Power BI is an innovative data analysis and visualisation tool used by businesses to unlock the power of their data. It enables organisations to quickly connect to existing datasets, build interactive dashboards and reports, analyse trends in data over time, create compelling visuals for sharing insights with colleagues, and gain valuable insights from their organisation’s data. With Power BI’s powerful capabilities, businesses can make decisions faster and more accurately than ever. BI, or Business Intelligence, is a growing theme in IT systems for business. Oracle, SAP, Salesforce and many other major IT companies are investing in being able to provide Business Intelligence. Power BI is Microsoft’s response to this trend. Given that most organisations use Excel, this programme is ideal for people using their Excel data to generate Business Intelligence reports.
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft launched Power BI in late 2013 as a cloud-based data analysis and visualisation service. Since then, the product has become one of the world’s leading business analytics products. The tool provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface allowing users to create interactive visuals from their data sets quickly.
In short, it’s a comprehensive and robust analytics platform that helps businesses gain insights from their data. Power BI can connect to hundreds of data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and the cloud. It also offers a range of pre-built visualisations and dashboards, allowing users to create up-to-date reports on their organisation’s performance quickly.
Benefits of Power BI
There are many advantages to using this programme for your business. Here are some key benefits:
- Enhanced decision-making – With interactive visuals and the ability to track trends over time, users can make more informed decisions about their organisation’s future direction.
- Cost savings – Organisations can save time and money by automating manual processes and streamlining reporting tasks.
- Improved customer experience – To analyse customer data, such as purchase behaviour or feedback scores, organisations can make more informed decisions on optimising their customer experience.
What is Power BI used for?
When you look at a spreadsheet, your brain can only process so much information in one go. You can quickly visualise and analyse data from multiple sources to uncover hidden insights that are difficult to uncover by simply looking at a chart or graph.
It also makes it easier for teams to collaborate on data analysis projects. Everyone can work on the same task in real-time, share insights and visuals, and make more informed decisions faster.
How Power BI Can Be Used In Different Industries
Power BI has various uses across various industries, such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. Here are some ways it can be used to increase performance and efficiency in each of these industries:
Healthcare: Power BI can track patient data, analyse trends over time, and identify areas for improvement. It can also create interactive visuals to help doctors quickly understand patient health changes and make decisions based on the findings.
Finance: Power BI can help financial professionals identify market trends, track investments’ performance, and discover growth opportunities. It can also provide an interactive view of a company’s financial data to help make more informed decisions.
Manufacturing: Power BI can improve manufacturing efficiency by analysing production times trends, tracking inventory levels, and identifying areas for improvement. It can also provide interactive visuals to see how changes quickly affect production.
Final Thoughts
Historically, data analysis and visualisation were time-consuming, complex processes. Organisations can quickly and easily analyse their data to gain valuable insights that can help them make more informed decisions faster.
Organisations across healthcare, finance, and many other industries are already using Power BI’s powerful capabilities to unlock the power of their data – and you can too.
You can find out about our Excel Courses and Power BI Courses here.