What is Power BI?
Power BI is a business intelligence tool that allows users to collect and transform their data into interactive and insightful visualisations. It can be used to create interactive charts, reports, graphs, and maps that help users to understand their data. Power BI also includes features that allow users to collaborate on data analysis and share their findings and insights with others.
The Power BI Platform offers organisations more than data analytics. It features a dashboard that gives your organisation a 360-degree view of all business and client data so that you can keep track of all the metrics in real-time and across various devices.
This helps shore up your data compliance while leveraging data insights to get ahead of the competition. So, it helps to think of Power BI as an all-in-one business intelligence platform that helps users reign in multiple data sources for actionable insights and leads.
Microsoft Power BI features an intuitive, one-click interface and advanced business analytic tools. However, most people are unaware that Power BI is not a single application but a suite of services, which you can pick based on your organisation’s needs. And this makes picking the most suitable Power BI service somewhat challenging.
Here are some of the Power BI Versions offered by the service:
Power BI Desktop
Power BI Desktop is able to connect data from multiple sources and combine them into actionable data models. This can save users a great deal of time and effort, as well as making it easier to spot patterns and trends that might otherwise be missed. In addition, Power BI Desktop provides 10GB of total storage in the Power BI cloud, 1GB of file upload size, and access to a library of visualisation templates. This makes it a very versatile tool that can be used for a variety of different purposes.
Finally, users can export data and reports to Excel if they wish, but they cannot share anything with their peers. This may be seen as a disadvantage by some, but works if you only use the suite for personal analysis. There’s no doubt that Power BI Desktop is a powerful tool for business intelligence practitioners. It’s fast, easy to use, and valuable when creating reports.
But there are some drawbacks to using Power BI Desktop that can make it less than ideal for sharing with a wider audience. For one, Power BI Desktop doesn’t support peer-to-peer sharing of data and visualisations. Also, you get a cap on the number of times you can refresh and update your reports, 8 times per day, which can be done after every hour or every half an hour.
Power BI Pro
Power BI Pro is the most popular service available from Microsoft. It provides a wide range of capabilities for users within your organisation who need to create, share, publish and access Power BI reports.
However, the Power BI Pro is not far off from the Power BI desktop option. They both have the same storage capacities and file upload sizes, as well as the same rate of report updates and refreshes.
The major difference between the two is that Power BI Pro allows users to share their data, visualisations, and dashboards privately with other users who also have an active Power BI Pro license. This makes Power BI Pro a great option for businesses who need to share data internally between employees or for individuals who need to collaborate on data projects with others.
Power BI Premium
At first glance, Microsoft Power BI Premium might seem like a simple upgrade from the Pro version. However, there are several key differences that make Power BI Premium a more powerful tool for enterprise-level businesses. Perhaps the most significant difference is the way licensing is handled. With Power BI Pro, every user needs their own license. But with Power BI Premium, users only pay for the amount of storage and processing they need, rather than requiring a separate license for each user. This makes it much easier to scale Power BI usage up or down as needed without having to worry about excess licenses.
There are six different capacity models to choose from, so businesses stand a better chance of finding the perfect fit for their needs. But also beware that if you need to create, publish, and share reports and visualisations with other users, you will still need a separate license. But if you just need to interact with Power BI content, no additional license is required.
Additionally, Power BI Premium includes support for larger datasets and more extensive features than the Pro version. As a result, it is better suited for businesses that need to work with large amounts of data on a regular basis.
Power BI Premium also comes with more advanced capabilities that include:
- Access to more extensive data sets (50GB limit) and model sizes
- Higher refresh rates
- Cloud and On-premises connectivity
- Advanced AI functionality
- Ability to save Power BI data on-site using the Power BI server
- 100TB worth of storage
Power BI Embedded
As the name suggests, this is a BI platform that is designed to be integrated into other applications. It’s not a stand-alone version and can be described as more of an add-on. It allows developers to embed Power BI data visualisations, functionality, capabilities and reports into their applications without having to build their own BI infrastructure.
Power BI Mobile Apps
Microsoft Power BI Mobile is the mobile app version of Power BI that allows users to access business intelligence (BI) content on their mobile devices. The app is available for iOS, Android, and Windows phone devices.
BI Mobile offers a range of features, including the ability to view dashboards and reports, interact with data visualisations, and receive data alerts that are sent directly to the users’ phones. This makes it possible for users to stay up-to-date with their data even when they are on the go, as well as giving them the ability to share their findings with others.
Power BI Report Server
Power BI Report Server augments an optimised version of the Power BI desktop with a reporting server and a set of other ready-to-deploy tools and services.
Power BI Report Server is an on-premise server that is perfect for businesses who cannot store their data on the cloud due to various reasons such as legislation. However, it’s still compatible with the cloud version, so the change will be seamless anytime you need to shift. Primarily used for report generation, Power BI Report Server must be used alongside the desktop app as it cannot work with the browser option.
A downside to using Power BI Report Server is that you do not have access to the various dashboards and workspace applications and Excel analysis and data alerts available with the cloud version. But besides that, Power BI Report Server provides a great solution for businesses who are unable to use the cloud version of Power BI and is a popular choice for businesses that require on-premise data storage solutions.
Helpful Features that Power BI Offers
Power BI services unify organisation-wide data from various applications regardless of whether you have an on-premises or cloud data network. Its dashboard is a gateway to SQL servers, system models, and other core sources of data.
If you already have reporting portals or applications, embed Power BI reports and dashboards for a unified experience.
Here is how these reporting features and tools can help your organisation:
Power BI Dashboard
This intuitive terminal allows you to view multiple data sets, create reports and share them within your organisation. It shows data sets and workbooks associated with a single workspace that allows you to:
- Display data visualisations from multiple sources of data
- Collate response plans based on different reports
- Can display visualisations pinned from other tools (e.g., Excel)
- Display visualisations of data from various applications like Microsoft Excel or Word
Power BI Reports
Power BI reports usually come as a page or more engaging data visualisations, including charts, graphs and more. Such reports can be made from scratch at the push of a button.
You can also import other reports and dashboards to compile one report.
Power BI reports can also gather datasets from desktop apps, online services, and other SaaS applications. These reports are secure because only the author or someone with authorisation can annotate or edit them.
Everyone else is restricted merely to reading the reports–a factor that enhances organisation-wide compliance and data-driven decision-making.
Power BI Datasets
This consists of a collection of datasets from diverse software and networking components. It starts with the data associated with one Workspace, which you can expand to cover more connected computers, mobile devices and networking systems. Power BI Datasets can also work for cloud data sets captured using HTTP protocols.
Power BI Workspace
Workspaces are interfaces that hold all the datasets, reports and dashboards within Power BI. Here is how you can use Power BI workspaces:
My Workspace: is the personal interface that helps individual Power BI users navigate the application and yield actionable reports from data insights. Only a licence holder can compile and edit reports through this Workspace. However, you can change the access privileges when you want to collaborate with your colleagues.
App Workspace: this allows you to collaborate with more people and share reports and other content. It manages apps and collects, publishes, and shares data throughout the organisation. To top it off, you can add colleagues and other collaborators on the fly even if you don’t have a Power BI Pro license–just one of the perks of opting for Power BI Premium.
Advantages of Using Power BI Service
There are a few advantages to using Microsoft Power BI services instead of other business intelligence solutions.
Here are a few advantages of using Microsoft Power BI services:
Integration and Flexibility
One advantage of using the Power BI service is its integration with other Microsoft products. Power BI can be used to create interactive reports and dashboards that can be embedded in Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Visio, and SharePoint. This tight integration makes it easy for users to share data and insights across the Microsoft ecosystem.
Additionally, Power BI online services enables users to access their data and reports from anywhere, at any time. This flexibility is critical for today’s mobile workforce.
Collaboration and Sharing
The ability to share data, reports and dashboards with other users makes it possible to work together on projects more effectively. It also means that you can keep team members up to date with the latest information. Furthermore, Power BI service makes it easy to distribute reports and dashboards to a wide audience.
Power BI service also offers users the ability to collaborate with others on data analysis projects. This feature allows multiple users to work on the same project, making it easier to pool resources and ideas.
Supports AI Integration and Advanced Data Services
Power BI tools integrate with Microsoft’s Bot Framework and Cortana with ease. This ensures machines can respond to verbal queries in natural and easy-to-understand language.
Gives Real-Time Analytics
Microsoft Power BI streams analytics in real-time. Aside from reducing latency in making data-driven business decisions, your organisation can leverage live data from social media and other sensors.
Large Data Pool also Pairs with Azure for “Big Data” Collection
Power BI has the ability to connect to a wide range of data sources, both on-premise and in the cloud. This gives organisations access to a much larger pool of data, which can be used to make more informed decisions.
One of the other key advantages of Power BI is its integration with Azure, which allows organisations to collect and analyse large datasets from multiple sources.
Why Choose Atulit for Your Power BI Services
Your company can actualise previously unattainable goals simply by letting the data work for you. As one of the South India’s premier managed service providers, Atulit is here to help your organisation navigate the complexities of adding Power BI service and other data analytic components.
Why choose us?
We Are Always On Stand-By: Reach out to our IT support team via email or telephone 24/7/365. There’s always someone on the line ready to help.
We Are Proactive And Take Data Security Seriously: We know that your data is valuable and that protecting it is essential to the success of your business. That’s why we have a team of dedicated security experts who are ready to deploy strategic counter-measures to protect your data and system architecture.
We Have Experience: We pride ourselves on our experience. Our team consists of IT specialists with decades of combined experience across various industries in the South India. We have worked with clients of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, and have a proven track record of delivering results.
Satisfied Partnerships: Not only are we the South India’s leading Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Partners, but we’re also passionate about providing the best possible service to our clients. We firmly believe that our success is built on the satisfaction of our clients, which is why we always go the extra mile to ensure that they’re happy with our products and services.
Contact Us Today for Your Power BI Service Needs
Microsoft Power BI’s powerful reports and interactive dashboards can provide a wealth of data insights from multiple sources. We can help you unify all your business applications and data reporting portals with our strategic Power BI services integration.
Our team of experienced consultants will work with you to understand your specific needs and requirements and then create a customised solution that meets those needs. We also offer ongoing technical support and maintenance, so you can ensure that your Power BI system will always be up-to-date and running smoothly.
Contact us today to schedule a complimentary initial consultation with one of our Power BI services experts.