In the 21st century businesses of all sizes have a ton of data. But data alone does not drive success. Instead, we need useful information. This is where Microsoft Power BI comes in. The “BI” stands for Business Intelligence. Microsoft Power BI gives businesses, large and small, the opportunity to convert their raw data into meaningful information that provides the insights needed to make smart business decisions.
What is Power BI?
Microsoft Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools and a cloud-based business analytics service from Microsoft. Power BI includes the following components:
- Power BI Desktop: A free Windows-based desktop application used to gather, clean, model, transform and analyze data, and then turn that data into business intelligence reports using various visualizations (charts, maps, tables, etc.). The reports can be printed, saved as PDFs, exported to various applications, and/or published to the cloud using the Power BI Service.
- Power BI Service: A web-based online service that allows organizations to share and manipulate business intelligence in the form of reports and interactive dashboards.
- Power BI Mobile Apps: Apps for mobile devices (Android, iOS, and Windows based phones and tablets) for viewing, manipulating, annotating, and sharing Power BI reports and dashboards.
- Power BI Visuals Marketplace: A marketplace where you can get additional visuals for Power BI; some have a fee, and some are free.
What can you do with Power BI?
Power BI lets you do many things to manipulate and visualize your data, including:
- Pull data in from multiple sources including SAP, Oracle, SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, QuickBooks, websites, and more.
- Easily clean up, manipulate, and filter your data with the query editor.
- Envision business information by creating bar charts, column charts, pie charts, donut charts, ribbon charts, scatter charts, waterfall charts, funnel charts, maps, gauges, KPIs, tables, matrices and more.
- Combine multiple visualizations into a report.
- Create interactive dashboards that allow viewers to interact with the data to provide uncover insights that would be missed in a static report.
- Share the reports and dashboards on different devices (desktops, tablets, and smartphones).
- Make use of Artificial Intelligence to gain quick insights from your data.
How much does it cost?
Power BI has three versions which are explained below.
Power BI Free: The Power BI Desktop application without the Power BI Service. This allows users to connect to multiple data sources, analyze the data, and create visualizations and reports. The reports can be shared indirectly by exporting the report to a PDF which is then shared on a server or via email. Cloud-based sharing is not possible until a paid version is acquired.
Power BI Pro: The free Power BI Desktop plus a monthly subscription to the Power BI Service. This gives users the full version of Power BI. They can create visualizations, reports, and dashboards that can be shared with other users who also have a Power BI Service subscription. The Power BI Pro subscription costs $10.00 per user per month. Microsoft offers a free 60-day trial. For more information see Power BI Pricing.
Power BI Premium: An alternative to Power BI Pro that includes all the features of Power BI Pro plus enterprise-oriented features for AI, data management and big data. Power BI Premium can be purchased for $20 per user per month, or for $4,995 per capacity per month. For more details visit Power BI Pricing.
Conclusion
Power BI is a game-changer for both small and large businesses. Its ability to consolidate data, provide real-time insights, and empower users with easy-to-use tools makes it a valuable asset.
If you would like to learn more about Power BI, please check out TechMentors’ Power BI Level 1 and Level 2 course outlines.
