What is Power BI? Turn Your Data into Competitive Advantage

If you want to harness the power of data, you must be looking for an answer to what Power BI is and how it can help you accelerate your business growth. Power BI lets you analyse and visualise a huge pile of data through an appealing graphical representation. 

It is one of the most popular data analytics solutions built by Microsoft for all businesses, irrespective of their complexity and size.

But why are data analytics tools becoming popular? One of the most popular reasons is that businesses have started to understand the value of data and the possible growth opportunities that come with it.

Businesses struggle with data management and consumption while finding useful insights from it. This challenge enables businesses to opt for a data analysis and visualisation tool to understand competitor behaviour, changing customer needs, understand the data, and take actionable decisions.

Data analytics and business solutions empower businesses to make timely and productive decisions whenever required. Such intelligent and powerful solutions are a must for all businesses, like Microsoft Power BI.

It helps a business transform raw data into actionable insights. Power BI empowers a user to make actionable and smart decisions based on data insights.

Introducing Power BI

Power BI is a data solution that lets users create visual reports and custom dashboards for daily metrics. With Power BI, users can access business reports & analytics from data on different devices, systems, and sources.

These analyses help users make better decisions in real-time and shape their businesses as per their plans.

With MS Power BI, it becomes easy to connect your data from different sources, as it allows 500+ sources to connect with the system.

Embedded with AI and other latest technologies, Power BI creates visually appealing reports and dashboards while also offering actionable insights.

You can even customise the dashboard to make data presentable and interactive using a graphical representation. Such reports and representations empower users to become productive and efficient in all complex situations.

Power BI History: Major Milestones you Shouldn’t Miss

Ron George came up with the idea of Power BI under the name "Project Crescent". Amir Netz and Thierry D’Hers were the ones who developed this innovative application.

In July 2011, Project Crescent was free to download for the public, along with the SQL Server Codename Denali.

In September 2013, Microsoft rebranded Project Crescent as Power BI for Office 365. It was the first version of Power BI based on Microsoft Excel with add-ons such as Power Pivot, Power Query, and Power View.

As per market advancement, Microsoft has been updating the application with the latest features and functions. It helps businesses deal with changing business demands, like data connectivity and security updates.

As per market demand, Microsoft has released Microsoft Power BI to download for the general public in different versions.

Power BI is flexible in terms of functionality and can be implemented in any business model, irrespective of its complexity. Also, with cloud-based deployment, you can automate and access the data using any device from anywhere and anytime.

Power BI: Market Analysis

As per a report published by Trust Radius, Microsoft Power BI is the most popular business intelligence tool with a market share of 36.53%, followed by Tableau Desktop by 30%.

Business intelligence software like MS Power BI has gained market share by improving enterprise processes across various departments. Such departments include sales, finance, manufacturing, warehousing, and supply chain, which accept the change with growing market demands.

Based on the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms, Microsoft is recognised as a leader for the fourth consecutive year.

Microsoft has understood that managing large sums of data within an organisation is difficult and needs a proper system. Power BI eliminates this issue leveraging the power of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning).

Why Choose Power BI for your Business?

Microsoft Power BI can accelerate your business by enabling you to understand, utilise, and harness the power of data. It eliminates the use of different applications to process data analysis and visualisations. Even so, Power BI reduces the complexity, cost, and security risks associated with using data to make analytical decisions.

It updates each activity that happens with any of the business processes. Once you implement Power BI in your business, users will be empowered to share, collaborate, and take instant decisions. Whether you are an admin user or a data entry operator, you will get your data in real time. This will open up endless opportunities while enhancing overall efficiency.

The conversion of raw data into insights enables a business to save a lot of investment that it can use to grow. With exceptional visual representation, you will be able to understand the insights of different data forms without any complexity.

This blog is just a glimpse of Power BI. If you want to deep-dive into the tools, functionalities, and capabilities, you should read the Power BI Guide published in 2023.

Summing Up!

Microsoft Power BI is a simple yet powerful way to transform your data into meaningful data in the form of reports and graphical representations. Such representations help users make decisions faster based on actionable data.

With seamless visualisation, custom dashboards, and system-connecting facilitation; Power BI offers easy data analysis and data representation.

If you have any queries or want to implement Power BI with your existing Microsoft ERP, feel free to call 0207 193 2502 Dynamics Square. We are a team of experts that offers reliable and cost-effective support, maintenance, and implementation services.