How we use Metabase to power our internal reporting

At Lendsqr, reporting is core for both us and our customers. But when we were first starting out, we had a tough choice to make. We could either build our own reporting system from scratch, or find a ready-made solution to use. Some popular options were Power BI and Pentaho, but they were way too expensive for us.

Thankfully, we discovered Metabase, an open-source platform which we implemented in 2019 to power our internal reporting, and haven’t looked back. 

Metabase is a powerful open-source business intelligence (BI) platform that empowers users to analyze data through an intuitive interface.

Unlike traditional BI tools that require coding expertise, Metabase empowers users to easily create reports, write native SQL queries, and generate reports with various visuals like charts, graphs, and tables.

Here’s why Metabase became our go-to BI solution for internal reporting:

• Robust yet cost effective: Metabase offers a robust feature set at no cost, making it an economical alternative to expensive BI tools. Instead of spending a bunch of money upfront on software or ongoing fees, we were able to use that money to develop our product and grow our business.
• User-friendly interface: Metabase’s user-friendly interface and natural language query capabilities empower our team to analyze data from different sources, customize reports, and make better decisions together. 
• Open-source advantage: Metabase being open-source means a few things that are good for us, especially since we deal with a lot of financial data and security is very important. Since the code is publicly available, we were able to review it and make sure it doesn’t have any holes hackers can exploit. Second, because we have the code, we can change it to do exactly what we need it to do, which isn’t possible with most other BI tools.

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Want to see Metabase in action at Lendsqr? Let’s show you.

• Working behind the scenes: We’ve embedded Metabase right into our core bank system, so it works in the back end for our customers. Lenders can see reports and dashboards all without needing to learn a new system. This way, customers find the information they need themselves, saves them time, and allows them to focus on their business. On the other hand, it means our support team has less back-and-forth questions to answer.
• Helps with internal reporting: We use Metabase to create dashboards and drive alerts to let us know when something important happens like when results meet a specific goal. These alerts let us know right away, so we can take action and keep things on track.
• No login friction: Integrating Metabase with Google single sign-on (SSO) has been a game-changer for our internal operations. Our team can login to Metabase using their existing Google credentials. So, access is quick and effortless, and makes for a smooth experience.

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The bottom line on Metabase

Of course, there is the paid version but  the free, open-source option we host on our technology stack is everything any tech company  could need. So, there’s no need to break the bank as the free version is incredibly powerful. 

The Metabase team deserves immense credit and we, at Lendsqr, are incredibly grateful to them. Their open-source platform is one of the best things we’ve ever gotten for free from the open source world.

Metabase is a true gem, empowering businesses like ours to harness the power of data for internal reporting without breaking the bank.

Lendsqr loan management software is everything lenders need to set up shop online and build a thriving lending business. If you have any questions about how to get started, send them to growth@lendqr.com for quick responses.