Breaking Down Power BI
An article from BI Madness 2018 — vote today!
Let’s lay some groundwork for this article. I originally titled it — Analyzing Power BI. For the semantically inclined, that might not seem like much of a change. Here is why it is important. This article is not a refined analysis of Power BI. It will not introduce a criteria. It is not meant to provide a definitive answer to … well, anything. This article is a simple break down of the tool and information meant to inspire.
BI Madness 2018 is underway. It is a user driven “contest” to not only pick the top BI tool, but also to contribute thinking about what really defines one. So this article is not about opinions. It is about ideas, a little history, and some thought provoking questions. Well, I hope… we are only two paragraphs in.
Let’s start with Azure.
As noted in my last article, you can make a strong argument that there are three distinct flavors of Business Intelligence platforms right now. Power BI is currently a “Vanilla” offering — which means it is Platform-based. It is the BI tool for Azure users. That is not to say it is limited to Azure, just that is the easiest and most logical integration.
Microsoft has been around the block.
Believe it or not, Microsoft has been in the Business Intelligence game for more than two decades. As early as a decade ago, people were writing histories of Microsoft BI. Yes — they had the internet back then!
You might also recall that Microsoft’s founding goal was to own desktop computing. So it should be no surprise that many of their products still taste like “Strawberry”. That is to say — are Desktop-based systems. Hang around long enough and your history may become your advantage.
The combination of these two tools and these two unique types of business intelligence processes is important. You may or may not value it, but you need to recognize it. Especially if you are working at Tableau.
Legacy can be a four letter word…
…in all caps, with exclamation points and a hashtag for good form
Twenty years of history creates a lot of legacy. But as an Information Engineer by trade (read — analyst who makes things happen), the word legacy gets my spider-sense tingling. It should. And Microsoft can’t hide from it… nor can they pretend that they have all that behind them now… Access anyone?
It is also fair to note — that empowering Excel may be convenient, but it fights enterprise reporting and centralization efforts. One could note that has little to do with the tools and more to do with your corporate teams and cultures… but that is feeling a little “Chocolatey”.
What about the rest of the checklist?
Strong communities, strong visualization tools, fair pricing, available talent, Power BI covers off almost everywhere. All our top four should. Of course it has plenty of Dashboards and Integration. And it is the top pivot table tool in our bracket.
Is there more to this story? Hell yes. But I am not a Power BI expert, not even close. I am a professional with three decades of experience building business intelligence solutions and Microsoft has always been part of that story (for better or worse… I still have nightmares involving Access). This article is just here to get you thinking. Hopefully to get you to vote. And more importantly, to ask you to share your experience with these tools.
So vote here:
And thanks for reading!
