BI tools vs. Microsoft Excel spreadsheets

According to a recent survey, many users are still using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to analyze and report on corporate data. These same users also spend much of their data-gathering time correcting out-of-date information in these Excel spreadsheets. So what are the real benefits of using Excel spreadsheets to analyze and report data? What additional benefits do business intelligence (BI) tools offer?

In this podcast, Karen Guglielmo, SearchCIO.com editor, interviews data warehouse consultant Rick Sherman on the differences between BI tools and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and how they can be used together in the enterprise to gather and analyze data.