Christmas time is here once again – the season of perpetual hope, merriment, good tidings of great joy and gifts galore. What do you hope to find waiting for you under the tree this year? As a business owner, one of the very best presents you could possibly receive is Microsoft Power.
Business Intelligence. Why? Because it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Power BI is a cloud-based data intelligence services bundle that, at its essence, enables users to not only seamlessly collect data, but package it in such a way as to make sense of it so that complicated, nuanced processes can be better understood. In doing so, Power BI provides key insights into various themes your company may come across with respect to its day-to-day operations as well as the customers to whom you provide products or services. Data is everywhere and serves as the gasoline for legacy and state-of-the-art equipment. It’s also what business owners use to inform their decisions. As Sherlock Holmes once put it, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”
But none of it amounts to very much without some way to piece it all together like you would a jigsaw puzzle. Power BI serves as the legend that can help you obtain insight and see the big picture out of seemingly disparate datasets, which enables you to make better choices as to where the company goes from here through easy-to-digest charts, graphs and reports.
It’s also quite user-friendly. If you have any familiarity with how Microsoft Excel works, Power BI should be a smooth transition. Furthermore, while Excel is undoubtedly a fine program and has stood the test of time – debuting over 30 years ago in 1987 – Power BI is much more powerful than its predecessor, which is part of what makes it a software service package that gives much more than it receives. In other words, you get significantly more out of it than the data you feed into the system.
Machine learning gives Power BI its might
BI’s effectiveness is largely made possible by its machine learning capabilities. Machine learning is a bit of a buzz phrase these days – but for good reason, as it’s largely become part of everyday life. Aptly titled, machine learning is an algorithmic process that uses statistics to find patterns in data, which may be culled from a variety of sources and types, including numbers, clicks, images, words or moving pictures. It then uses this data to generate predictions about whatever it’s analyzing. Netflix, Google, smartphones, voice assistants, Facebook and Twitter all use different variations of machine learning to make hypotheses on what consumers will buy, watch, order or consume. Since the predictive algorithms improve in accuracy over time, so too do the predictions.
These enhanced predictive capabilities are part of what gives Power BI its universality and applicability to businesses of all types, but specifically those whose bread and butter is the customer. Its built-in learning aptitude is what allows decision-makers to base their selections and investments on what their customers have done. Because as the old saying goes, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Integrates with most Microsoft platforms
Another Christmassy component to Power BI is that it’s part of the family. If you have other Microsoft business management tools like SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Office 365, or Dynamics GP, this platform will seamlessly integrate with the ones you’re already using. In addition, many non-Microsoft software suites are also fully compatible, so it works well with others. And because it’s cloud-based, you or your personnel can take Power BI with you wherever, whether you’re at the office on your desktop or on the go with your mobile phone or tablet.
In this season of lights, let Microsoft Power BI light the way for you and your business. The TM Group has over 30 years of success in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP business solutions. We’ll show you how to get the most out of the platform that gives you more than you ever bargained for. Contact us today!
