| Summary: | Innovation and technology advancements in information systems (IS) result in multiple product offerings and business intelligence (BI) software tools in the market to implement business intelligence systems (BIS). As a result, a high proportion of organisations fail to employ appropriate and suitable software tools meeting organisational needs, resulting in a prime number of BI solution failures and abandoned projects are therefore recorded. Due to such project failures, benefits associated with BI are not realised hence organisations loose enormous investments on BI solutions and competitive advantage. The study aims at discovering and exploring critical factors influencing the selection of BI tools when embarking on the selection process. This is a quantitative research study and questionnaire surveyed data was collected from 92 participants working in South African financial services providers listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) appearing in the top 100 based on market capitalization. The data was analysed quantitative by employing the use of SPSS and SmartPLS-3 software's to test the significance of influential factors using the proposed conceptual model that emerged from the literature. The findings showed that a combination of domain technical and non-technical factors is critical. Therefore, software tool technical factors (functionality, ease of use, compatibility, availability of an integrated hardware/software package, and availability of source code), vendor technical factors (availability of technical support, technical skills, quality of product, availability of user manual for important information, tutorial for learning and troubleshooting guide, and experience in using product developed by the same vendor), and opinion non-technical factors (end-users, subordinates, outside personnel acquaintances, and improvement in customer service) emerged as significant combination of influential factors to be considered. The study contributes to both academia and industry by providing influential determinants for software tool selection. It is hoped that the findings presented will contribute to a greater understanding of factors influencing the selection of BI tools to researchers and practitioners alike. Furthermore, organisations seeking to select and deliver appropriate BI tools will be better equipped to drive such endeavours.
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