Last Updated on:
Helical IT Solutions is thrilled to announce the release of Helical Insight version 5.2.1, the latest upgrade to its Open Source Business Intelligence (BI) platform.
This new version delivers a powerful, cost-effective BI solution that is set to redefine the analytics landscape on a global scale. Helical Insight continues to distinguish itself as a versatile alternative to conventional BI tools like PowerBI, Tableau, Quicksight etc, offering superior flexibility and functionality.
At the heart of Helical Insight’s vision is the goal of democratizing analytics. By providing flexible deployment options and a straightforward flat-rate pricing model, the platform allows businesses to scale their analytics efforts without facing the rising costs often associated with traditional licensing models. Its intuitive, browser-based interface empowers both internal teams and external clients to seamlessly engage in self-service analytics.
Helical Insight’s standout feature is its comprehensive suite of enterprise-grade capabilities. These range from embedding and white-labeling to seamless Single Sign-On (SSO) integration, enabling the platform to integrate effortlessly into a variety of business environments. This is particularly beneficial for product-based companies that require the embedding of customizable dashboards and analytics into their own products. The platform also supports a host of advanced features, including extensive data export options, dynamic email bursting, strict row-level security, advanced drill-down and drill-through capabilities, efficient data caching, smooth pagination controls, native support for Docker and Kubernetes, high-availability load balancing, and an array of visualization options to meet diverse analytical needs.
Version 5.2.1 introduces significant new capabilities, including enhanced support for a broader range of data sources. Notably, the platform now offers direct API support, allowing users to utilize any API for data analysis. Additionally, the update includes a user-friendly interface for working with various flat file formats such as Excel, CSV, TSV, Parquet, JSON, and Google Sheets, all without the need for third-party software. These files can also be hosted on cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, and GCP.
To address customer demand for more customized charting options, Helical Insight 5.2.1 now includes new chart types like Treemap, Waterfall, Radar, Bullet, Gauge, and Tiny-Ring charts. The update also brings advanced customization options, such as the ability to sort and filter data in Table, display totals in Tables, customize data labels with color rotation in various Axis Charts, display totals at the center of Donut charts with options for prefix and suffix in static values, SVG, icons, or URL images. The introduction of a new “Measures” functionality and additional filter options further enhance the platform’s analytical capabilities.
The update also introduces new dashboard-level options, providing users with greater control and the ability to create more visually appealing dashboards. Features like Tabbed view dashboards, Overlays, custom dropdown options, and Margins have been added, along with advanced options like custom HTML and filter dashboard variable access. Additionally, new export options, including PPT and image formats, are introduced in beta.
Nitin Sahu, co-founder of Helical Insight said: “At Helical Insight, we are investing heavily in future. We are already working on GenerativeAI (GenAI) integration, thus allowing a chat based data analysis capabilities. It will also support prescriptive and descriptive analytics and many more very exciting features.”
Nikhilesh Tiwari, co-founder of Helical Insight added: “We are on a mission to provide a feature rich Open Source BI product as an alternative to other costly proprietary BI tools with features like canned reporting, dashboards, embedding, SSO, row level security, exporting, email scheduling etc. We are one of the rare BI tools which is fulfilling all kind of analysis requirement which includes pixel perfect canned reporting, drag drop self service dashboards and now GenAI powered chat based analysis capabilities that we are integrating.”
In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, BI is crucial for enabling data-driven decision-making. Industry forecasts suggest robust growth for the global BI market, with projections from Fortune Business Insights indicating an increase from $24.05 billion in 2021 to $43.03 billion by 2028, reflecting a CAGR of 8.7%. Despite this potential, BI adoption remains relatively low, with only 26% of organizations currently utilizing BI solutions according to 360Suite. However, as small businesses increasingly adopt BI to gain a competitive edge, Helical Insight is positioned to lead this transformative shift, empowering organizations of all sizes to harness data and drive actionable insights.