What Challenges do we Commonly Encounter with Data? 

A scattered view of the data  

Organizing everything is essential when dealing with data. Data in different locations takes more time to retrieve and can create additional sets of problems. 

Handling various data sources 

Data residing in SaaS solutions and other remote locations may be challenging to manage. Retrieving and updating such data securely can also be a concern. 

Deliver appropriate data to the relevant users when needed 

Mobile business users require current operational data with a simple tap, regardless of location or device. Since various roles have distinct needs and access levels, a universal solution is not suitable. 

What is Microsoft Power BI? 

Power BI is part of the Microsoft Power Platform family. It is a cloud-based business intelligence tool for quick data visualization, extraction, and analysis. It consolidates data from various sources to provide a comprehensive view of your company’s information. 

With Power BI, you can: 

• Easily create an analytical environment 
• View all your data in one place, and  
• Share reports 

Live dashboards and reports display metrics based on both local and cloud data. It offers a streamlined view of your entire business, irrespective of architecture or location. 

Read more to learn more about Power BI. 

How can Power BI Impact your Data Analytics Approach? 

Businesses can apply Power BI Services in data analytics in the following ways: 

1. Save time making reports through the time-saving templates. 

This data visualization tool enables users to effortlessly generate and utilize diverse reporting templates. Teams and departments can save this for future use. This adds to: 

• Simplifying processes 
• Significantly reducing the time and effort required for reporting 
• Build internal efficiencies 

1. Get the peace of mind with Power BI’s security-focused features 

Managing and processing complex data needs a strong security system. Power BI provides these features to enforce security: 

• End-to-end dual encryption encrypts the data. It enables businesses to confidently share analytics insights. 
• Oversight capabilities allow the identification of patterns of suspicious behavior. 
• Strong permissions are in place to minimize the risk of network intrusion. 
• Sensitivity labels ensure the ongoing protection of your data when exported. 
• Built-in compliance measures are applied at both country and industry levels. 
• Azure services prevent data exposure to the public internet. 
• Row-level security (RLS) permits specific individuals to access data points; for instance, a sales manager can only view sales related to their team. 
• Object-level security (OLS) can display or conceal items, such as sales targets, based on a user’s role permissions. 

1. Use it more because of its easy-to-use and user-friendly interface 

Power BI stands out for its simplicity, with the intricacies of data collection and analytics concealed behind the scenes. The final product presents users with insights that are visually effective, easily digestible, and relevant. 

The user-friendly and simple interface allows users to effortlessly create BI reports. It also facilitates dashboard development from diverse data sources. This ensures that everyone, not just data scientists and data analysts, can use Power BI. 

Curious how to make your dashboards better? Check out our blog for more tips! 

Take advantage of Microsoft’s regular software updates. 

Microsoft issues frequent software updates for the platform. Typically, it happens on a monthly schedule, to consistently enhance Power BI Desktop’s features and usability. Additionally, Microsoft actively seeks and responds to user feedback, often adding feature recommendations to drive the development of new functionalities. 

Make data assessment easier with Excel integration. 

As a Microsoft product, this BI tool provides smooth integration with various other Microsoft tools. A valuable integration is with Excel. It enables users to link Excel reports, data models, and queries to Power BI dashboards.  

This facilitates the quick collection and sharing of Excel data in innovative ways. Moreover, users can effortlessly export data visualized in Power BI to an Excel spreadsheet. 

Increase business efficiency with real-time data analytics.  

Since data collection is an ongoing procedure, effective data analytics platforms need to be adaptable. Power BI provides real-time analytics, updating insights at regular intervals based on your license level. For instance, Power BI Pro allows data to be refreshed up to eight times a day, while Power BI Premium enables updates 48 times daily. 

Create new and interesting datasets with better connectivity. 

A crucial aspect of any business intelligence platform is its interaction with external data sources. Power BI enables you to link to various sources and import data, such as sales data from your CRM and financial data from your ERP.  

Additionally, Power BI connects with third-party solutions like  

• Google Analytics 
• Salesforce 
• Spark 
• Zendesk, and  
• Marketo 

Users can also connect data files (e.g., XML and JSON) and SQL server databases. It enables the creation of diverse and engaging datasets from multiple sources for subsequent analytics and reporting. 

Make data-driven decisions through customized dashboards. 

Power BI offers extensive customization, enabling users to construct dashboards with user-friendly visualizations tailored to their specific needs. Additionally, the drag-and-drop functionality of Power BI makes this process remarkably swift and straightforward. Users also have the capability to delve deeper into data visualizations, extracting insights at a more detailed level. 

Present data insights clearly and actionably. 

Power BI is known for effectively presenting data insights in a clear, coherent, and actionable manner. Data visualization goes beyond aesthetic charts. It serves as the concluding element of business intelligence, enabling users to comprehend and respond to data insights. Power BI accomplishes this seamlessly with various options like: 

• pie charts 
• column charts 
• stacked column charts 
• tables 
• lists 
• area charts 
• scatter charts 
• geo maps 
• line charts. 

Get the answer you need pronto with its Q&A feature 

Another important aspect of Power BI is its natural language Q&A capability. It allows users to input a data-related question into a search box and receive real-time answers. For instance, a user could type the query: 

“Which products had the lowest sales in Q2 of this year?” 

Power BI then asks the pertinent data sets, providing intelligent and current responses. This functionality also includes auto complete, predicting the data sets and categories users may be interested in. 

Ready to Revolutionize your Business Strategy?  

Any forward-thinking business needs to become more data driven. Power BI stands out as a premier solution to unlock the potential of data. However, navigating the complexities of Power BI without the requisite experience and expertise may result in only scratching the surface of its capabilities. 

Collaborating with an expert proves to be the optimal and cost-effective approach to fully leverage tools like Power BI platform. It ensures reaching the maximum Return on Investment (ROI). 

At ECF Data, we have assembled a top-notch team of Power BI consultants poised to assist your business in effectively harnessing the power of data. Whether you seek a fully outsourced team or support for your in-house IT team, we offer seamless expertise at a competitive cost. 

For further insights into how ECF Data can assist you in maximizing the value of Power BI to make informed decisions, feel free to reach out to us today.