Being able to use Power BI is something that is available to everyone. Either with a business account with a Pro license, or by creating a free account on a personal basis. And regardless of whether you have a Pro account, a free account, or even if you haven’t created any account, you can install Power BI Desktop, as I have already explained to you before:
Install Power BI Desktop and create your first Dashboard step by step
Use Power BI from the user’s perspective
Today, with the new features of Power BI, you, as a user, can create and use complex reports. You can access many data sources without having to rely on your IT department. Here are several examples:
- You can export to Excel (or copy and paste)
- You can connect with your username and password to the sources you use if you work in the marketing department (Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Marketo, Dynamics 365 (CRM), Salesforce…
- An ERP like Dynamics 365 (NAV and AX)
- Even to payment gateways like Stripe
- To your Exchange Online inbox
- And to more than 60 sources…
All this, simply with the username and password that you have already assigned and that only you know.
Easy right?
Therefore, there are fewer and fewer barriers to self-sufficiency when it comes to obtaining data, transforming it and converting it into information.
Use Power BI from an IT perspective
On the other hand, if you work in the IT department (IT, system administrator, DBA, developer…) you have to completely change your perspective regarding data usage by Business users. Never place obstacles and limitations with technical excuses such as “I don’t want them to touch the server”, “what they ask for will leave the server without resources and everything will be very slow”, “they ask for a lot of reports” for yesterday and then they don’t use them”, “They always ask for changes to the minutes”…
There are solutions for everything, what needs to be changed is the approach and create a solution that responds to these common problems today. One must create a Business Intelligence and Analytics solution. If you haven’t already done so, today is the best time start. The longer you delay it, the less competitive your company will be compared to the many that have already implemented these solutions or are in the process of doing so. There is no going back, it is a necessity, you have to accept it and move forward. You can’t put gates on the field. Users will create BI solutions, with or without you! The best thing is for you to participate, first and foremost for yourself, but also for your company.
Using Power BI isn’t enough, it’s just the tool
But, as a user, the fact that you are self-sufficient in obtaining much of this data and creating your own reports does not mean that you should go down this path alone, in fact, I can already tell you that if you go at your own pace, independently, you will have many defects. To build a good Business Intelligence and Analytics solution, it is essential to have a good team. This team must have both business profiles and IT profiles.
Also, from my point of view, a person who has one foot in Business, another in IT and good communication skills adds a lot of value. It is a profile that rarely occurs. I consider it an excellent opportunity to focus your professional career. They are increasingly in demand. My professional experience, almost 15 years in the Business Intelligence and Analytics sector, tells me that there are much more chances of success in implementing this type of solution when there is someone with this profile in the team.
Finally, I leave you a list that you should review when forming your team:
- Mixed teams, Business and IT staff, with high involvement
- Good communication
- Good technical and commercial knowledge
- Choose the right tool
Find out more through this video
Did you like this approach from different perspectives?
In that case, I recommend you watch this session that I held a few weeks ago and which is recorded on video. Remember that its duration is 1 hour, if you don’t have that time right now, save it for later. Don’t miss this opportunity to see a 360º approach to these common problems today. I also recommend it if you have a BI & Analytics solution and are not satisfied with it. The tool is important, but you will see that there are other factors that carry more weight when it comes to getting a good solution to your problems.
I hope this was useful to you and helps you improve your Business Intelligence and Analytics solutions ????
If you know others who are in similar situations and might find this article helpful, please share it.
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