Comparative evaluation of open source business intelligence platforms for SME

The knowledge one can extract from existing data in organizations is critical to increasing their competitive advantage in today's changing markets. In this context, the use of Business Intelligence (BI) platforms has been shown to be an effective choice in support of decision-making. BI platforms are becoming a major asset for any Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME), as they have multiple benefits: efficient resource use, increased market share, identification of business opportunities and negative trends. Open source BI platforms provide most of the functionalities available in commercial solutions without licensing costs, and is therefore a viable alternative for SME. However, it is critical that SME choose the complete BI platform. In this paper, a comparative assessment was made of three commonly used Open Source BI platforms: Jaspersoft, Knowage (SpagoBI) and Pentaho. In this evaluation were used the criteria of Gartner, and the Knowage obtained the best results.