Nowadays, organizations of varying sizes and types have to use huge data sets for sustenance and revenue growth, and this is a global trend. However, for these businesses, gathering, analyzing, and deciphering huge volumes of data is not a breeze. They have to use specialized software applications to deal with massive amounts of data per day. The process of collecting, analyzing, and representing data in an easily understandable manner, visually, is called Business Intelligence or BI. Businesses resort to using BI solutions, and large-sized entities also hire BI consultancy providers.
What is BI consulting?
While BI tools can very well be used by businesses of varying types, sometimes they need the expertise of professionals who are well versed in using such specialized applications. A BI consultant/expert uses the apt technologies to help client companies acquire data from multiple sources, refine and filter the data sets to prepare visually comprehensive reports. Their analytical skills and technical abilities prove to be of immense help to the clients. BI analysts and consultants play key roles in decision-making and planning strategies for the client entities.
These are what a BI consultant typical does:
- Validation of data collected from multiple sources.
- Monitoring the process of data storage.
- Development of policies for ongoing data collection and analysis.
- Implementation of various data analysis methodologies.
- Developing report generation guidelines.
- Aligning data analysis process to meet business goals of the company.
- Aiding the clients in making key decisions and predictive analysis.
The Business Intelligence consultants develop and tweak data strategies to ensure the long-term goals of the client entity are met. Their role may vary from one client to another, accordingly. If the company already has a BI application in place, the analyst reviews the existing architecture and optimizes data strategies. Or else, the analyst develops the data analysis strategy from scratch. They suggest the apt BI tool/technology matching client needs and also develop a comprehensive roadmap. Typically, they prefer working with tools like Tableau and Microsoft Power BI.
You can find BI analysts and consultants working for reputed power bi consulting services, and there are freelancing BI consultants too.
Why businesses prefer Microsoft Power BI over other options for data analysis and visualisation
There are several BI solutions, but a lot of companies hailing from diverse niches often prefer using Mycroft Power BI. This is not without solid reasons. Over the years, Microsoft has enriched the tools with many useful features, and it has become more versatile as a result. The demand for power bi development has gone up with time.
Listed below are the reasons that make Power BI a champion in the BI sector:
- Support for multiple data sources- Based on the needs, a company may have to fetch data from various online and offline sources. So, the BI tool chosen by it has to support all available data sources. The good thing about Power BI is it supports a huge number of data sources. It supports over 70 such sources. With Power BI, you can import data from Microsoft’s own applications and services, such as Excel and Azure. It also supports acquiring data from third-party services like DropBox, SalesForce. It supports SQL Database too.
- Ease of usage- There is no denying Power BI is a robust tool with a huge number of features embedded. However, that does not mean it is hard to earn and use. On the contrary, it is among the top user-friendly BI solutions in the market. The tool has a nice drag and drop UI, and getting the hang of it is simple. In most cases, employees in various organisations do not face hardships in learning the application. However, sometimes, taking guidance from veteran power bi consultants can be helpful.
- Powerful tool- Microsoft has designed Power BI to streamline workflow in data analysis and visualisation. Its embedded Power Pivot data modelling engine is very useful. It deploys advanced tabular database technologies for database compression, and that aids in speeding up workflow. So, the Power BI Workbook tends to be way smaller than the original data sets. Power BI can deal with huge data sets without slowing down or consuming a lot of resources. It also features automated, incremental refreshes, and so data remains updated.
- Rich resources of visual elements- Power BI comes with a lot of visual elements that can be immensely useful for data visualisation. You get plenty of maps, charts and graphs to begin with. You can also customise the default visual elements to a large extent to suit your needs.
- Ideal for veteran Data analysts- While Power BI is simple enough to be used by employees in an organisation without huge experience in the BI sector, it also comes with advanced features that can be useful for seasoned BI consultants. It supports an open-source programming language called R. R scripts that have statistical computing and complex graphical techniques useful for statistical modelling and data manipulation.
- Perfect for users habituated to Excel- In many organisations, popular Microsoft applications and services are used profusely. Thousands of organisations across the world use MS Excel for calculation and accounting needs. Power BI has solid integration with Excel, and so employees who are habituated to using Excel face no hardship in making the switch over to this platform. Its self-service Power Query tool seems quite familiar to Excel users, as well.
- Solid on the security front- While picking a BI tool for your company, you cannot overlook the security aspect at all. After all, the tool will be used to deal with important data. That may include confidential company data and customer information. Power BI does not compromise on the security front. It has embedded Azure Active Directory for effective user authentication. So the risk of unauthorised data access is minimised.
- Intuitive, natural language query engine- Power BI comes with a natural language query engine which is very intuitive and useful. This embedded Q&A feature lets users find answers to multiple queries fast, without facing hiccups. There is no need to use complex coding. In fact, the mobile edition of Power BI has support for voice recognition Q&A tech. So, the employees can find solutions to their queries on the move.
- Superb report creation and sharing- Using Power BI, creating reports after analysing data sets is simple, and takes little time. These reports can then be shared across teams within the company and even with those who do not use the tool quickly. This helps in keeping the employees updated, and taking decisions becomes easier.
Conclusion
Power BI is a versatile BI solution that can be beneficial for companies of varying types across domains. However, to extract the most out of this feature-rich BI tool, you will need the services of power bi experts.
