What Is Power BI? What It Is, How It’s Used, and More

Microsoft Power BI is a data visualisation and reporting platform that is used by businesses and professionals every day. Whilst 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 more about Power BI, what modern businesses use it for, and the professionals who typically work with it. Toward the end, you’ll also explore some alternatives, including online specialisations and guided projects that can help you get started with this important business intelligence tool.

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What is Microsoft Power BI?

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. Power BI's "AI Insights" functionality, meanwhile, 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 own apps.

• Power BI Report Server: On-premises solution included in Premium; you can move it to the cloud.

Power BI is also a part of Microsoft’s Power Platform, which includes Power Apps, Power Pages, Power Automate, and Power 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. 

What is Power BI used for?

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:

Data integration

• Connect various data sources, such as Excel sheets, onsite data warehouses, and cloud-based data storage, and then transform them into business insights.

• Integrate Power BI with a website.

Business intelligence

• Track key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in real time.

• Use built-in AI and machine learning to make business predictions based on historical data.

Collaboration and sharing

• Provide company-wide access to data, data visualisation tools, and insights to create a data-driven work culture.

• Collaborate on workspaces and shared datasets.

Financial analysis

• Create financial statements and balance sheets.

• Analyse sales performance and profit.

Marketing and sales

• 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 enrol in Google's Data Analytics course:

Who uses Power BI? 

Power BI users aren’t limited to data professionals, such as data scientists or data engineers, and can include a wide range of different business users. In fact, 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 on a daily basis include the following: 

• Business analysts

• Business intelligence analysts

• Supply chain analysts

• Data analyst

Power BI in the real world 

As data becomes more and more important to the daily functioning of the goods and services that businesses provide, 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. 

An advertising company, meanwhile, running a digital marketing campaign might monitor its effectiveness by connecting various data sources to Power BI and generating a dashboard that highlights key figures. Here, marketers would be able to better understand what marketing channels are best for reaching their target market. 

Power BI alternatives 

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, then, 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 makes it possible to get contextualised business insights, run data-driven simulations and forecasts, automate workflows, make decisions with AI, and more.

Start advancing your Power BI skills today 

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:

professional certificate

Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst

Launch your career as a Power BI analyst. Build job-ready skills – and must-have AI skills – for an in-demand career. Earn a credential from Microsoft. No prior experience required.

4.6

(6,120 ratings)

275,256 already enrolled

Beginner level

Learn More

Average time: 5 month(s)

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll build:

Generative AI in Power BI, Data Analysis, Microsoft Excel, SQL, power bi, Power Query, Data Visualization, Design Reports, Design Dashboards, Report Building, Dashboard Creation, Data-driven decisions, Preparing Data, formulas and functions, Data Management, Security Alerting, Data transformation, Data Configuration, Data Modeling, DAX

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Microsoft Business Analyst

Launch your career as a business analyst. Build job-ready skills for an in-demand career in business analysis in as little as 3 months. No prior experience required to get started.

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48,047 already enrolled

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Average time: 3 month(s)

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Skills you'll build:

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio, Business Analysis, Stakeholder Management, Data Analysis, Preparing Data, Pivot Tables, Formulas and Functions, Data Visualization, Business Process, Power BI, Chatbot, Stakeholder Communication, Business Analysis Concepts, Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis Methods, Problem Identification and Analysis, Process Modeling, Data Modeling, Formulate Business Case, Impact Analysis, Gap Analysis, Capability Assessment, Stakeholder Information Gathering, Risk Management, Quality Management, Agile, Project Planning, SCRUM