BI and the business intelligence consulting businesses that help make the BI-game work, even though their services are not new, are high tech 21th century models. BI, which is being driven by the virtual cloud, is changing incredibly fast, and the positive benefits are there for everyone in business to exploit.
The prediction is that business intelligence (BI), currently regarded as a specialist technology utilized primarily by experts who work in big companies and organizations, will soon become a valuable mass-market tool.
Bearing this in mind, one of the most important questions is what specific self-service BI tools people and businesses should use for reporting solutions and data analysis.
How the BI Game Is Changing
Self-service BI allows business people easy access and insights to their data without the need to rely on IT experts each time they have a new question. There are a growing number of applications, tools and methodologies available to exploit the benefits of the shift towards self-service BI. For example, sometimes the fastest way to get answers from your data, is to ask questions using natural language, this one of the many ways in which Microsoft Power BI eliminates the need for a ‘guru’. Power BI is a key tool Data Bear, a London based BI company, uses for data visualization. “We know that after we have helped with data modelling and have built required reporting measures, with Power BI, we have empowered our satisfied customers to build the reports and dashboards of their dreams. It certainly simplifies and improves all our reporting solutions”, says Llewellyn Holtshausen a Data Bear Power BI consultant.
Understanding the BI Game
BI is an enormous industry that leading technology research firm, Pringle & Company, estimates is growing by around 16.4 percent a year. By 2016, they say the expected annual dollar spend on BI services from companies like Data Bear will be more than $97 billion. By 2018 cloud BI could be worth around $4 billion or £2.4 billion. The anticipated value of the BI and analytics BI industry will, they say, be likely to rise to around $143 billion.
Power BI is changing how people are able to access and interact with data. Microsoft maintains that Power BI represents a new generation of data analytics, where anybody can get useful insights within five minutes. Lowering both the technical and cost barrier of entry, connecting to data sources, which in the past required help from the ‘IT Crowd’, has never been easier. Industry analysts have taken note of how Power BI is growing in leaps and bounds in response to the demands of the fast-changing BI game. For the first time, Microsoft Power BI is placed furthest in vision within the Gartner’s Leaders Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms. For example, it isn’t just the new tools that make connecting your data to Power BI a breeze; it’s also the easy-to-use drag and drop interactive functionality that surpasses the limitations of what previously could be done with that data. Microsoft has actively sustained what they call “a blistering pace of innovation” and, whilst listening to user needs, they continue to update Power BI with monthly updates.
Accessible to everyone, and with over 90 000 organizations using it, Power BI is growing at such a pace that it is, in itself, a game changer. Data Bear founder, Johann Joubert, says, “For any business that is serious about gaining valuable insights and being a part of the future of self-service BI, the niche of business intelligence consulting focused on transitioning them to Power BI is a valuable partnership.”
Contact companies like Data Bear to find out more about how Power BI can empower your business to be at the forefront of the rapidly changing BI game. For more info, visit www.databear.com.
