It’s no secret that a good business makes decisions backed by solid data analysis. As the data and analytics boom continues, many businesses are looking to decide on the right BI and data platform for them. The marketplace has a fair few players in it, but you can’t even scratch the surface of this space without coming across Power BI. Microsoft Power BI has emerged as a powerhouse tool for businesses seeking to harness the full potential of their data. Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, Power BI offers a plethora of benefits that can transform the way you visualise, analyse, and interpret data.
Microsoft Power BI is Mintivo’s BI platform of choice, so we thought we’d tell you why and help you understand why Power BI is the best BI platform choice for us and millions of other businesses globally.
1) It’s the #1 market leader
Ok, this first one isn’t technically a feature or function of Power BI, but it’s a pretty big deal. Power BI is recognised by global technology analysts Gartner as the market leading BI platform in 2022, and Microsoft were even named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and BI Platforms.
Gartner identify Power BI as the most visionary product in the market, and with the best ability to deliver on that vision. Before we get into the many cool features and benefits of Power BI, it being the biggest fish in the BI pond shouldn’t be ignored if you’re looking to invest in a robust, proven BI ecosystem for your business.
2) Self-service analytics at your fingertips
It often takes leaders too long to get the answers they need to make key business decisions. They have the vision for what they need but have to wait for developers to build them a new report. This empowers users to explore data, ask ad-hoc questions, and derive insights on their own, reducing dependency on IT resources and accelerating the decision-making process.
Power BI has self service options for quickly getting answers to important questions from your data. You can even type in plain English questions and get the answer instantly thanks to built-in AI (Artificial Intelligence). Power BI will seriously cut down your time to insight.
3) All your data anywhere, anytime
Self-service doesn’t stop there. Power BI has a powerful mobile app that lets you access dashboards and reports on the move. You can analyse, annotate, and share them, even when you’re not in the office.
With the recent Data in Space features you can even pin Power BI dashboards to physical locations and use powerful Augmented Reality to view them from your mobile. Imagine running a chain of stores and being able to walk up to the front of any branch, point your phone camera at it, and instantly see all the latest sales data for that store.
By leveraging the Data in Space features, businesses can take data visualisation to the next level. Whether it’s monitoring sales performance at different locations, analysing customer behaviour in specific areas, or tracking inventory levels in warehouses, Data in Space empowers users to contextualise data in real-world settings using Augmented Reality.
4) Harness the power of AI
Power BI’s built in AI doesn’t just allow you to ask questions when you think of them. It can also go and analyse your datasets and suggest insights for you based on patterns and trends. It can help you answer the questions you need but it can also ask the questions you might not even have thought to ask, paving the way to new insights.
This proactive approach to data analysis empowers users to uncover hidden patterns, correlations, and outliers within their datasets, driving discovery and innovation. Whether it’s identifying emerging trends, predicting future outcomes, or spotting anomalies, Power BI’s AI capabilities enable businesses to stay ahead of the curve and make data-driven decisions with confidence.
5) Fully integrated with Microsoft 365 and Azure
As a Microsoft product Power BI fits seamlessly into the wider Microsoft ecosystem. It integrates with all of your favourite common Microsoft Office tools. Want to model some data from a Power BI report in Excel? Want to embed your Power BI dashboard into a PowerPoint presentation so the data refreshes every time you give that presentation? No problem at all.
Power BI enables you to embed your dashboards directly into PowerPoint presentations, ensuring that your data remains dynamic and up-to-date every time you deliver a presentation. This integration streamlines workflows and enhances collaboration, allowing users to leverage the full power of Power BI within their existing productivity tools.
Additionally, the wider Azure integration means that your entire data ecosystem can be linked together seamlessly. From data lakes to data warehouses, databases, and advanced analytics services like sentiment analysis and live data streaming, Power BI enables you to leverage Azure’s comprehensive suite of services to drive insights and innovation.
6) Genuinely Actionable insights
Power BI is also part of Microsoft’s wider Power Platform toolset. It has amazing integration with PowerApps and PowerAutomate. This means you can embed functionality to take actions within your Power BI dashboards.
This integration unlocks a new level of interactivity and actionability within your Power BI dashboards. With PowerApps, you can embed custom functionality directly into your reports, enabling users to take actions based on insights gleaned from the data. For example, imagine looking at repair dashboards for a fleet of vehicles and being able to raise a maintenance job for a vehicle then and there based on the data you’re seeing without ever leaving your report.
Imagine looking at repair dashboards for a fleet of vehicles and being to raise a maintenance job for a vehicle then and there based on the data you’re seeing without ever leaving your report.
7) No more arguing over who’s data is right!
Power BI uses published datasets to run reports. That means you can have everyone in your business looking at exactly the same set of pre-built and approved data.
This standardised approach to data access ensures consistency and accuracy across the organisation. People can go and build their own reports from these datasets, but they’ll always be working from exactly the same data and queries so no more getting different answers to the same questions. This eliminates the risk of discrepancies or conflicting interpretations, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working from a single source of truth.
This is a huge win for your company culture and data governance with data and BI becoming more trusted and reliable. Additionally, this fosters a culture of collaboration and transparency, where data-driven insights are shared and understood by all stakeholders.
8) Always have the latest data
To make the right decisions at the right time for your business you need to be looking at the latest data at all times. So often business leaders are given reports in Excel that are already out of date by the time they’re read.
With Power BI it’s easy to connect directly to your data sources and get the latest information every time you view a report so you’re not making decisions based on old intel. Power BI also offers real-time data streaming capabilities, allowing you to monitor and analyse data as it changes in real-time. Whether you’re tracking sales performance, monitoring website traffic, or analysing social media engagement, Power BI ensures that you have access to the latest data at your fingertips, empowering you to make informed decisions with confidence.
9) Use data to start the conversation
In Power BI you can easily share insights, visuals, or even whole reports with your colleagues at the touch of a button. Send a report to your team in seconds or share insights in Teams chat.
You can even embed Power BI fully into Teams. This seamless integration allows departments to discuss and collaborate around data-driven insights in real-time, fostering a healthier, more productive culture built around facts, not opinions. Whether you’re discussing sales performance, customer trends, or operational metrics, having access to data-driven insights empowers teams to have more informed discussions and make better decisions together.
This can drive a healthier, more productive culture built around facts, not opinions.
10) Data security as standard
Microsoft are global leaders in cyber security so it won’t surprise you that Power BI has exceptional security controls to keep your data safe.
Data is fully encrypted as standard, and there are a host of options for managing access within your business so only the right people see the right data at the right level of detail to make sure that you stay compliant. Role-based access controls allow you to define who has access to specific reports, dashboards, or datasets, ensuring that only the right people see the right data at the right level of detail. This granular control over data access helps organisations enforce data governance policies and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
At Mintivo, we understand the importance of leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Power BI to drive business success. As a leading IT service provider, we’re committed to helping businesses harness the full potential of Power BI and other innovative solutions to achieve their goals and stay ahead of the curve.
Ready to take your data analytics to the next level with Microsoft Power BI? Contact Mintivo today to learn more about how we can help you implement, optimise, and leverage Power BI to drive actionable insights, streamline operations, and drive business growth.
