What is Microsoft Power BI, and what can it do?

How is Power BI Different from Excel?

Microsoft Excel has been around since 1985 and is easily the most widely used data analysis tool on the planet, so why would you invest the extra time and energy to learn to use Power BI?

Power BI and Excel are so similar that roughly 80% of a report's development time would be nearly identical between the two tools. Once you've completed your data model, the only real difference in development or design exists at the visualization level. Power BI has far superior data visualization tools to create interactive and easy-to-understand reports. Below are some ways to use the program to give you an idea of what it is capable of.

Power BI, offered as a software as a service (SaaS) solution, allows businesses to seamlessly integrate, analyse, and visualize data from multiple sources, providing real-time business insights and creating comprehensive reports.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out our webinar on traditional financial reporting in Excel versus the options available in Power BI and how it can ultimately help grow your business. For more details, visit our webinar page.

What is Power BI used for?

Power BI is built to give you a 360-degree view of your business, where you can design dashboards and reports to make data-driven decisions. Here are some of the ways you can use Power BI:

• Make Data-Driven Decisions: Connect, model, and visualize your data, creating Power BI reports personalized with your brand and, most importantly, your business KPIs. Access dashboards on the go with the Power BI Mobile apps for Windows, iOS, and Android to make data-driven decisions from anywhere.
• Real-Time Insights: With hundreds of on-premises and cloud-based data sources, such as Dynamics 365, Azure SQL Database, Salesforce, Excel, and SharePoint, you can design and share data visualizations that will help your team members—inside and outside your organization—make fact-based decisions in real time.
• Gain Important Insights: Get insights instantly from your favourite applications using pre-built data visualization and report templates. Power BI’s machine learning capabilities mean AI can pick up patterns in data and use them to make informed predictions—perfect for those “what if” scenarios!
• Connect Familiar Tools: Work together easily on the same data, collaborate on reports, and share insights across popular Microsoft Office applications such as Microsoft Teams and Excel—empowering everyone in your organization to make data-driven decisions that drive strategic actions quickly.

Is Power BI Difficult to Learn? 

Power BI’s user interface is fairly intuitive for users familiar with Excel, and its deep integration with other Microsoft products makes it a versatile tool that perhaps only requires training to get you started or for advanced features.

Where Can You Learn Power BI?

Netitude provides customized Power BI co-development and structured training depending on your needs. Our co-development services best suit those seeking help setting up a suitable BI environment, including connecting your data sources and integrating Power BI Premium, Power BI Embedded, and Power BI Report Server.

If you'd like to learn more about Power BI, please get in touch to discuss our training options, including courses on how to use the Power BI service to create and share reports.

Try the Free Version

You can download and use the free version of Power BI here. However, if you want to share your reports, you’ll have to upgrade to Power BI Pro, which is available for a monthly subscription fee. Consider Power BI Premium for dedicated cloud-based resources for more robust enterprise needs.

It’s also worth noting that if you have an Office 365 Enterprise E5 license, you should have access to the tool as part of your package.

Hopefully, you will have a better idea of how Power BI works and how it could be used to make more data-driven decisions in your business. If you want to hear more about this business intelligence tool, watch our webinar “Excel Vs. Power BI.” If you want to learn more about the tool and want our help, don't hesitate to contact us.