Power BI is a data analysis tool for businesses because the right analysis helps them eradicate various risks. Power BI has rapidly become one of the most powerful business analytics tools which is invented by Microsoft. It offers handy functions to visualize the data to gain easy insights for a better understanding of the business opportunities and risks. Check out this blog to know more about why Power BI is the first choice of data analysts.
All of it makes the conversion of raw data into effective, interactive, and insightful reports. Power BI converts data collection into meaningful visualizations and reports that can be shared among team members.
This tool is widely used in the data industry for its potential, simplicity, and capabilities. Every inspiring data analyst must learn Power BI to get into the world of data science and analytics.
Power BI is the most Popular Data Analytics Tool Today
Power BI is a leading BI tool with a global market share of 36% according to a report by Gartner. According to Microsoft’s official reports, over 2,34,000 organizations are using Power BI worldwide. This tool is used by the world’s notable organizations like Walmart, Walgreens, Rolls-Royce, Apple, Microsoft, Costco Wholesale, ExxonMobil, etc. According to Microsoft’s 2021 report, it is used by 97% of Fortune 500 companies.
Power BI is one of the fastest-growing BI tools, with a user growth rate of 70% year-over-year in recent years.
As we know Power BI is a part of Microsoft and it is a most popular business analytics tool. Its features are invented according to the requirements of the data industry. It works with a large range of data sources like SQL Server, Google Analytics, and Excel spreadsheets.
Power BI is good at working with relational and non-relational databases. With the help of Power BI, we can visualize complex data in a simple and understandable visual by data visualization tools like charts, graphs, maps, etc.
All the above-mentioned points make Microsoft Power BI the world’s most popular data analytics and business intelligence tool.
Uses of Power BI in Data Analysis
Undoubtedly this tool is the most in-demand data analytics tool nowadays. And the reason behind this is its simplicity and powerful features. To study all the uses of Power BI, we need to explore its features first. All its features can be understood by dividing them in to categories like data connectivity, data modeling, visualizations, dashboards, and collaboration.
Below are the main features and their uses:
1. Data Connectivity
Power BI allows us to connect with the multiples of different data sources. These include structured data from SQL Server, Excel, and other databases while, unstructured data from cloud services, websites, and (Application Programming Interface) API. Power BI also provides various big data platforms to analyze large datasets easily.
2. Data Transformation (Power Query)
Power BI gives us Power Query which is an editor. It gives us the power to transform and clean the data before analyzing it. Data transformation is an essential step for our project which is the very basic step for converting the raw data into structured data.
When the data is connected to the Power BI then, it provides Power Query and a tool for transforming and cleaning the data. Power Query also allows us to filter, trim, clean, aggregate, and format data in various ways before analysis.
We can add and remove columns and rows as per the demand of the project. We can manage null and empty values before applying data analysis.
3. Data Modeling (DAX)
Power BI contains DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) which is a formula language designed to empower data manipulation and analysis. DAX expressions allow us to create calculations, measures, and aggregations within their data models in simple ways. Advanced-level analysis also can be done using DAX without writing too much code. That is the reason we included DAX in our data analytics training for students.
4. Data Integration
Power BI integrates the data from multiple sources and merges the data here to analyze the business performance. Mostly, we store data in various systems—sales data in CRM tools, financial data in accounting systems, and customer data in marketing platforms.
Power BI can combine all these data sources into a single report or dashboard and can conduct a more comprehensive analysis thereafter.
5. Visualization of Data
One of the integral parts of Power BI’s which makes it stand out is its ability to create highly interactive visualizations. We can choose from a variety of chart types, bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, scatter plots, heat maps, and geographical maps. These visualizations help us to identify trends, outliers, and patterns from the data very quickly.
In Power BI the best feature that is provided to us is its visuals. It provides numerous visuals where we can easily make data in suitable visual forms.
6. Business Intelligence (BI)
One of the major uses of Microsoft Power BI is business intelligence. AI or artificial intelligence has improved business intelligence and made it powerful. Power BI is a tool that allows businesses to analyze their data and monitor their performance through KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
For example, a retail business could use Power BI to analyze sales data and track the profits, revenue, expenses, losses, number of products sold, total customers, or anything like that. We can create interactive dashboards and reports in Power BI quickly to fulfill these business requirements.
Businesses can gain real-time or live business insights or we can study the present data and predict. Using business intelligence of Power BI, visualizations such as graphs, tables, and pie charts can be made to understand business data easily. Businesses can identify problem areas, threats, and opportunities so that they can make informed and mature decisions.
7. Real-Time Data
Power BI offers this unique feature which makes it best when compared to other applications. It is that this supports real-time data and it means we can have that ability to watch or monitor the live streams of data. As a result, we can study the present data and can update the dashboard in real-time. We are also able to track live data streams and display the most recent updated information in dashboards and reports using real-time data.
8. Collaboration and Sharing
In this fast-paced era, sharing and collaboration with teams need to be better. Power BI makes it so much easier for us to share the data like reports and dashboards with teammates and business stakeholders. We can share our reports with our colleagues and clients by a link only so no need to share complete files. Related members can access and check all the reports and dashboards even if they don’t have Power BI installed on their computers.
9. Forecasting and Trends Analysis
Power BI is very useful to predict outcomes and data trends. Trend analysis is another powerful feature of Power BI that is used by senior data analysts. After converting data into interactive reports, we can track it and identify trends, such as sales growth, market shares, and stock fluctuations. We can also monitor changes in prices, any competitor product, and customers’ behavior.
Power BI allows us to make a dynamic report that display historical data which can be used to predict future trends. It helps us forecast future patterns based on historical data to make businesses run without the risks.
10. Mobile Accessibility
In the era of smartphones, Power BI is offering full compatibility to its users. All Power BI projects are fully accessible on mobiles, tablets, and computers. The mobile app support makes access to all the reports and dashboards on the go.
You need to set up your mobile view according to your needs and create a link to share in Power BI.
Closing Words on the Power BI as the First Choice of Data Analysts
Power BI is an all-rounder tool that is rapidly becoming very famous day by day. It is a very in-demand tool in the industry of data analysis and business intelligence. It is an integral tool for business intelligence and provides a wide range of features. These features improve the data analysis, by connecting to various data sources to make highly interactive reports.
It is a complete platform for data professionals and is used across industries for business intelligence, trend analysis, predictive analysis, and much more. With its user-friendly format and powerful analytical capabilities, Power BI is a priceless asset for organizations. Professionals looking for data-driven decisions and improvements in business performance can use this. Career seekers who want to become a data analyst can learn it.
By improving data analysis for businesses, Power BI is helping remove business risks in advance by better decision-making. This is an excellent tool for small to large businesses and organizations from private and government sectors. It offers a variety of cutting-edge features that can convert the raw data into well-structured data in the form of dashboards, reports, and visuals.
