With organizations investing in business intelligence, there is an increase in demand of Power BI experts. Partnering with a consultant is a popular choice in the global market. We’ll discuss the advantages of hiring a Power BI implementation partner for a business.
Data is a vital part of the current global industry. So much that 2.5 quintillion bytes are generated every day by internet users. A research study says that daily data generation will reach 165 zettabytes per year by 2025. Statista shows that the global big data market will reach $103 billion by 2027.
Data delivers valuable insights and predictions to an organization to make decisions faster and better. The insights are derived through data analytics and business intelligence technologies. A majority of businesses around the world are adopting data analytics and advanced analytics to make the most of the available data.
Facts and Factors has reported that the global predictive analytics market will reach $22.1 billion by 2026. On-premises, cloud and self-servicing analytical and business intelligence tools like Power BI have a crucial role in collecting, cleaning, processing, and analyzing data to deliver actionable insights. But how do organizations integrate and use BI tools?
There are two ways to do so. One is to build an in-house team with data scientists and Power BI experts. Another method (the most preferred) is to hire offshore Power BI consultants to take care of the process. Various BI consulting companies offer services to help small, medium, and large enterprises adopt the data-driven model and make use of the insights derived by Power BI.
Let’s read to find out how Power BI can help your business and why partnering with a consultant is a worthy choice.
Power BI is a suite of business intelligence applications and services offered by Microsoft. It comes in various versions (desktop, web, & mobile) and can be used by any business organization. It is a data analytics and visualization/ reporting tool that shares micro and macro insights in real time. Power BI is an internationally famous BI tool for the range of features and services it offers. Here are some benefits of using Microsoft Power BI in your enterprise.
Data is indeed found in abundance. But how do we collect this data from different sources? You can use Power BI to set up a data processing model where data from multiple sources is collected at a central location. This central database can be a data warehouse or data lake (on-premises or cloud). Power BI is connected to the central database, which has access to data from several sources.
Data integration is the next step after data collection. It’s where data from different sources is cleaned and transformed to provide a unified view. Power BI is known for its data integration abilities that allow a user to create a common data model after aggregating data from a range of sources. The sources can be online and offline. Power Bi’s ETL (Extract, Transform, & Load) tool is known as Power Query Editor.
The biggest advantage of Power BI is to turn raw data into actionable insights. The insights make it easy to understand the patterns, trends, etc., in large datasets. Power BI works with historical and real-time data to deliver insights for decision-making. Employees at different levels in the enterprise can use the insights to complete day-to-day work.
Microsoft has built Power BI to ensure adequate data security and protection. Sensitivity labels, data compliance, defending cloud apps, Microsoft 365 data loss prevention, etc., are some examples of the data security methods adopted by Microsoft to keep your business data safe from unauthorized access and cyber-attacks.
Power BI is also called a data visualization tool because of its ease to create reports and view them in real-time. Data visualization is a way of visualizing data insights in easy-to-understand formats. Line and bar graphs, pie charts, heat maps, tree maps, etc., are a few ways to represent data in graphical/ pictorial format. This allows users to understand patterns easily and quickly.
Power BI offers a customizable and interactive dashboard with a drag-and-drop feature. Users can add filters, KPIs, identifiers, etc., to the dashboard to analyze the same datasets based on various factors. The necessary information can be directly accessed from the dashboard with a couple of clicks. Since the Power BI dashboard is connected to the central system within the business, the data will be up to date at all times.
Power BI comes in different versions. It can be used as a desktop app, web service from the cloud, and mobile app. It can be used as a free or paid service. Microsoft currently offers three versions of Power BI- Free, Pro, and Premium. The consultant will help you choose the right version for your organization based on the volume of business. You can upgrade or downgrade the plans as required.
A Power BI consultant has an extensive role to play in an organization. The consultant has to provide end-to-end services:
The consultant will be responsible for Power BI development, implementation, management, and maintenance in an enterprise. The expert can work with a business from any industry and with varied business requirements. The Power BI consultant will provide tailor-made solutions for each enterprise based on the niche, business volume, market conditions, and long-term goals.
Why do more than half the enterprises adopting the data-driven model hire offshore consultants? There are several advantages of partnering with a Power BI consultant than building an in-house team from scratch and having employees on the payroll.
You need employees with Power BI certification and expertise to build an in-house team. You either have to hire experts or train your existing employees. Recruitment and training are expensive and time-consuming for any business. An easier solution is to partner with Power BI consultant companies that already have the necessary talent and skills.
Since the consultants work with different teams and businesses, they have better knowledge and understanding of how to implement Power BI in your enterprise and customize it for your specific requirements.
The existing teams in your business will not be disturbed. Their projects will not be disrupted or delayed as Power BI consultants work in parallel. This increases the operational efficiency of your business and improves overall productivity. The changes to your business processes will be seamlessly made to avoid loss of work time.
Partnering with offshore Power BI consultants adds extra talent and skills. It brings new ideas and innovation, new processes and systems, without increasing the use of resources. Moreover, the consultant will train the employees to use Power BI for data analytics and report generation.
The main purpose of choosing a Power BI implementation partner is to derive data-driven results for the business through digital transformation. The experts know how to integrate the systems, which ones to replace, which to upgrade, and ways to set up new integrations quickly.
This leads to a unified internal system where each element of the IT infrastructure is linked with the other to ensure smooth data flow. Building a robust and reusable data model will provide real-time insights through data visualization reports.
Microsoft Power BI is seen as an extension of MS Excel. But it is much more than a spreadsheet. While employees are trained to use the dashboard to generate reports, running advanced analytics requires domain expertise.
By using open-source programming languages like Python and R, Power BI consultants can offer AI and ML-based analytics like predictive analysis, sentiment analysis, cluster analysis, big data analysis, and so on.
In today’s competitive scenario, a business that doesn’t use analytics will find it tough to compete with a business that relies on data-driven decision-making. Even small and medium enterprises can compete with large organizations by partnering with expert Power BI consultants.
Staying one step ahead of competitors is necessary to make the most of market opportunities and be proactive instead of reactive. Predictive analytics will prepare your business to tide over the volatile market conditions and increase ROI.
Business intelligence brings value to enterprises. Having a trusted Power BI implementation partner will help you leverage the latest data analytical tools to derive accurate actionable insights. The experts will make the required changes to the existing systems and processes by building a parallel data pipeline and replacing the old with the new.
This also includes how data is cleaned, processed, transformed, and stored in the enterprise. From choosing data sources to building a centralized database, managing data flow, automating updates, etc., the Power BI consultants take care of everything.
Businesses already have to invest substantial money as working capital and revenue expenditure. Creating in-house Power BI teams can further increase costs. Partnering with a consultant is a cost-effective solution that also gives increased returns.
The consultants know how to work with the given resources and find a feasible solution within the constraints. The experts are proficient in helping businesses optimize their resources to reduce the cost of expenditure without compromising quality.
A business won’t stay the same forever. A small business will expand over time to become a mid-scale organization, and a medium-sized business will grow into a large enterprise. You shouldn’t have to start from scratch each time the business expands.
Partnering with a Power BI consultant will make it easy to scale the platform and systems to meet business demands. The consultants will create a flexible and scalable Power BI dashboard to help your business enter newer markets with ease.
Customization is yet another highlight of Power BI. The software suite can be customized to meet a business from any industry, be it finance, manufacturing, hospitality, entertainment, etc.
The Power BI implementation partner is also a managed service provider for business intelligence and data analytical services. The consulting company will have affiliations and certification partners for third-party integrations.
For example, the Power BI consultant can be a partner of Microsoft Azure and set up integrations between the data lake and Power BI. The consultant will fix the errors and glitches that occur from time to time and ensure that the insights are accurate. You can contact the consultant to inspect the software and check for errors.
Take time to choose the right Power BI consultant for your business requirements. Your business needs a partner for the long term so that you can work with someone who knows exactly how they set up Power BI and its integrations within your enterprise.
Ask about their experience, project portfolio, and pricing when finalizing the Power BI consulting partner. It’s time to invest in business intelligence tools like Power BI to make the most of data-driven insights for decision-making. Grow your business and increase returns using advanced BI tools.