Sifting through spreadsheets in search of specific data sets is time-consuming and inefficient. It also allows for human error in using incorrect or old data. Power BI brings all your data into one visually appealing platform. 

Not all businesses will have the scale or the need to support a full-time data whiz, which is why Power BI is often used as a self-service tool by various branches of the business to check up on progress and turn up insight into their team’s performance. Power BI works with whatever data you tell it to and is often popular with departments like finance, marketing, sales, human resources, IT, and operations.  

Companies often have multiple disparate sources of asset data that are managed by different teams with no maintained central accountability. Critical business operations like hardware asset management, capacity management, and inventory levels therefore don’t always show true and reliable data. Plugging all data sources into one unified platform makes it easier.

Improving operational awareness is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage. By managing and analysing a company’s data, you can create strategies to help make better, more effective decisions by mitigating expenses, boosting revenue, increasing efficiency, and identifying sales trends. 

Instead of designing charts and reports, use the natural language features of Power BI to ask questions, getting visualised data in return. You can specify the way the data is presented — ask for “total sales by region by month as a line” — or let Power BI pick a layout that suits the data with a more general question like “what were the sales numbers for last quarter?” 

Without data, how do you know who your customers are, which products are popular, and if your marketing efforts are effective? How do you know how long your products take to go through the manufacturing line and then to the customer, and how much revenue your company is making? Data is key to understanding your customers and your business.