Digital Transformation Today

Is Microsoft Power BI The Right Solution For Your Business?

While data analysis has always been a key factor in the success of any business operation, new tools are raising the stakes. Successful organizations are those that can uncover the hidden trends in large quantities of information; both about their business and their customers. Good business intelligence keeps your company competitive. However, as business get more complicated and competitive, using data wisely will be a requirement for the very survival of your business.

Until recently, world-class data analysis tools were prohibitively expensive, making their use impossible for all but the major players in the business landscape. However, as costs come down and high-quality applications become widely available, more companies are getting on the data analytics bandwagon. Programs like Microsoft Power BI democratize data analysis capabilities, opening up opportunities for companies of every size and budget. This is truly game changing; now even small businesses can conduct advanced data analytics.

How Power BI Offers Insights Into Your Business

Historically, a major drawback to data analysis has been the intensive labor required to get, merge, and make sense of data coming from different sources. Just gathering data and transforming it into a usable format was a largely manual process, costing extraordinary amounts of time and then subject to the usual data entry errors. Business began automating that process of course, but most firms (especially small and medium size businesses) still rely on manual data collection and analysis…with spreadsheet still a ubiquitous part of the data collection and analysis chain.

Power BI benefits are centered on addressing these historical issues. First, one of the most attractive Power BI services is that the tool is cloud-based, and it operates through the Office 365 platform. As a result, both data and the analysis of those data are available to users in real time, making collaboration far more efficient than ever before. Second, sophisticated analytics and creative interactive reports no longer require an advanced degree, as Power BI makes these options available to users at every skill level.

Individuals responsible for data analysis in marketing, sales and finance find these features especially valuable, as they ease the pressure of communication between levels of management. They only have to input or upload new data, and through Power BI automation, it is automatically incorporated into existing report formats. Thus, users at every level of responsibility are able to visualize the data they need and uncover previously hidden trends with the advanced capabilities of Power BI solutions.

Is Power BI Right for Your Business?

New insights and better communication aren’t the only benefits of Power BI. Many users are also finding that the tool’s features are far superior to traditional methods of data analysis at a budget-friendly price. In fact, because Power BI is subscription based, it is available at a fraction of the cost of similar tools offered by IBM and Oracle (and a host of other vendors). Indeed, Power BI connects a variety of business resources, both cloud based and on premises, at an affordable price.

Perhaps most importantly, Power BI is designed with the business user in mind. It takes advantage of the user-friendly features found in most of today’s basic business tools. For example, Power BI offers drag-and-drop capabilities in lieu of complex command line code.

Certainly, Power BI isn’t a perfect solution for every organization. Some companies deal with an immense volume of highly transactional data. Power BI is not intended to address those types of data needs. It is best suited for small and mid-sized businesses (and some large organizations) who need to empower business users with advanced data analytics capabilities. While the SMB market is a sweet spot, even large businesses who want to get better insight into their own data without the learning-curve (and cost) of using a “big data” tool are also utilizing Power BI services. It is an inexpensive way to get high-end data analytics for your business…regardless of the size of your business.

If your company is currently operating with a complicated set of sophisticated spreadsheets, a Power BI solution is the natural next-step to optimize efficiency and dramatically improving your data analysis capabilities. It’s cheap. It’s easy to use…and ready to go with Office 365.When you’re ready to choose a Power BI consultant, consider selecting one involved in the Microsoft Power BI Partners program, so your organization can get a personalized Power BI implementation.

Ready to join disparate data, visualize it, and glean transformational insight? Click here and we’ll visualize your data for free.

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