Data and decisions are interlinked in the evolving business landscape. There is an information overload with the advent of the internet and the growing leniency towards digital transformation. Businesses need to access sound data to gain complete control over their processes and improve visibility.

When you have the power of data, you can make decisions that can enhance experiences. Microsoft’s Power BI is an excellent business intelligence tool that can help visualize the data and understand what it indicates.

Instead of reading through the data, you can skim through the numbers, build insights and make smarter recommendations for your business. It is a valuable tool for all decision-makers.

Top Reasons to Use Power BI

Power BI, as we know, is a business intelligence tool that gives you a holistic and pictorial view of the numbers that represent your business. For example, you will see the difference between the sales figures for the past and current month with the visual representation.

You can build graphs and charts to help you identify how the data can impact your business. Let’s look at all the benefits of Power BI in the business landscape.

1. Connect the Data

As a key decision-maker in your business, you realize that data comes from various sources. For example, if you have a retail business, your sales reports can come from the POS, sales team, and eCommerce sales. Data is entirely fragmented, so it becomes difficult to measure and analyze it.

You will need to connect the data from all the sources and ensure you get all the numbers required to decide. It could be changing your sales strategy or adding a product to your store.

Adding new data sources is easy with Power BI. You can choose from multiple sources, including Google drive, your CRM, and even the SQL database. Once you have used the in-built data connectors to gather the information, Power BI will perform the analysis and quickly draw charts and graphs that give you a complete view of your shop floor activities.

You also create custom charts using the pick-n-drop tools.

2. Low Learning Curve

Whenever you pick a data analysis tool, it should have a minimal learning curve. This helps you get a headstart on what you are trying to achieve.

The tool is not just simple to use but also relatively easy to learn. As it is a simple drag-n-drop creator and allows you to customize the graphs, you can quickly draw the charts relevant to your business needs.

In this case, the data modeling is based on Microsoft SQL and Access database. So, if you have been using these tools for a while, you would know how to use BI. It is pretty easy to move from the other devices to this one.

3. Access to Real-time Data

When you need to make decisions, you must access information in real-time. For example, if you want to put stock out the notice on a product, you need to be aware of the real-time inventory for the particular product. Similarly, if you’re going to start a promotion, you should know the sales figure for the specific service or product.

With Power BI, you have integrated and connected the data sources that impact your business. As a result, the data flow in real-time and empowers the key decision-makers. It helps accomplish the results that you seek at the time you need.

4. Makes Collaboration Possible

When working with data tools and modeling, you need to connect with your team to ensure the decisions are reflected and the results are positive. The collaboration needs to be immediate, where Power BI supports your business.

The user of the Power BI creates reports that can be published elsewhere. They customize the charts further and graphs to match the individual goals and share them with other team members.

You can also make these charts accessible on mobile devices across applications. When there is more interactivity over the data, it helps analyze faster and build personalized experiences for the customer.

5. Offers a Secure Interface

When it comes to data and analysis, the first thought that comes to your mind is security. You may have data that is compliant with specific rules and standards. It is essential to ensure there is no breach of personal data that can cause harm to your business reputation.

Power BI analyzes the business data securely. The platform has been built to ensure there are no data breaches. It is built to meet the data compliance standards such as HIPAA and others.

6. Easy to Use

When we say data modeling, people often believe you need data scientists to get the insights. However, that is not the case with Power BI. It is simple to use and access. Anyone with basic data modeling knowledge and a number crunching understanding can use this tool.

It doesn’t require an in-depth understanding of analytics to build insights. You can view the data in the graphical format, which grants more knowledge of what the numbers convey.

The tool has predictive forecasting models that allow you to gain some understanding of the data and its movement. It will tell you when the data will peak and when it is likely to fall.

7. Saves your Time

Reporting can be a time-consuming affair. You may spend a lot of time collecting the data, making sense of it, and then sending in the reports that talk about the impact you have made.

For example, if you are a marketer, you need to tell the critical decision-makers why you need to increase the budget. You will need to show the impact you have made with the past budget. These reports can be tedious if done manually.

With Power BI, you can use the ready templates and add the numbers you want to showcase. Within minutes, the tool will create graphical reports to help decision-makers.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s Power BI is a high-performing and powerful tool that can help you improve your business’s data analysis and decision-making capabilities. The inclusion of AI in the core can help with predictive analytics and offer more intelligent recommendations.

It has become crucial for businesses to capture, analyze and understand what the data conveys to make user-centric decisions to build relationships. Its integration capabilities can help companies to gain a hawk’s eye view into their shop floor and have better control over the operations.