February 17, 2025

Top 3 Zendesk reporting tools: Explore, Power BI & SquaredUp

Are you struggling to get actionable insights from your Zendesk data?

Mike Halfacree

Customer Support Manager

Zendesk is a popular choice for customer service and support, offering a range of tools to manage interactions and boost customer satisfaction. However, making sense of all the data it collects means implementing robust reporting tools.

SquaredUp, Zendesk Explore, and Power BI, are three popular services that can help unlock insights from Zendesk data but – like all tech – each has its unique strengths.

In this blog, we’ll compare these top Zendesk reporting tools to help you decide which is the best fit for your Zendesk reporting needs. But before we get started, here's a brief overview:

SquaredUp: Out of the three tools, SquaredUp stands out for its user-friendly approach, real-time data visualization, and seamless integration capabilities, making it a compelling choice for organizations seeking efficient and comprehensive Zendesk reporting solutions.

Zendesk Explore: Provides real-time monitoring and drill-down capabilities within the Zendesk platform. However, it has limitations in integrating data from external sources and offers limited sharing options, restricting report distribution to Zendesk users.

Power BI: Supports advanced analytics, custom visualizations, and robust sharing options. Setting up Power BI with Zendesk requires technical expertise, and building custom reports can be complex for beginners. Additionally, Power BI doesn't offer real-time reporting out of the box, which may be a drawback for some customer support teams.

1. SquaredUp

SquaredUp is a visualization tool known for its simple, intuitive dashboards. Originally built for IT operations, SquaredUp’s recent expansions now support data integrations with platforms like Zendesk. SquaredUp is designed for organizations that prioritize data visualization and accessibility, offering a straightforward way to present complex data.

Key features

Ease of use: SquaredUp is extremely user-friendly, allowing users to create data visualizations without extensive technical knowledge.
Pre-built and customizable dashboards: SquaredUp comes with three out-of-the-box Zendesk dashboards – Ticket Report dashboard, KPI dashboard, Agent Activity dashboard. Users can also build custom dashboards for unique insights.
Unified data view: Like Power BI, SquaredUp allows integration of Zendesk data with other data sources, giving support teams a comprehensive view.
Real-time data integration: SquaredUp supports real-time data, helping teams monitor performance and make quick adjustments.
Sharing via URL: Users can share dashboards with stakeholders without Zendesk access via a simple URL.

Best for

SquaredUp is ideally suited for organizations seeking intuitive, real-time reporting with a strong emphasis on data visualization. It’s particularly useful for customer support teams who want quick insights without diving into complex analytics or data modeling.

SquaredUp Zendesk integration is also ideal for sharing data outside the support team without requiring additional Zendesk licenses.

Of course, for businesses looking for more comprehensive reporting, SquaredUp integrates with multiple platforms, including those used for customer service and CRM management, such as Salesforce and ServiceNow.

This means you can create cross-platform reports that include both Salesforce data and support ticket data from Zendesk or other platforms, allowing for deeper insights into the customer experience and uncovering potential bottlenecks or opportunities in both sales and service processes.

For more advanced or custom use cases, SquaredUp offers an SQL Analytics feature for easy data manipulation.

Limitations

While SquaredUp excels at providing intuitive and visually engaging dashboards for Zendesk data, it's worth noting that its integration requires some setup and configuration to ensure smooth data flow between systems.

For teams seeking a fully plug-and-play solution, there may be a slightly steeper initial learning curve compared to Zendesk Explore's out-of-the-box functionality. However, once set up, SquaredUp’s flexibility and powerful visualizations more than make up for this small investment of time.

2. Zendesk Explore

Zendesk Explore is Zendesk’s built-in analytics and reporting tool, specifically designed for analyzing customer support data. It provides users with pre-built dashboards and metrics tailored to Zendesk, allowing teams to get started with reporting and analytics quickly.

Key features

Pre-built and customizable dashboards: Zendesk Explore comes with ready-to-use dashboards that cover essential metrics like ticket volume, first response time, and customer satisfaction. Users can also build custom reports for unique insights.
Drill-down capabilities: Users can dive into specific metrics and ticket details to understand trends and performance at a granular level.
Real-time monitoring: Real-time data is tracked for time-sensitive metrics, like response time, to ensure SLAs are met.
Collaboration: Reports can be shared with team members and stakeholders directly within Zendesk, making it easy to distribute insights across the organization.

Best for

Zendesk Explore is ideal for teams that need an out-of-the-box reporting solution tailored specifically to Zendesk. It’s best for those who value ease of use, integrated reporting, and real-time monitoring rather than complex analytics.

Limitations

Explore offers deep insights into Zendesk-specific data, but is limited in integrating data from other sources. It also lacks the advanced analytics capabilities that Power BI and SquaredUp offer.

While its pre-built dashboards cover most of the data that support managers would want to report on, there is a steep learning curve when it comes to creating custom dashboards and configuring the right queries.

It is also limited in its sharing capabilities, only allowing for sharing within the Zendesk portal, with Zendesk users.

3. Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a leading business intelligence tool that can connect to Zendesk through API integrations or third-party connectors. Power BI is well-suited for companies that want to consolidate Zendesk data with data from other business systems, providing a broader view of performance and enabling advanced analytics.

Key features

Comprehensive data integration: Power BI can pull in data from multiple sources, allowing you to combine Zendesk data with other business metrics for a holistic view of customer service.
Advanced analytics and modeling: Power BI supports complex data modeling, allowing for sophisticated analyses, predictive analytics, and even machine learning.
Custom visualizations and dashboards: Users can create fully customized, interactive dashboards to track KPIs, identify patterns, and drill down into specifics.
Robust sharing options: Power BI reports can be easily shared with team members and embedded into internal portals for organization-wide access.

Best for

Power BI is best suited for organizations that need to combine Zendesk data with other data sources, perform advanced analytics, and create highly customized reports. It’s ideal for data-savvy teams looking to go beyond standard Zendesk reporting.

Limitations

Setting up Power BI with Zendesk requires technical expertise, and building custom reports can be complex for beginners. Additionally, Power BI doesn’t offer real-time reporting out of the box, which may be a drawback for some customer support teams.

Real-time Zendesk reporting tool comparison

Here’s a summary to help you decide which tool best fits your Zendesk reporting needs:

Feature	SquaredUp	Zendesk Explore	Power BI
Ease of Use	Extremely user-friendly, even for non-technical users.	Simple and quick to get started with basic reporting.	Requires technical expertise for setup and customization.
Customization	Flexible customization with a focus on intuitive visualizations.	Limited customization for complex reporting needs.	Highly customizable but complex to configure.
Real-Time Reporting	Fully supports real-time data, ideal for instant insights.	Yes, provides real-time data within Zendesk.	No out-of-the-box real-time reporting.
Cross-Platform Integration	Seamlessly integrates Zendesk with other platforms for a unified view.	Limited to Zendesk data.	Excellent integration with multiple data sources.
Visualizations	Beautiful, easy-to-read dashboards designed for clarity.	Basic dashboards and reports.	Advanced visualizations but can be complex to create.
Data Sharing	Effortless sharing with external stakeholders via simple URLs.	Can share reports within Zendesk, limited external sharing.	Easy sharing, but requires additional setup for embedding.
Advanced Analytics	Great for visual analytics, with advanced SQL Analytics for deeper insights.	Great for Zendesk-specific metrics but lacks deep analytics.	Strong analytics capabilities, including machine learning.
Target Audience	Perfect for teams seeking real-time insights and easy-to-share reports.	Ideal for teams focused purely on Zendesk reporting.	Best for teams needing advanced, cross-functional analytics.
Setup Complexity	Quick to set up with a smooth onboarding process, offering flexibility for complex needs.	Quick to set up but limited in flexibility for complex needs.	Setup can be time-consuming, with a steep learning curve.
Best for	Teams seeking powerful, visual, real-time reporting without the need for technical expertise.	Basic to moderate Zendesk reporting needs.	Advanced users requiring comprehensive, multi-source analytics.

Choosing the right Zendesk reporting tool depends on your team’s specific needs and goals.

Zendesk Explore is a fantastic choice for teams focused on Zendesk-specific reporting, while Power BI offers unparalleled flexibility and advanced analytics for teams looking to combine Zendesk data with other sources. SquaredUp provides a straightforward, visually appealing reporting solution with real-time insights, perfect for teams who prioritize ease of use.

Why SquaredUp stands out

Ultimately, we believe SquaredUp stands out as the preferential Zendesk reporting tool compared to Zendesk Explore and Power BI due to its ease of use, real-time data capabilities, and intuitive dashboard creation.

Unlike Zendesk Explore, which is limited in advanced analytics and integration with external data sources, SquaredUp offers direct API integration for instant access to data and customizable dashboards that require no complex queries or analyst expertise.

Additionally, SquaredUp provides real-time monitoring and alerting, ensuring up-to-date visualizations without the need for manual refreshes, a feature that Power BI lacks.

While Power BI excels in advanced analytics and cross-functional data integration, it has a steeper learning curve and does not provide native real-time Zendesk data updates, making it less ideal for immediate insights into customer support metrics.

SquaredUp combines simplicity, flexibility, and real-time insights, making it an optimal choice for teams prioritizing ease of use and actionable Zendesk data visualization.

Regardless of which tool you choose, investing in Zendesk reporting solutions will help transform raw data into actionable insights, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and support team performance.

SquaredUp’s smarter dashboards help engineering, product, and IT teams make better decisions through a deeper understanding of their data. We have a completely free tier available for you to use today. Sign up for free now!