Business Intelligence Consultants (175+ Top Firms for 2025)

Ethan
CEO, Portable

What Is Business Intelligence Consulting?

A business intelligence consultant specializes in defining data strategies, constructing robust data pipelines, and delivering actionable business insights. The two primary reasons organizations hire a business intelligence consultant are: 1) data strategy and architecture, and 2) custom ETL development.

1. Data strategy and architecture – BI consultants possess extensive experience in establishing data infrastructure and analytics programs across various industries. They offer unique perspectives and accelerate value creation for your business.

2. Custom ETL development – BI consultants are experts in designing and implementing custom pipelines that extract, transform, and load (ETL) data into your analytics environment, ensuring seamless data integration.

Whether your organization requires data strategy and architecture or custom ETL development, you have three main options to achieve your objectives:

  1. Build a solution in-house
  2. Purchase off-the-shelf technology
  3. Hire a specialized consultant

Which Business Intelligence Consultants Should You Evaluate? (175+ Consultants)

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of data consultancies available to support your business intelligence initiatives. At Portable, we have curated a comprehensive list of over 175 data consultants for your evaluation. Here's the complete list.

This list features some of the world’s leading enterprise data consultancies, as well as boutique firms and individual experts like The Seattle Data Guy.

Before you begin your research, schedule introductory calls, or scope your specific projects, it’s essential to understand how business intelligence consultants deliver value, the types of projects they can assist with, and the key qualities to look for in a consultant.

If you need a consultant to design and manage custom ETL pipelines that load data into your data warehouse, keep reading—there may be a more efficient solution! (Hint: Portable can help. We develop custom data pipelines so your business intelligence team can focus on data analysis.)

Which Projects Can a Business Intelligence Consultant Help With?

Business intelligence consultants can assist with:

How Do You Evaluate Business Intelligence Consultants?

To select the right business intelligence consultant, follow these five steps:

1. Define your business intelligence objectives

2. Draft a detailed project or job description

3. Assess your available options

4. Shortlist candidates and check references

5. Begin with a pilot business intelligence project

Step 1: Define Your Business Intelligence Objectives

When hiring a consultant or employee, it’s crucial to understand two key factors:

  1. The value they will deliver

  2. The associated costs

Before diving into technical requirements, job descriptions, or candidate evaluations, clarify how the consultant will add value to your organization.

Business intelligence consultants can drive value through:

  1. Data analytics (enabling better decision-making)

  2. Process automation (streamlining manual business processes with technology)

  3. Product development (generating revenue through client adoption)

Identify the specific projects that will deliver the greatest value and note any industry-specific requirements (such as healthcare, e-commerce, marketing, etc.).

Content last updated: September 2025

  1. Data analytics (enabling better, data-driven decision-making)

  2. Process automation (streamlining and replacing manual business processes with advanced technology)

  3. Product development (driving revenue growth through innovative solutions and increased client adoption)

Identify and outline the specific business intelligence projects that will deliver the highest value for your organization. Be sure to consider any industry-specific requirements, such as those for healthcare, e-commerce, marketing, and more.

Once you understand how a business intelligence consultant can add value, it's important to assess the investment required.

For a full-time employee, costs are primarily determined by salary and benefits. When considering a consultant, evaluate the total project costs, hourly rates, or retainer pricing models that may apply.

Step 2: Write a Project Description or Job Description

After clarifying your value creation strategy and the necessary investment to achieve your objectives, craft a clear and detailed description of the role and responsibilities.

A well-written job description is essential.

In your job description, include the job title, compensation range, and specific business requirements. Additionally, consider highlighting:

  • Strong communication skills
  • Years of experience in business intelligence
  • Onsite versus remote work expectations
  • Relevant expertise in project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall)
  • Familiarity with your technology stack and tools (Salesforce, Zendesk, NetSuite, IBM, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.)
  • Technical proficiency (SQL, software development, software engineering, Unix, AWS, GCP, Azure, data engineering, information technology, etc.)
  • Educational background (such as a bachelor's degree, computer science, engineering boot camp, etc.)

Ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations to promote fair hiring practices and include all necessary details in your job description.

Step 3: Evaluate Your Options

With your goals and solution requirements defined for internal stakeholders or end users, it's time to assess your available options.

Where should you begin? Here is a comprehensive list of 175+ data consultants as of September 2025.

Schedule introductory meetings with as many firms as possible. Most consultancies offer a 'Contact Us' form or a 'Schedule An Introductory Meeting' button to facilitate communication.

Within an hour, you can arrange up to 20 meetings.

If you require a consultant with expertise in a specific region or domain, review company websites and LinkedIn profiles before booking appointments.

Step 4: Narrow Down Your Options and Check References

As you identify the business intelligence consultancies that best match your needs, be sure to request references, review past projects, and ask for testimonials and case studies.

External validation, certifications, and social proof can help, but their absence may indicate the need for further research before committing to a major project.

Step 5: Start With a Small Business Intelligence Project

No matter which consultant you select, it's wise to begin with a small-scale project.

Opt for a month-to-month agreement or an hourly/project-based engagement for a few weeks. This approach allows you to assess several key factors:

  • Is the consultant reliable and accountable?
  • Do you have a productive working relationship?
  • Is communication clear and effective?
  • Are deliverables consistently high quality?

As you achieve positive results, you can expand the scope of your engagement or consider hiring a full-time employee if your needs grow.

A popular way to initiate a partnership with a business intelligence consultant is by developing a custom ETL pipeline.

  • Is communication clear and effective?

  • Are the deliverables of high quality?

Over time, as you achieve success, you can expand the scope of your partnership, or even consider hiring a full-time employee if your needs grow significantly.

One of the most popular ways to begin working with a business intelligence consultant is by developing a custom ETL pipeline tailored to your business requirements.

If that's your goal, Portable is here to assist.

How Do You Get Started With a Custom ETL Solution? (In Under 5 Minutes)

Follow these simple steps to get started with Portable for your custom ETL needs.

  1. Create your account (no credit card required)

  2. Connect your preferred data source

  3. Authenticate your data source securely

  4. Choose a destination and configure your credentials

  5. Link your source to your data warehousing environment

  6. Run your flow to begin replicating data from your source to your destination

  7. Use the dropdown menu to schedule your data flow on a recurring basis

Does Portable Offer Business Intelligence Consulting Services?

Portable is a cloud-based ETL platform (a product, not a service). While we do not provide business intelligence consulting services, we deliver custom ETL (extract, transform, load) integrations on-demand for clients as part of our product offering, at no additional cost.

We have dedicated years to developing a platform that enables us to create no-code ETL integrations for clients. This allows us to build brand new custom ETL connectors within hours or days and tailor them to your specific requirements.

Because we focus exclusively on ETL pipelines, you benefit from built-in notifications, data quality assurance, and governance features that may not be available from traditional consultants.

If your data management strategy includes hiring a consultant or ETL developer to design or manage data extraction workflows, reach out to us—we're happy to offer a second opinion.

With Portable, you receive the same personalized attention as you would from a consultant, without the high costs associated with custom consulting services.

Need a Custom ETL Integration? Sign Up For Free!

At Portable, custom ETL solutions are our specialty.

Portable delivers the personalized experience of a data integration consultant without the premium price tag. We handle the ETL process so your team can focus on generating actionable insights.

Ready for a custom data integration? Get started with Portable.

Last updated: September 2025