Microsoft’s Power BI is a common business intelligence tool that business analysts and professionals use. Learn more about this important tool today.
Microsoft Power BI is a data visualisation and reporting platform that is used by businesses and professionals every day. While the platform is commonly used by business analysts, it is also designed to be easily accessible for those without any specialised data knowledge.
Read on to learn about Power BI, what modern businesses use it for, and the professionals who typically work with it. Towards the end, you’ll also explore some alternatives, including online specialisations and guided projects, to help you get started with this important business intelligence tool.
Learn to use Microsoft's Power BI software and create data visualisations for your team. Pursue a career as a data analyst expert in Power BI with the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate.
Microsoft Power BI is a data visualisation platform used primarily for business intelligence purposes. Designed for business professionals with varying levels of data knowledge, Power BI’s dashboard can report and visualize data in a wide range of different styles, including graphs, maps, charts, scatter plots, and more. Meanwhile, power BI's "AI Insights" functionality uses artificial intelligence to find insights within data sets for users.
Power BI itself includes several interrelated applications:
Power BI Desktop: Create interactive reports with visual analytics.
Power BI Pro: Collaborate on interactive reports throughout your organisation.
Power BI Premium: Unify self-service and enterprise BI.
Power BI Mobile: Access business intelligence data from any device.
Power BI Embedded: White-label Power BI to provide customer-facing dashboards and analytics in your apps.
Power BI Report Server: The on-premises solution is included in Premium; you can move it to the cloud.
Power BI is also part of Microsoft’s Power Platform, which includes Power Apps, Pages, Automate, and Virtual Agents. Created as “low-code tools,” these applications help businesses analyse and visualise data, design business solutions, automate processes, and create no-code chatbots.
Whether you’re a data enthusiastor are just entering the business world, Power BI can empower you with data-driven insights. Some of the most common uses for the platform include:
Connect various data sources, such as Excel sheets, onsite data warehouses, and cloud-based data storage, and transform them into business insights.
Integrate Power BI with a website.
Track key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in real time.
Built-in AI and machine learning are used to make business predictions based on historical data.
Provide company-wide access to data, data visualisation tools, and insights to create a data-driven work culture.
Collaborate on workspaces and shared datasets.
Create financial statements and balance sheets.
Analyse sales performance and profit.
Integrate Power BI with a CRM system to analyse customer data and use insights to improve customer experience.
Analyse market trends and consumer behavior to discover opportunities.
Watch this video to learn about data visualisation and enroll in Google's Data Analytics course:
Power BI users aren’t limited to data professionals, such as data scientists or data engineers, and can include various business users. The platform is intentionally designed so non-technical users can easily create reports, manipulate data, and perform in-depth data analysis operations.
Nonetheless, some of the most common analyst positions that use the platform daily include the following:
Business analysts
Business intelligence analysts
Supply chain analysts
Data analyst
As data becomes increasingly important to the daily functioning of businesses' goods and services, so too do business intelligence platforms capable of turning that data into insights, reports, and interactive visualisations.
For example, a university attempting to optimise the efficiency of its buildings might set up a system (like a digital twin) to collect real-time data on critical building systems. Afterward, they might connect these data sources to Power BI and identify areas for improvement.
Meanwhile, an advertising company running a digital marketing campaign might monitor its effectiveness by connecting various data sources to Power BI and generating a dashboard highlighting key figures. Here, marketers could better understand the marketing channels best for reaching their target market.
Whilst Microsoft’s Power BI is one of the most popular business intelligence platforms, it’s not the only one out there. As you’re exploring BI solutions for your workplace or future career, you might also consider exploring some common alternatives to Power BI, such as:
Tableau is a user-friendly and flexible platform for data visualisation. Some of the key features include drag-and-drop data exploration and single-sign-on integration.
Domo offers data integration, business intelligence and analytics, embedded analytics, app creation, and security and governance.
Yellowfin is an enterprise and embedded analytics platform. Key features include action-based dashboards, automated analysis, and data storytelling.
Qlik Sense offers data integration, embedded and augmented analytics, and AI and ML capabilities.
SAP Business Intelligence enables contextualised business insights, run data-driven simulations and forecasts, automate workflows, make decisions with AI, and more.
Data empowers modern businesses, equipping them with actionable insights that facilitate strategic decision-making. Prepare for a career in business analytics by earning a cost-effective, online Professional Certificate on Coursera.
Become an expert in Power BI and use it for data analysis and visualisation. The Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate is an excellent option for advancing your skill set. Start today with a free 7-day trial of Coursera Plus.
If you're interested in a position as a business analyst, consider enhancing your resume with Microsoft credentials. You can gain hands-on experience with Power BI and Excel in three months while earning an employer-recognised certificate in the Microsoft Business Analyst Professional Certificate:
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