What is a White-labeled BI Tool?

Many organizations recognize the power of embedded analytics — building data visualizations and other business intelligence features right into their public-facing apps. However, some businesses don’t like the idea of prominently featuring a third-party app in their first-party applications. These companies face a dilemma — either use a third-party app and accept its branding, or build their own first-party tool that will never compete with a robust BI solution.

There’s a third option, though. Many BI companies offer versions of their software that allow businesses to use their own branding for every aspect of the tools. Dashboards, reports, and other visualizations can be designed to fit the customer’s branding, without even the slightest hint of a third-party tool. This process, which involves changing the visual design of a BI tool without impacting its core functions, is known as “white-labeling”.

When a company implements a white-label solution, the goal is that end-users don’t even know that they’re using a third-party BI tool. Every part of the experience can be customized and edited by the customer, and robust integration with first-party apps means fewer glitches or mistakes.

This helps companies align their embedded analytics tools better with other apps and products in their ecosystem. They’re able to leverage the power of robust modern BI software while maintaining a coherent brand identity. There’s no need to build out bespoke tools for a customized experience; white-labeling allows for first-party communication with third-party power.

What are the benefits of white-labeling?

While white-label BI tools may seem like a simple idea, it has many unique advantages over other solutions.

Improved user experience. White-label BI tools help businesses to streamline the user experience. When everything comes through a first-party app, there’s fewer hangups and pain points for users to trip up on.

BI tools can be complex, and for some customer-facing applications, it’s best to put visualizations into the proper context. By white-labeling, businesses can present their data visualizations and reports exactly the way they want to, without the limits of traditional embedded analytics.

When you white-label, people don’t know that you’re using a third-party. You get to show off your own brand — colors, designs, logos, links, etc.

Being able to white-label BI tools is a powerful way for customer-facing companies to maintain an excellent brand image. Products and services are almost always more effective when they’re paired with great design.

Less risky partnerships. Businesses spend tons of time and effort to maintain their brand. White-label BI tools help to keep that brand safe. Many companies don’t want to take on the risk of publicly affiliating with another brand or technology. This is especially true in embedded use cases — where analytics are shared out to a company’s customer base. For these businesses, a white-labeled and embedded use case is the answer.

When companies use smaller, less reputable BI tools, they can run the risk of data breaches. When customers know their data is in a third-party BI tool, and that tool gets hacked, what could have been an internal issue becomes a massive public relations disaster.

Customers don’t have to worry about data breaches with industry-choice BI tools. Even so, many companies don’t want the risk of connecting their brand publicly with the brand of a technology provider. For businesses worried about keeping their brand as safe as possible, white-label BI tools are essential.

Maintaining customer trust. Customers care how their data is used and who has access to it. Many customers can be skeptical about providing data to a third party and need to know it’s safe.

By white-labeling a modern, secure, and compliant BI software, businesses can access the benefits of robust BI software. Businesses can do this without needing to build their own software or worrying about losing customer trust.

White-labeling vs. developing an internal tool

Some organizations might look at the advantages of white-labeling, and decide they can capture all those benefits without paying for a BI tool by building the tool they want themselves. However, developing a solution in-house has inherent issues that make white-labeling a much better choice.

Building a custom solution will cost more than buying a white-labeled solution. This is especially true once you account for long-term maintenance and development costs associated with in-house solutions. Very few companies can afford to devote the time and resources it would take to build out a tool that will give their customers or employees the features they need to be effective. Industry-leading BI tools are feature-rich, constantly evolving, and will pay for themselves over and over again through delivering insight and efficiency.

In-house tools also take significant time to spin up, especially when businesses without significant development expertise try to do it. At a glance, implementing a white-labled BI solution might seem overwhelming, but that’s not usually the case. Today’s top BI Companies offer a wide variety of implementation support and professional services to help businesses get value from their white-labled solution right out of the gate.

When something breaks with a solution that was developed in-house, it’s up to that business’s staff to get it running again. When IT is overburdened, everyone is less efficient. With a white-labeled BI solution, businesses can utilize that tool’s support staff to solve problems and troubleshoot any issues they might encounter.

In short, white-labeling is cheaper, simpler, and much less work than trying to implement a bespoke solution.

What businesses can benefit from white-labeling?

White-labeling helps align a business’s online brand, streamlines the user experience, and maintains customer trust. Any company in any industry would want to access those benefits.

However, white-labeling isn’t an ideal solution for everyone. Buying a white-label solution is often more expensive than just buying a regular BI solution, and there’s a heavier lift on the solution implementation.

Enterprise companies often get the most benefit out of white-labeling a BI solution. These companies usually have; valuable brands that are worth protecting, a need to streamline the user experience as much as possible in order to scale, a need to protect the relationships they’ve built with their customers to drive renewal and adoption.

Businesses that deal with sensitive data can also benefit from white-labeling a best-in-class BI solution. When dealing with sensitive data, users want to know that their company is following all rules and regulations surrounding data security. Implementing a modern BI tool can ensure that those standards are being met.

Start your white-labeled journey today

The power of BI tools is undeniable, and as a result there are many options on the market. But not all white label BI solutions are created equal. Domo white-label offers you total control over your company’s data with no cost for setup or monthly fees—making it the best option on the market today to protect your valuable brand, streamline user experience, and maintain customer trust by offering customers a first-party tool that feels like an extension of their own business intelligence infrastructure. We can help you get started using this powerful solution today!