Big data is a term that’s become popular in business circles. The amount of information collected and stored by companies grows every day, but few businesses maximise what they can do with this data.
More troublesome still, data is stored in a variety of apps, databases, spreadsheets, and third-party platforms making it difficult to access. Getting a real-time overview of the business or accurate reporting becomes nearly impossible. Microsoft Power BI is intended to resolve these concerns.
What is Microsoft PowerBI?
Microsoft Power BI is a data visualisation tool for businesses. As part of the broader Power Platform, business intelligence is delivered through accessing different data sources (both internal and external) to create relevant, live dashboards and accurate reporting.
Gaining meaningful insights from a collection of data sources allows the organisation’s leadership to make more accurate decisions. No longer is there a need to wait for the monthly or quarterly report before responding to new issues either.
Strategic decision-making to help grow your business in a sustained fashion is made possible through a more complete picture. Power BI enables that by accessing numerous data sources, analysing information using advanced AI and natural language, providing real-time dashboards, and advanced reporting.
Benefits of PowerBI for Business
Bring Data Together for an Accurate Overview
Companies spread across different regional offices commonly have trouble with data collection and accurate analysis. Subsequently, spotting a new issue often occurs too late to prevent it from already having become a larger one.
Create Custom Dashboards by Accessing Internal, Cloud, and Third-party Data Sources
By pulling data from different sources and creating custom Power BI dashboards for the business, companies can visualise the most important aspects of their operations.
Whether the visual charts use data extracted from an Oracle database, a Google Sheets spreadsheet, an Excel file, or SAP, or even a QuickBooks system, it can all be at your fingertips.
Integrate Reporting for 3CX VoIP systems, Dynamics 365, and More
Some businesses already use the 3CX Cloud VoIP phone system. This makes use of the Microsoft Azure cloud system for call storage. Usage of 3CX including real-time call information and recordings can be accessed inside Dynamics 365, and advanced reporting performed within Power BI.
Regularly Updated and Fully Compliant
Power BI is updated monthly with further improvements to allow for more advanced reporting and the latest features.
Also, full compliance at a country and sector level ensures that the benefits of Microsoft Power BI are accessible to all.
Familiar Microsoft Family User Interface
The interface of Power BI is designed similarly to Microsoft 365. Anyone already familiar with Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint will feel right at home.
Furthermore, companies that already use Microsoft Dynamics 365 can greatly enhance their business analytical capabilities.
Choice of Power BI Desktop, Pro, and Premium Versions
Creating new reports is possible using the Power BI desktop app. This is accessible to anyone who wishes to use it. Reports can be kept solely on the PC or later published, and subsequently shared with people or groups via the Power BI Service.
Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium versions offer cloud-based advanced report sharing and further customisation options. The Premium version – mostly used by enterprises – enhances performance, data capacity, and programmatic access, such as APIs.
Using PowerBI for Business Reporting
Business reports are only as good as the data behind their visualisations. Multiple serious omissions can result in faulty conclusions being drawn from the supplied reports.
Power BI delivers a best-in-class reporting functionality. This begins with data visuals created by Microsoft and third parties using an open-source methodology to continually improve data visualization capabilities.
AI and machine learning are utilised allowing questions to be posed by the user and suggestions given for information sources to use in their report.
Before creating reports, data can be visualised and modelled using Power Query, which is familiar to advanced users of Microsoft Excel. Once ready, reports can be created using this data.
The visual canvas for reporting allows for full drag-and-drop functionality. This allows original reports to be created for the CEO, the board, senior managers, or a team. Managers or team members alike can deliver outstanding interactive reports with predictive insights that fit the need perfectly.
To do this, access to a myriad of data sources is essential. Power BI lets users collect data from Excel spreadsheets, SQL Servers, MySQL and PostgreSQL servers, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Microsoft Cloud, Salesforce Reports, Github, Microsoft Exchange Server, and so much more.
Therefore, business intelligence platforms are fully utilised to access data for BI reports. Don’t worry if that all sounds complicated, Microbyte will set this all up for you.
Built with Security in Mind
Security compliance is paramount and integral to Power BI due to the sensitivity of company data.
High-level encryption protocols are utilised to safeguard data that travels through cloud storage and third-party systems. Secure connections are made when accessing third-party data storage systems too.
System managers can use both the Microsoft Cloud App Security Portal and features within Power BI to analyse data flows looking for patterns. Data compliance is also managed on a per-country basis, along with adhering to industry-relevant requirements too.
Examples of using PowerBI in Business
Business analysis firm, Gartner, has repeatedly acknowledged Power BI as an outstanding intelligence product for businesses to use. One reason is that it works so well with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Teams products, ensuring it takes no time to get to grips with it.
For instance, new reports can be shared within specific Teams channels to make channel members aware.
Your company can resolve any complications caused by having your data stored across multiple databases, apps, and cloud platforms. Avoid the need to centralise data storage where this is undesirable at present. Instead, seamlessly integrate data from different providers, systems, and locations with greater completeness and clarity than previously achievable.
IT systems managers who are planning to centralise systems in the future can use Power BI for improved reporting and dashboard information sharing before, during, and after the transition.
Final Thoughts
By using Power BI for just a short period, business professionals will quickly appreciate its versatility. Whether analysing data models, for improved data visualisation or to develop new business strategies that previously weren’t being pursued, companies gain meaningful and vital insights.
To incorporate the Power BI analytic insights into your business, talk with our team about deploying Power BI with custom dashboards and reporting to maximise the benefits for your company.