How is sales reporting software different from a BI tool?
A BI tool is a general-purpose analytics layer that reads from any data source via an extract or a direct query. Sales reporting software is the opinionated set of reports that cover the sales motion out of the box, built inside the CRM so the record and the report share one schema. The practical difference is that a BI tool requires an engineer or a trained analyst to configure, while sales reporting software ships with pipeline health, forecast, rep performance, activity, deal flow, and win-loss boards that a sales manager can filter and schedule without a ticket. Most mid-market teams end up running both, which is where the cost case for consolidating into the CRM gets strong.