quickly and easily.USER SATISFACTION99%OUR SCORE9.7Sisense won our Best BI Software of 2018 AwardIn addition to these features, Sisense also offers intuitive data crunching for beginners, making it a good option for those who are new to using BI solutions. On the other hand, if you are looking for scalability, extensibility, and flexibility, don’t worry. It also comes with API-first approaches for developers. If you’d like to learn more about what Sisense has to offer, the vendor offers a very good free demo so you can try out the key features of their tool yourself. You can easily sign up for Sisense free demo here.Case studyIt is these functionalities and more that led Magellan Vacations to adopt Sisense. It took the luxury hotel a while before getting a grasp of the system’s functionalities, all along challenged to provide real-time feedback for agents, and involve non-technical users into analytical processes and reporting. With their service being phone-based and highly personalized, and their database unstructured and often modified, they found traditional methods for tracking sales metrics and closure rates simply inapplicable. It was at that point that CEO Andrew Vignuzzi gave Sisense a chance.Sisense was not Magellan Vacation’s first choice, but rather the system that saved them from hiring staff and reporting at the rate of $80,000 per year. Ever since they deployed it, they’ve been reclaiming time and cost-effectiveness in their IT department, touting Sisense as the most user-friendly system they could have possibly chosen. They are now able to manipulate data on the fly, provide real-time feedback to their agents, and coach and counsel them in line with the company’s goals. Better yet, they drill deep into the performance of each agent and department, share insights in a snap, and prepare custom reports instead of sticking to any inapplicable approach.What is unique about Sisense?In-Chip Engine and Proprietary technology. Running ad hoc queries and receiving answers on dot (no need to prepare data whenever a new question arises).Single-Stack Architecture. A single tool that helps you collect, prepare, organize, and analyze dataOptimal Use of Computational Resources. No need to hire professional analysts, maintain complex hardware, or make excess IT investmentsConsolidation of Charts from Multiple Sources. Sisense’s unique power is that it automatically recognizes and brings together charts and tables from different data sources, and then combines the data contained in them without you preparing it.Minimal TOC. The platform requires no DBA and manual mashups, and there are no special scripts to learn. You will also skip investing in data warehouses and professional maintenance services, as all data analysis operations are conducted in the same system.2. LookerData discovery app Looker also makes it to the top of our best business intelligence tools list for its intuitive data exploration approach. It has a web-based interface that can be used to exploit the expertise of companies’ analytics teams. Using the system, teams can build and share reports in an instant helping their organization use data to boost business decisions and actions.USER SATISFACTION95%OUR SCORE9.6Looker won our Expert's Choice Award for 2017Looker also lets users build their own analytic modules and design visualizations using a single code. Queries can be easily produced and optimized with the platform’s ML code. It can analyze both web-hosted and SQL data and is able to accommodate well over 25 data variations, including Vertica, Hive and Google BigQuery. This piece of software has been helping companies boost customer satisfaction and convert site traffic into eCommerce data. The vendor offers a comprehensive Looker free demo here the better to appreciate this BI platform.Case StudyIt is because of the need for insightful intelligence that DonorsChoose.org: Support a classroom. Build a future. was drawn to Looker. Back in the day, no one at the nonprofit could have foreseen the popularity that their organization is experiencing now or assume that maybe, someday, they’ll have to rely on operable intelligence to make a decision. Becoming aware of their own success story, executives also understood the need to make data publicly accessible, and to obtain real-time data insights pulling in info from a variety of sources. The very same system that would respond to their needs was also the one that ought to take care of their complex partnerships and help them develop useful decision-making practices.The insights Looker provided were simply astonishing: The non-profit recorded a 65% increase in lifetime giving for donors who’ve been sent ‘thank you’ cards upon donating and discovered that transferring reporting to an automated system saves as much as 400 hours of manual reporting a year. The organization was also able to prepare a poverty breakdown pie by the school, and redirected 80% of projects toward helping low-income educational institutions. Meanwhile, they received 292,000 new requests for school supplies and 227,000 requests for technology, as they were able to depict and pinpoint the hottest trends in US education.What is unique about Looker?Workbook Analytics. Looker adopts your company’s unique business logic. Connect it to any of your relational databases (BigQuery or Redshift, for instance), and it will automatically generate a data model based on your schema.LookML. Looker is best-known for developing an easier approach to data analytics, namely a brand new database query language call LookML. The language operates like a simplified version of SQL which is reusable and modular, and thus, way easier to learn for first-time users.Various Field Parameters. With Looker, you can define fields with a number of field parameters, including dimensions and dimension groups (manipulation-prone columns and tables), measures (alike aggregate SQL functions that provide row information), and templated filters (unique to the user, he can create new ones upon need).Support for SQL Window Functions. Window functions are not-that-well-known SQL functions designed for users to rank customers based on specific behavior without adhering to complex self-joints and first-time variables, or even a series hacks that may require them to transfer data to a third system.70% Trial-to-Win Rate. The possession of a modern exploration language and comparably easy adoption ensured Looker a trial-to-win rate of even 70%, compared to the 11% average measured for the SaaS industry in general.3. datapineA business intelligence and data visualization solution, datapine connects all your data sources in a unified location and creates detailed visualizations to help businesses comprehend their data better. Its data integration capability makes it effortless for users to connect and analyze information across various sources, including CRM, ERP, various documents, and others. Even non-tech savvy users can fully take advantage of the software’s capabilities without experiencing a steep learning curve due to its drag-and-drop interface and a large selection of visual charts.datapine comes equipped with modern data dashboards that help provide a clear picture of your goals, progress, and other information that can help you drive growth to your business. Thanks to its accessibility, all users can access pertinent information, display modern data dashboards, and create easily digestible data visualizations. For more information on this product, you can easily sign up for a datapine free trial here. This way, you can test out its features extensively.Case StudyKreditech, an online consumer finance company, was having trouble with centralizing their decision making process. They had difficulty with combining their internal and external data and they noticed that their dependency on IT personnel for day-to-day analytics was putting a damper on the overall operational productivity. This was when they decided to take advantage of the functionalities that datapine has to offer.Upon incorporating datapine into their arsenal of business systems, they were able to reduce the time spent on reporting and analytics by 40 hours per week. They were also able to collect KPIs within minutes without the need of IT involvement. Moreover, the platform was able to give them real-time access to ad hoc analysis and reports no matter what device they used, speeding up operations even more.What is unique about datapine?Centralized Data Management. datapine connects all data sources and stores them in a single location, making it easy for users to manage and access important information.Data Visualization. You can create detailed visualizations on specific data without asking for the assistance of the IT department. It has a large selection of charts to choose from, allowing you to generate beautiful visualizations that are easy to digest and act upon.Data Dashboards. Create professional dashboards that display layers of data you need to understand your current business standing and goals.Drag-and-Drop Navigation. One of the biggest problems that beginners have with BI software is that its difficult to navigate. Moreover, they don’t have the technical expertise to use coding or programming languages to configure their reports. Luckily, datapine offers a drag-and-drop tool that will let you work your way through the program with ease.Smart Alerts. You won’t always be staring at your BI dashboard when you’re at work. This is why datapine comes with smart alerts that will notify you whenever it detects certain anomalies in your data. By doing so, you can act on any issue promptly and prevent any problems later on.4. Zoho AnalyticsNext on our list is data analytics platform Zoho Analytics. As part of the Zoho productivity suite, this software packs quite a number of robust tools that are easy to use, highly configurable, and easily extensible. It allows you to streamline the aggregation of data from multiple sources, speeds up the generation of reports, as well as simplifies the visualization of data for presentations. Moreover, it has REST API capabilities that allow it to integrate with a multitude of third-party systems so you can collect data from your existing software solutions automatically.Another thing that makes Zoho Analytics a good business intelligence tool for both small and large companies is that it has a scalable interface. With this, it is easier for you to process data no matter how extensive or limited your datasets may be. In addition, it has collaborative workspaces that can support teams with as little as 2 members to as big as 50 members in case you need to discuss data analytics reports. To learn more about this platform, be sure to sign up for a Zoho Analytics free trial here.Case StudyA rewards and recognition company, nCentrix provides businesses with bespoke strategies that help them reinforce brand loyalty and drive growth for their company. However, they were having trouble meeting the demands of customers in terms of advanced reporting and database management. As a small business, they don’t have the financial capability to employ professionals solely for this task so, as a compromise, they looked for a reporting software that can offer quality insights instead. This was when they stumbled upon Zoho Analytics.With Zoho Analytics, they were able to compile datasets, set up dashboards, and publish reports within the day they started using the platform. They started becoming more responsive to clients’ needs, all while cutting off 20 hours per week on the time they spend for data analysis. Moreover, they were able to grow clients’ businesses by at least 30%.What is unique about Zoho Analytics?Streamlined Data Gathering. Zoho Analytics allows you to sync and importing data into the system easily. It accesses various on-premise databases, cloud storage platforms, and other applications. After which, it also formats them and deletes duplicates automatically.Chart Creation Made Easy. Create charts and graphs without the need for spreadsheets or separate systems using Zoho Analytics. All you have to do is choose the reports you want to visualize and adjust its format using drag-and-drop navigation, and you’re ready to publish.Robust Visualizations. Zoho Analytics comes with a plethora of formats for static and interactive charts and graphs. With this, you can easily come up with presentations and reports according to the requirements of your company or the preferences of stakeholders.Built-In Collaboration Tools. Using this platform, you get access to collaborative workspaces with built-in communication options. This feature lets you share reports easily as well as discuss your data in a secure environment.Open API Capabilities. Users can extend the capabilities of the Zoho Analytics platform using its open API tool. This lets you integrate the system with your existing applications so that you no longer need to jump from software to software to handle operations. Moreover, this makes it easier to collect and sync data for you.5. YellowfinBuilt for businesses of all sizes, Yellowfin is an analytics solution offering end-to-end business intelligence tools. With this, you can easily bridge critical information from different data sources and get real-time insights to better understand how your business is doing. It comes with highly configurable dashboards that help you get access to all the information you need without hassle. More importantly, it can alert users via notifications whenever it detects relevant changes in forecasts, so you can adjust your plans ahead of time. Yellowfin also offers machine learning and automated insights so digging through your data for answers is much faster.You can use all the features for free for a period of time to see if the software matches your needs. Simply sign up for a Yellowfin free trial here.Case StudyThe difficulty of identifying discrepancies in processes was what pushed St.LukesHealth to look for a reliable business intelligence solution. They were slowly realizing that their workflow was no longer able to keep up with the demands of their clients. However, they were having trouble pinpointing the problems in their processes. This is when they first stumbled upon Yellowfin.With the platform’s robust set of features, the company was soon able to find out what aspects of their processes are too time-consuming and which activities are putting a damper on productivity. St.LukesHealth was able to leverage automated reconciliation alongside its existing software ecosystem to find discrepancies in processes and resolve errors as quickly as possible. In fact, after rolling out the platform, they experienced 25% to 33% processing efficiency gains and reduced time-consuming processes that took up a whole afternoon to finish into tasks that only take half an hour or less.What is unique about Yellowfin?Real-time alerts for sales and trends. Be aware of sales trends and crucial changes to your forecasts via real-time alerts and notifications.Collaborative business intelligence. This tool comes with collaborative BI tools that let you and your team members share insights throughout the organization. This also has features that let you distribute, export, and email any BI content to your stakeholders.Data storytelling options. Yellowfin goes beyond static graphs, tables, and charts for data visualization. It allows users to create immersive and interactive presentations that accurately capture and highlight the important aspects of your collected data.Custom Dashboards. All companies have different priorities and they need access to different types of data to manage these priorities. This is why Yellowfin allows you to choose from different dashboard types so you get access to the kinds of data you need.Web API. Yellowfin can integrate with other applications, add-ons, and business systems. This allows you to streamline your workflow and source your data from your existing software solutions.6. AnswerDockAnswerDock is a cloud-hosted analytics platform that leverages artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and data mining algorithms to provide users with accurate reports and analysis of their data. Using this, businesses of all sizes from various industries can conveniently collect data from different sources, get instant answers to their queries, and speed up the decision-making process. What’s more is that, because it uses more advanced BI tools, this platform can answer beyond the whats, whens, and hows of your data but also identify possible trends. In addition to that, you can format these discoveries using their extensive set of report customization tools. In case you feel like the platform still offers basic functionalities for you, don’t worry. It supports third-party APIs so that you can extend its features according to the needs of your operations. If you would like to test out these features yourself, you can sign up for an AnswerDock free trial here.What is unique about AnswerDock?Unified Database. AnswerDock allows users to perform better data governance because of its secure unified database. This comes with a privilege management tool that lets you control who can view or edit your data at a dataset, row, or column level.Extensive Customization Options. If you are looking for unique ways to lay out your reports, AnswerDock offers more than 30 interactive chart formats as well as over 50 customization options. With this, it is easy to make your charts and graphs as personalized as possible.Fast Data Search. This data analytics tool leverages natural language processing to help you get to the information you want faster. Moreover, it utilizes search-based analytics, insights discovery, and data mining to help you get a deeper understanding of each report you pull from the system.Convenient Data Preparation. AnswerDock lets you store questions for data that has yet to be collected. With this, you can prevent overlooking certain queries and even schedule dashboard generation for future reports for a more convenient data analysis process.Real-Time Computations. Not only does AnswerDock sync your data in real time, but it also provides users with granular computations in real time. This way, you can get the insights you need faster. Moreover, this lets you act on anomalies as they happen.7. HotjarPrimarily an analysis and feedback tool, Hotjar landed a spot on our list because of its ability to analyze user insights and visualize user behavior. It leverages heatmaps, behavior logic, one-on-one testing, cross-device surveys, and visitor recordings to help you identify the impact of your websites and landing pages so that you can improve it and yield better conversion rates. The platform even offers a one script implementation feature, so you don’t have to worry about lengthy installation processes that require technical knowledge. All you have to do is use the script on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly, or any other platform that you use to host your site, and you’re good to go.Case StudyHubSpot Academy has been providing marketing and sales education for entrepreneurs but not a lot of people know about this yet. To boost their signup rate and help more businesses with their marketing and sales needs, the company decided to invest in Hotjar. By using its polling system, they were able to detect what issues are causing the visitors to abandon their course registration page. Among the many reasons they collected were a handful of users thought inbound marketing is different from digital marketing, some were unsure of how this will help their career, and some thought that it is meant only for entrepreneurs and not job seekers. Upon getting these responses, they slowly fixed their site by addressing the mentioned issues and were able to boost signups by 10%.What is unique about Hotjar?Powerful Analysis Tools. This analytics platform comes with heat mapping, conversion funnels, form analytics, and visitor recording to help you observe user behavior on your site and pinpoint what aspects of it are catching their attention.Robust Feedback Features. Hotjar offers robust polling, surveying, and incoming feedback features to help you collect information directly from clients regarding the usability of your website.Multi-Language Support. It is localized in up to 40 languages. This way, you can collect data from responses of customers without having to worry about language barriers.Simplified Research and Testing. Hotjar lets you enlist participants from the visitors of your website by asking them if they would like to help you improve your site in exchange for certain incentives like vouchers. Not only is this beneficial to making adjustments to your online presence but also help you boost your relationship with your customers.Mobile-Ready Interface. Hotjar is built for mobility. You can access it using your desktop, smartphone, or tablet so that it is easier to monitor conversion rates even when you work remotely.8. ReportPlusReportPlus is an analytics solution that primarily focuses on data visualization. This allows users to create interactive and accurate reports on financial performance, marketing campaign progress, social media analysis, and other operational processes without the need for an IT department or the services of an external consultant. It leverages drag-and-drop capabilities and intuitive swiping features, making it easy even for technologically challenged individuals to create reports of their own. Moreover, while this platform is easy enough to use for freelancers and small businesses, it also comes with enterprise-grade tools for bigger companies. With this, you can merge data from various sources, process large amounts of datasets quickly, and even secure your database via encryption.What is unique about ReportPlus?Self-Service BI. Created for usability, ReportPlus has an easy-to-use interface that lets users collect data more conveniently, process them more accurately, and get insights faster, all without the need for coding knowledge. This way, they don’t need to hire external IT experts to make sense of their data.Industry-Specific Visualization Formats. Because different businesses require different types of charts and graphs, ReportPlus provides users with industry-specific visualization templates. With this, you can simply make use of preset themes and customize them according to particular operational needs for faster data analysis.Real-Time Data Connection. ReportPlus has the capacity to integrate with SQL databases, online storage services, local Excel spreadsheets, and a multitude of business systems. This way, it can aggregate your data in real-time and give you more accurate reports.On-the-Go Accessibility. Much like plenty of its competitors, ReportPlus offers a mobile-ready interface. With this, agile teams can get access to their data and their reports whether they are using their desktop, laptop, or mobile device.Configurable Deployment Options. Do you want to host your analytics system on the cloud to relieve your IT department of additional tasks? Perhaps you want to keep your data inside the premises of your offices to keep it safe from cybersecurity threats? Whatever the case, ReportPlus has you covered as it can run on the cloud or on-premise depending on the requirements of your operations.9. QlikViewA robust and easy-to-use BI tool, QlikView automatically generates personalized reports and custom dashboards. It uses associative data indexing to explore massive data and discover hidden trends and patterns that can be used to make sound business actions. This piece of software is suitable for any business size and even freelancers. With QlikView, users can collect valuable insight and even share them with relevant individuals. Its smart search and data discovery features allow for data analysis through interactions with charts and visualizations. Aside from these, the platform provides smart visualizations, information summaries, color gradient use, and responsive design.Case StudyThe product has time and again been proven useful to many organizations, like in the case of Deloitte Netherlands. Finance and Control manager Frank Kneefel believes that in a 24/7 world driven by loyalty and transparency, accurate information is both free and scarce. Before he discovered QlikView and decided to give it a try, he was afraid of Deloitte’s highly complex reporting environment and struggled to bring in a unified approach for audit, consulting, tax and risk management analytics to save the company both time and money. For a worldwide service provider renowned for diversity, affordable and unified productivity management reporting approach sounded like Utopia.Then, the hero arrived. QlikView’s flexibility, user-friendliness, and analytic powers turned out to be just what Deloitte needed. With it, the company brought its multiple data sources under the same roof, including diverse Excel files and SAP warehouse data. Within a month, the new reporting app was set and ready to go, and consultants were able to save an average of 10 hours reporting hours per month. As time passed by, Deloitte’s upper management became more and more fascinated with the effects of QlikView that they ordered the creation of two new apps: One for tracking human resources, and the other for forecasting customer/market behavior.What is unique about QlikView?Full spectrum of visual analytics: QlikView adopts a platform-based and self-data discovery approach, and puts in place centrally deployed analytics that is easy to adjust as your business grows.Tightly Governed Assets and Data Modules: QlikView encourages natural data exploration, and solves in such way the problem of non-intuitive self-service analytics of complex data modules.Intelligent searching. You can start using QlikView by importing the simplest and most natural analytical operations, and the system will guide you from there on, as it offers multiple advanced possibilities for all data sources.Buildable platform. As a developer, you will find it very easy to design a personalized QlikView application, as the platform offers open standard APIs and mashup extensions.Mobile-first. QlikView’s design is fully responsive on different mobile devices, and thus deployable everywhere and for everyone. Its interface will easily adapt both to the device and the interaction method it uses.10. TableauBI platform Tableau aids businesses in visualizing and making sense of data. It enables organizations to connect, visualize and share data through PC or iPad. Users can easily create dashboards, publish and even share them with colleagues, partners, and customers without the need for programming knowledge. The software can connect to numerous information sources and import and visualize information in a very short time. The software is intuitive, facilitating ease-of-use and allowing data analysis using drag-and-drop functionality. It fosters collaboration, allowing for group analytics and keeping all team members in the know at all times. Users can also accomplish tasks from virtually anywhere at any time as the app comes with a native mobile app.Case StudyThese and more functionalities made Arby’s Restaurant Group decide to use Tableau. What the restaurant company was searching for then was a reliable retail analytics system. They imagined their ideal tool to map retail success from the field, focusing in particular on trends for retaining customers in a time of renovation and casual closing. For the purpose, that system should be able to combine supply chain visualizations, maximize cost efficiency, and provide intelligence on sourcing and warehouse management. In short, they were looking for Tableau.How did Tableau help the restaurant group? The system put in place improved decision making on material usage, as it integrated data across several applications. Thanks to the tool, the company was able to order supplies in line with its demand trends. Another invaluable benefit was managing risk and comparing their performance to internal and market expectations to wrap up a deficiency percentage and tackle it accordingly. Arby’s Restaurant Group also relied on Tableau’s warehouse management kit to gain visibility into the efficiency of individual employees and shift groups.What is unique about Tableau?A Pioneer of Drag-and-Drop Analytics. Tableau was among the first BI systems to present intuitive analytic dashboards where users can manipulate data with a simple drag-and-drop mechanism. Where it is today, Tableau also counts as one of the most innovative products on the market, constantly presenting new features and functionalities, and following trends.Dashboard-to-Dashboard Interactions. With Tableau, you can copy different dashboard elements and transfer them to other workbooks, which give you plenty of iteration and development possibilities. For instance, you can combine the work of different analysts on a new, seamless dashboard.SAML authentication. The newest version of this system can be delegated to SAML authentication, an open source method that makes it possible to create single sign-on on experience. This makes Tableau connectable to any third-party app/system, and usable in all of your departments.Mobile Web Authoring. Tableau will not only display data on mobile devices, but allow you to modify existing views, analyze data, and save new versions with a dedicated app.Various Runtime Versions Available. Generally, the choice of version to deploy will depend on your operating system, given that the 64-bit version is the preferable option that addresses larger chunks of memory and improves speed.11. SAP BusinessObjects LumiraWhile created for large enterprises, SAP BusinessObjects Lumira offers quite a number of functionalities that make it great for different business sizes. For one, it is built for self-service BI which is why it offers an easily navigable interface that allows you to build accurate reports without the need for coding knowledge. Secondly, it provides users with a variety of pre-made visualizations so that you don’t have to design them from scratch. Moreover, it comes with a fast source manipulation tool that lets you consolidate your data even without dealing with complicated spreadsheets. The only downside to this system is that because it is deployed on-premise, SAP BusinessObjects Lumira is not capable of providing you with access to your data outside your office.What is unique about SAP BusinessObjects Lumira?Easy Data Aggregation. Like the other SAP products mentioned in this article, SAP BusinessObjects Lumira also has the ability to seamlessly blend data coming from various sources. This automatically filters your data, removing duplicates or invalid information, to make the analysis process faster and more convenient.Wide Variety of Visualizations.Be it bar graphs, radars, bubble charts, pie charts, or any other form of data presentation, you can count on this platform to have the visualization options you need. This way, you can find the best possible way to convey your findings without the hassle.No-Code Reporting Customization. Customizing your dashboards shouldn’t be complicated. This is why SAP BusinessObjects Lumira offers drag-and-drop navigation so that you no longer need any coding expertise to personalize your reports and visualizations.Secure Interface. As an on-premise system, SAP BusinessObjects Lumira prevents your data from being accessed externally. With this, you can be sure that all of your confidential company information stays within the office and can only be accessible by you and your employees.No-Fuss Pricing Plan. SAP BusinessObjects Lumira is available in only one pricing package. Meaning, you no longer have to spend time comparing plan inclusions as you will get all you the business intelligence tools at a fixed rate.12. SAP Crystal ReportsBI software solution SAP Crystal Reports is designed to work with databases, collate and filter data for analysis. The system presents data in the form of reports, generating such based on data captured from a variety of sources. Its report wizards help users in coming up with reports and completing common reporting tasks. The solution uses cross-tabs, formulas, conditional formatting and sub-reports in data analysis, allowing users to uncover less than obvious data relationships. Moreover, it comes with a myriad of features that allow for easy access to pertinent data, presenting them through reports, financial statements, invoices and order forms. This intuitive system can likewise provide insights that lead to sound business actions.Case StudyA testament to SAP Crystal Reports effectiveness is Automatic Data Processing, Inc.’s (ADP) experience in using the product. The company has more than 60 years of payroll and tax administration experience and a very diverse sales management process that was practically impossible to frame in a single automation solution. Darrin Farnsworth is the company’s sales automation projects manager, who witnessed first hand the problem of not being able to create a one-size-fits-all report. Before testing out SAP Crystal Reports, he remembers accepting duplicates and excess report databases as something ‘one has to live with.’Luckily, SAP Crystal Reports worked around what the company has long given up on, and transformed it into reality: ADP is now using it to standardize its reporting procedures, a process that may take a while, but will eventually be completed. Ever since the tool was first deployed and implemented, ADP’s agents are able to run reports on schedule, update data and inspect the pipeline by sharing information and integrate the tool easily with Salesforce to allow painless data migration. SAP Crystal Reports has also helped them improve data quality by 15%, team coverage by 10%, and retrieve and manage scorecards in less than 30 minutes per day. Reports are also able to save even 60 minutes of reporting time on a daily basis.What is unique about SAP Crystal Reports?Intuitive tools. SAP Crystal Reports offers an array of intuitive design tools for you to create detailed and precise report layouts. This way, you can save time adjusting templates and wizards, and set your own parameter values and rules for sorting customers. Designing reports is further accelerated with automated creation of hyperlinks, instant barcodes, and a single panel for all parameters.Early detection of changing conditions and trends. SAP Crystal Reports present broad business insights where data is regularly updated, which means you will be able to detect both negative and positive trends in time.Compelling data mashups. SAP Crystal Reports is integrated with SAP Crystal Dashboard to help you convey information in a compelling way, as for example What If scenarios. You will also be able to use Adobe Flash dynamic charts and graphs and embed Adobe Flex for executing business decisions.Richly-formatted reports in 24 languages. SAP Crystal Reports imports data from a variety of sources and helps you create a number of different interactive reports in 24 languages.Highly embedded technology. SAP Crystal Reports is a very useful system from an OEM perspective as it is embedded in many popular software systems and technologies including CA and HR.13. SAP Business IntelligenceAnother product from SAP that snagged a spot on our list is SAP Business Intelligence. This scalable BI suite lets users eliminate the guesswork in the decision-making processes through the use of data-backed insights on customer behavior. It is equipped with a plethora of business analytics tools that include ad hoc querying, data visualization, data monitoring, and data consolidation. With these at your disposal, you can generate reports in a few clicks of a button, customize them according to your preferences, and even distribute the findings across your company quickly yet securely. In addition, SAP Business Intelligence is equipped with open API features, making it a highly configurable platform that can adapt to the specific needs of any businessWhat is unique about SAP Business Intelligence?Robust Analytics. This platform leverages ad hoc reporting and smart querying to provide you with more advanced analysis. It not only helps you understand how particular scenarios came to be but also lets you identify trends in your data and generates potential implications.Role-Based Dashboards. It helps users create different formats of dashboards depending on the role of each user. With this, you can be sure that everyone in your team gets the information that you want them to peruse without having to worry about confidential data being compromised.Large Scale Analytics. This BI tool provides users with a highly scalable interface that can process small datasets and large datasets alike. Meaning, this platform is ideal for growing businesses that have yet to expand their reach.Easy Report Sharing. SAP Business Intelligence offers businesses with enterprise-wide sharing functionalities. With this, you can instantly share reports with individuals within your organization in a secure platform.Seamless Integration with Microsoft Office. Chances are, you’re already using Microsoft products as part of your operations. To help you simplify your work, SAP Business Intelligence integrates seamlessly with MS Office. This way, you can import data faster than ever.14. DatadogDesigned specifically for app developers and IT professionals, Datadog is equipped with custom dashboards, searchable metrics and tags, as well as smart alerts to help you make the most out of your data for decision-making. It consolidates your data from various databases and online storage services and provides you with robust reporting options. This way, it easier for you to pinpoint how you can enhance your services, improve your products, or test out your IT strategies without having to undergo a long series of trial and error. Furthermore, the initial system is already integrated with some of the leading business applications on the market so you don’t have to do it on your own.Case StudyEvernote is an application that aims to help teams and individuals boost productivity by giving them a system where they can organize their ideas, archive them, and share them with other people. Currently serving over 200 million clients, Evernote had to migrate their service to Google Cloud Platform in the hopes of improving their uptime and security. However, they needed a way to make sure that they are meeting their targets.To do this, they took advantage of the Datadog features. They built custom dashboards on the platform to get a complete view of their application’s performance and get automatic alerts on key performance metrics. With these, they were able to quickly pinpoint and remedy problems that contribute to downtime as well as test out innovations that they want to roll out for their application.What is unique about Datadog?Out-of-the-Box Dashboards. Datadog offers users out-of-the-box dashboards that can be customized according to your needs. From data aggregation to data filtering, you can program various aspects of the system so that it will churn out the reporting formats that you prefer..Smart Alerts. Make sure you utilize your data at the right time with Datadog’s smart alerts. With this, you can get real-time notifications via email and PagerDuty whenever the platform detects significant changes in your data.Fast Sampling Intervals. To give you the most accurate findings at the most opportune moment, Datadog has sampling intervals of 10 seconds. It collects information and calculates them quickly to let you know what is happening with your data exactly as they are happening.Built-In Collaboration Tools. Datadog is built for collaboration. Aside from giving you interactive dashboards, it also supports comment and annotation functionalities so that you and your colleagues can leave important notes about each report without disrupting workflow.Over 80 Integrations Supported.If you are looking for flexibility, Datadog will be a boon for you. This BI tool can support over 80 integrations so you can easily configure it or extend its features however you need. This feature also makes it faster to collect and sync data.15. Qualtrics Research CoreCapping off our list is Qualtrics Research Core. Primarily an enterprise market research tool, this software is used by companies and educational institutions to support their research and development, customer behavior analysis, brand research, and strategy planning efforts. It offers a slew of robust features that leverage AI and machine learning so that sophisticated data analysis is simplified and accelerated. Moreover, it also serves as a secure repository of information as it chronicles all of the data you collect using the platform over time.Case StudyFandango has been serving moviegoers in North America by providing them with film browsing and ticketing solutions. For years, they focused on innovating in this field and providing the best service to their clientele. However, to take the customer experience to the next level, they need accurate and actionable insights. This is when they decided to use Qualtrics Research Core.Using this market research platform, they were able to get channel-specific feedback automatically and track trending topics about them. After which, all of these data are consolidated and they were able to generate reports according to their queries. With that, they are able to speed up product development and boost advanced ticket sales. Moreover, using Qualtrics Research Core’s internal messaging system, they were able to bridge the gap between customers and their service team, further enhancing overall service.What is unique about Qualtrics Research Core?Simplified Research Process. Qualtrics Research Core eliminates the need to spend long hours on SPSS or Excel. It has automation features that will let you analyze data, identify patterns in your results, and generate predictive models in just a few clicks of a button.Unified Data Storage. This platform not only aggregates your data from multiple platforms; it also stores your datasets for future use. By doing so, you can create a streamlined record system that will allow you to compare current data to previous ones.Multi-Channel Distribution. If you want to use surveys to get information from clients but are having trouble how to distribute them, Qualtrics Research Core will be a boon for you. This platform allows you to embed your forms on emails, SMS, social media, mobile sites, or other sites so data collection is much faster.Text IQ Capability. Even for the most experienced data analysts, it is still possible to have trouble phrasing queries that will give you the answer you need. Luckily, Qualtrics Research Core has a Text IQ equipped with AI and NLP to make analysis more intuitive.Drag-and-Drop Navigation. Qualtrics Research Core may come with enterprise-grade features but it was built for ease of use. Offering a drag-and-drop navigation tool, this platform can be navigated by novice and professional users alike for their data analysis efforts.Guide to Selecting a Business Intelligence SoftwareBusiness intelligence software can indeed help you optimize your operations and drive growth for your company. However, not all BI tools will be able to reinforce your existing processes or provide you with the specific tools that you need. This is why it is important to have a structured selection process to help you pinpoint which ones will work best for your operations.In order to help you select the right business intelligence solution, here are some questions that you should ask yourself as you browse:What Features Do I Need?– The first thing you should check out is what kind of functionalities are included in the BI platform you are interested in. Chances are, it will provide you with the basics such as data consolidation, visualization, and archiving. Perhaps, it also offers customizable dashboards and comes with both static and interactive reporting options. In addition to that, might want to look for some more advanced functionalities such as encryption options for securing data, smart alerts for ensuring that you get real-time notifications on significant trend changes, scheduled report generation for simplifying the preparation of recurring analysis, and predictive modeling for discovering possible trends before they even materialize. You might also want to check if your prospective software offers sharing options that will let you distribute your findings on different platforms.Who Will Be Using the Software?– Next, determine who will be using the software. More often than not, these would be your in-house data analysts, IT experts, sales and marketing professionals, and managers. If it’s the first two, you’d easily get away with opting for developer-friendly platforms that uses coding for customization as they have the technical expertise to handle it. Moreover, it gives them more control over the data collection and visualization process. However, your other employees might not have the same level of tech know-how. In this case, it is better to find tools with self-service BI options, drag-and-drop navigation, and no-code interfaces. By doing so, you reduce the learning curve for them and make the most out of your investment.How Flexible Do I Need the Software to Be?– Lastly, you need to determine how adaptable you want your BI tool to be. Start with customization options. Do you want to be able to personalize visualizations and dashboard setups? Would you like to modify the types of reports that it will generate for you and program which reports should appear on your dashboard? If so, the vendor should tell you what kinds of visualizations you can choose from as well as the number of dashboard setups they have. After which, take a look at its system configuration. If you are looking for a platform that can grow alongside your business, you need to find one that offers ample or upgradeable storage space and is equipped with API capabilities. By doing so, you won’t have to worry about not being able to accommodate all of your data. Furthermore, you will be able to scale your software up or down depending on the needs of your businesses.So there you have it, our 15 best business intelligence tools for small and big businesses and a short guide to choosing one. We highly recommend Sisense for its scalable architecture and powerful yet easy-to-use tools. In fact, we would suggest that you sign up for a Sisense free demo here so you can try it for yourself. However, if you think that this solution is not the right fit for you, don’t hesitate to check out any of the other solutions we mentioned.

The rise and the rise of DeFi was propelled by the sudden (but not unexpected) advent of the decentralized exchanges / swaps protocols after their initially more successful and marginally older brotherins - custodial platforms - had gradually succumbed to severe regulatory pressure and one by one started to introduce humiliatingly annoying and highly controversial KYC/ AML procedures.Here I have to mention that, to the credit of our freedom-loving and oppression-defying industry, there were some who tried to actively resist by moving their businesses into more crypto-friendly jurisdictions reducing their degree of interference with users privacy to a reasonable minimum.(Some, however, might object that it was more the matter of pursuing business interests rather than following the ideological adherence).Totally with accordance to a free-market's magic of 'an invisible hand', those users, which have to enjoy a particularly high level of their governments' 'care' about how and where they dare to spend their hard-earned dimes, happily embrace the brave and rapidly expanding world of DEXs.One of those new species - 'Kyber Network' (KNC) - I have decided to review and to rank on the SVET scale ('System' - 'Vision' - 'Execution' - 'Trust') today.SYSTEM:According to its WhitePaper (v0.1 'An On-Chain Liquidity Protocol' as of 22 April 2019): 'Kyber, a fully on-chain liquidity protocol for implementing instant cryptocurrency token, swaps in a decentralized manner on any smart contract enabled blockchain.'The one crucial characteristic of DEXs - that they have a serious incentive to stay opened for an external scrutiny - makes them very attractive for public auditors like me.That also helps them to maintain an important competitive advantage, creating a level of transparency (in our space often associated with an attractiveness for developers and individual security-focused users) unattainable for even the long established custodial exchanges.Kyber Network (in addition to the habitual and extensively populated GitHub account) maintains in a number of dedicated web-pages a very thorough record of its overall contracts design features and a description of its core contracts functions for external developers' access (see link below). Only that alone induces me to raise Kyber's 'Transparency' straight up to 'a-' level ('minus' is explained below).As to Kyber's 'Engineering' ('a') it is the simplicity itself, which within its two main contracts (KyberNetwork.sol and IKyberReserve.sol) connects Proxies and Maintainers (see below) to the Network, which then, in its part, connects to the Matching Engine, the Storage, Fees Handlers and the Reserve.(Kyber's list of main contract functions includes: getExpectedRateAfterFee; tradeWithHintAndFee; addReserve; removeReserve; listPairForReserve; getConversionRate; and trade.)Basically, it means, that anyone (have to get through Maintainers first :) can create its own Reserve and then control its level and a pricing mechanism. All Reserves allow funds pulling and, in a bunch, create an indispensable feature of the Kyber core protocol - an instant market making, which is based on the best prices discovery among different reserves.[ Btw, those 'maintainers' force me to pull Kyber's 'Transparency' to 'a-' levels.Extract: 'Maintainers refer to anyone who has permissions to access the functions for the adding/removing of reserves and token pairs, such as a DAO or the team behind the protocol implementation.' ]Here we come to one of the major disadvantages for users of decentralized exchanges. 'Instantaneous' matching and free-market based Fees Handlers (combined with a relatively small numbers of Reserves) mean that those fees can get astronomically high (as it is currently the case with Kyber where the price paid for one transaction reaches now up to $20).For a regular, 'none-wale' trader, which usually places a large number of relatively small orders that might be a party-crasher.That reality (combined with the 'maintainers' institution and the fact that Kyber has presently only 70 reserved coins) pulls Kyber's 'Velociy' to 'c+' level.As to its 'Security', although, I've got a relative confidence that the open-for-all parties' investigations Kyber's contracts have already provided a practical safeguard for its users, we all know too well that there's no such a thing as the 'bullet-proof contract'. It has to withstand the test of time before I can move Kyber's 'Security' up from the present 'b-' level.Result for 'System' (Security - Velocity - Engineering - Transparency): b-/c+/a/a-VISION:Since February 2018, when Kyber launched its mainnet, a lot of money has gone under the bridge connecting users and the DEXs wonderland. Specially so during the latest couple of months, when daily trading volumes have increased from a meager 10 mio at the end of July to about $3 billion in the mid-August (it is still under $10 bln monthly).Please, correct me if you can, but it looks like with 180000% yearly expansion rate, we have, probably, just created the fastest growing market in history :) Apparently, 'Volume' is to be set at the 'a' level, right? Well, not so fast (for the reasons to be clarified in the following couple of paragraphs).However, we all, also, know that Kyber is neither the largest nor the most dynamic DEXs out there (the crown is Uniswap's, of course).Still, Kyber is in the top five (4th) by volumes (with Uniswap, Curve, Balancer and 0x) but second only to Uniswap and IDEX by the number of users (totaling under 40 thousands daily).In fact the DEXs big family (which, basically, includes several dozen other members - most notably the following, by the order of a magnitude: Uniswap, Balancer, Curve, 0x, Kyber, dYdX, Synthetix, IDEX, Bancor, Oasis, Loopring, DDEX and Gnosis) is pretty small by all imaginable standards. Therefore, Kyber's 'Singularity' (reverse to the 'strength of competition') is also in the 'a' range. Let's make it 'a-', for the number of smaller DEXs continues to grow as more and more developers are FOMOing into the space.Nonetheless, the DEX market is still in its early infancy. For example, compare this to about 280 centralized crypto- exchanges and their more than $2 Trillion monthly volumes (DEXs barely have 0.4% of that bonanza now :))In essence, if we take only one large exchanges, which monthly trading volumes alone are nearing 300 billion, all DEXs are in 3% range of this one exchange alone .Important to note here that under the current regulatory regime DEXs can't trade USD pairs, which might prevent them from reaching their full growth potential in the nearest future.Obviously, before getting to DEXs users have first to channel their money through 'legalized', custodial coins / tokens exchange platforms. That fact (coupled with rising fees and an aversion felt by most 'regular users' to 'speculations') might get DEXs volumes lagging far behind their centralized counterparts for a prolonged period of time (unless, of course, the proportion of 'day traders' will increase sharply).Notwithstanding, the question is how far could DEXs market grow and will it capture some alts' volumes from the centralized exchanges or will it create its own market, composed from newly issued tokens?Difficult question to answer. The way it's going now it looks like DEXs are mostly trading a whole new generation of second and third layers protocols, most of which have already became part of DeFi by themselves.So, where does it put Kyber's 'Volume' rating? Looking at the most recent astonishing piece of DEXs' growth it is easy to forget that not so long time ago, in February 2020, the percentage of DEXs volumes in the total exchanges volumes was actually decreasing (since January 2019 level of 0.1%) to a sub-critical level under the 0.01% :)That makes me to be more cautious now in estimating the potential market size for DEXs. Hence, I set Kyber's Volume' to 'b'.With that I still have its 'Timing' (right / wrong time coming to the market) and 'Empathy' (users emotional attachment) left to value.As to the former it's about 'b+', for Kyber founding in 2017 turned to be a bit premature, but, at the same time, it has positioned them to meet Summer 2020 rush already backed by the two years of coding and growing its community.Speaking of which it has a tiny bit but, still, relatively more than the rest of the pack: about 3.5 thousands traders (>120th Twitter followers).Not to mention that Kyber is completely overshadowed by Uniswap's 65th people trading each day. On top of that, I haven't noticed an extensive level of users admiration with Kyber, although, the general public attitude appears to be positive. Hence, 'Empathy' is 'b-'.Result for Vision (Singularity - Volume - Empathy - Timing): a-/b+/b-/b+EXECUTION:Kyber was one of the crypto craze early beneficiaries rounding about $50 mio in September 2017. It was added by an undisclosed amount (allegedly ~2 mio) in January 2020. Among Kybers contributors there are several boutique VCs from Italy (Iconium), Hong Kong (IOSG), USA (Amino Capital, 8 Decimal Capital) and China (Chain Capital).One of the major issues facing public auditors like myself is that information about projects current financial state and its revenue stream remain carefully hidden from our eyes for the old sake of preserving corporate confidentiality.In my view it is the complete nonsense in our age when all companies have to submit to authorities. Concealing the state of business finance from users, most of which are your investors anyway, only leads to an unwanted anxiety on the markets and pose a serious threat to project's reputation.It is specially important for small, fledgling businesses like Kyber, which issue its own coins.While big, centralized, already well established exchanges might temporary enjoy the luxury of being secretive on their internal finance without rising publics' suspicions and backlash (although this situation usually change precipitously after the hack or financial scandal), small ones have to be much more observant and forthcoming.In fact, we all (big and small) have to admit that every company in our space is public by definition, that all users are our stakeholders and take on ourselves the responsibility to report to our worldwide shareholders regularly.Until that happens, however, I'm left with my wild guesses on the 'Equity' side of the Kyber rating.The mere occurrence that Kyber had to resort to the venture round at the edge of 2020 (despite its 50 mio ICO only two years earlier) tells me that unless the Summer rush would not have happened its financial situation would be frivolous (again, it is only my speculations - no facts).Also it indirectly suggests Kyber's yearly burning rate of about $25 mio, which is pretty steep for the project with less than 10 team members, I would say (unless, of course, each member gets big corps CEO full package :) It also means that Kyber would have to net about 2 mio monthly just to survive if not for its coins constant appreciation.Yes, this burning rate might be completely fake-factual. However, despite all its incongruity those wild assumptions (coupled with an absence of reliable info on the real state of its accounts) compels me to question Kyber's financial stability and only its coins' crazy valuation saves it from falling to 'c' level. "Equity" is 'b-'.Kyber has two technical co-founders (Loi Luu and Victor Tran), which is always, as yo know, a delight to my eyes. At the same time, previous to Kyber Loi (PhD in Philosophy) didn't have much of exposure to real business and spend only a year as a CS research assistant in the National University of Singapore. Victor's career (he's 2013 graduate of Vietnam University of Engineering and Technology) in tech is a bit longer and includes, primarily, three years of lead engineering with 'SmartPool' company.Nonetheless, strength of the founders is to surround themselves with undiscovered talents and let them roam the market in one cohesive unity. Additionally, Kyber results speak loader than its employees bios and CVs. Moreover, Vitalik is in their advisory board, so I have no basis to question Kyber's 'talent-management practices'. Hence, I compel to assign strong 'b+' to 'Team' part of the rating.Despite my emotional adherence to everything DeFi I can't deny one thing, which is extremely handy with legit centralized exchanges - that they are literally legit and sometimes have official legal name available for everyones scrutiny registration and, even, available by phone :)On the other hand, although, it is no difficult to find out from open sources that Kyber is headquartered in Singapore, neither its legal names nor its form are known (not to mention any other details like shareholders or affiliates). That always put me out of my comfort zone and as a result I tend to assign as low 'Validity' rating as I can ('c') to such types of projects. That exactly what I intend to do in the case of Kyber, unless, of course, somebody enlighten me on this subject.Of course, I understand that asking for the legal registration from a DEX sounds strange but in case of Kyber we are still dealing with a fledgling network relying mostly on core group of developers associated with a particular company(pls, correct me if you know for certain that it is now fully disintegrated on devs side)Contrary to 'Validity' Kyber's 'Solution' (or business model) would deserve, imho, straight-forward 'a' for being, hmm, the straight-forward (fees based), if not for a fact that it is not clear from open sources how much (if at all) core devs take from that (as far as I know, Kiber DAO decides on the network fees). Hence, 'Solution' is 'a-'.Result for Execution (Solution - Validity - Equity - Team): a-/c/b-/b+TRUST:Kyber Network tokens (KNC or 'Kyber Network Crystal') together with all other DEXs coins have experienced the 2020 Renaissance during which its prices 10x on sharply rising volumes during January - March period and then (after March 15 tectonic downward eruption) added an another leg up but this time a bit less enthusiastically, while the wave of new byers arriving to the market has been gradually flattening.You shall not be some kind of a technical analysis genius to notice the massive discrepancies in prices to volumes ratio existing between two periods - those of 2017/18 and the most resent one in 2020.That picture is the abnormal one and reveals massive speculative fever when the same number of coins are frantically changing hands multiple times. It can't be sustained without constant inflow of new buyer to the market, which I doubt we have had left too many (unless, of course, some major crypto-fund suddenly opens the gates for its LPs into our DeFi mad kindergarten). Hence, 'Sustainability' is 'c+'.It doesn't, of course, mean that KNC could not appreciate further, specially, if the wales school, which had played this market all winter-summer season round will feel itself reinvigorated by the continuing to the fall BTC sleep-rally and pump back part of their profits into DeFi. Meanwhile, I do not see as project fundamentals (such as, f.e. a relatively low number of Kyber users) can substantiate Kyber's present marketcap over $300 million. Result, 'Value' is 'b-'.As I said, the level of users engagement (usability) with KNC is very low, but the fact that this coin is designed to be used in KyberDAO for voting makes me waver a bit and I am compelled to keep its 'Engagement' rating at 'b' level. Consider it as a credit though :)On the other hand transacting with and holding ERC20 KNC token is not an issue. However, astronomical fees you have now to pay for all EVN based transactions makes Kyber useless fro micro-payments. Result, 'Transactions' is 'b-'.Result for TRUST (Sustainability - Value - Engagement - Transactions): c+/b-/b/b-[Please, do not forget that I am not your financial advisor and all above was not intended to be a financial advise, of course. You’ve got to use your own gray matter enclosed between both of your ears to take all important as well as unimportant financial decisions.]Source: SvetRatingImage: Dutch Stock Exchange, Amsterdam