Self-Service BI vs Custom Reporting

Developers should learn Self-Service BI to build or integrate platforms that reduce IT bottlenecks and enable business teams to perform ad-hoc analyses, such as sales trend exploration or customer segmentation, without constant technical support meets developers should learn custom reporting to address unique business requirements, such as generating ad-hoc reports for stakeholders, integrating data from multiple sources, or automating report delivery. Here's our take.

Self-Service BI

Nice Pick

Developers should learn Self-Service BI to build or integrate platforms that reduce IT bottlenecks and enable business teams to perform ad-hoc analyses, such as sales trend exploration or customer segmentation, without constant technical support

Pros

• It's crucial in agile environments where rapid, data-driven decisions are needed, and it complements data engineering by offloading routine reporting tasks to end-users
• Related to: data-visualization, business-intelligence

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Custom Reporting

Developers should learn custom reporting to address unique business requirements, such as generating ad-hoc reports for stakeholders, integrating data from multiple sources, or automating report delivery

Pros

• It is essential in roles involving data analysis, business intelligence, or application development where pre-built reports are insufficient, such as in finance, marketing, or operations
• Related to: sql, business-intelligence

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Self-Service BI is a platform while Custom Reporting is a tool. We picked Self-Service BI based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Self-Service BI wins

Based on overall popularity. Self-Service BI is more widely used, but Custom Reporting excels in its own space.