It’s a fact that Power BI is easy to adopt, easier to learn, and easiest to use.
Not to undermine the fact stated but, you may find it hard to implement, harder to train the users, and hardest to make sense of its features to the fullest without a reliable Power BI partner.
Well, you may not have the calling to agree upon the expertise and experience that Power BI consultants bring. But we promise that you will have all the reasons to believe so, by the time you finish this read.
The worldwide business intelligence market is expected to grow from a value of $29.42 billion in 2023 to $54.27 billion by 2030.
~ According to Fortune Business Insights
Businesses adopting BI has been a trend for a couple of years now.
Business leaders realizing the worth of data and embracing data culture have been pivotal in accelerating BI adoption.
You, being a progressive leader, certainly don’t want to become the fly in the ointment across the growth path for your business, do you?
But there is one thing that may obstruct your business’s growth – Inability to differentiate your BI adoption with proven BI implementation strategy.
You may wonder – “How do I differentiate my BI adoption, and why it needs to be differentiated?”
Your thought has a merit, and here’s the answer – You must differentiate to outcompete your competition. And a trusted Power BI implementation partner will be instrumental in making it happen for you.
Well, before you presume, the intent of highlighting the importance of a Power BI partner is to help you differentiate between –
- A poor Power BI Implementation & tactical Power BI implementation
- A poor Power BI adoption & strategic Power BI adoption
- Unrealistic ROI expectations & tangible Power BI ROIs
Right before we begin, realize we are going to discuss –
- Nothing about Power BI features!
- Nothing about varied versions of Power BI!
- Nothing about “Why Power BI is the best?”
Make yourself ready for the exposure to –
- Signs of Positive ROIs of a Power BI Partner
- How Power BI partners set you up for BI excellence?
- Demonstration of a Positive Power BI implementation strategy
Let’s set the ball rolling!
Signs Your Power BI Partner is Returning Positive ROI!
You may start to think – “Why are we chanting Positive ROI since the beginning?”
Well, without triggering your curiosity any further, let’s get straight to the point.
Ideally, ROIs are confused over the commercial benefits that any investment brings in, which isn’t correct in every case.
As you work with a Power BI partner for Power BI adoption, Power BI implementation, custom Power BI visualizations & reporting or Power BI support – each of these unique requirements should be treated differently while calculating the ROIs.
Let’s understand this with an example.
Assume that you are the owner of an eCommerce business, based out of the USA.
Problem
You are in the peak season of the year and your team is planning to create special discount offers for your target market. The team is facing problems creating offers on the top-selling products as they are planning to create opportunities for cross-selling. Sheer lack of visibility to make the right decision!
Solution
You decide to look for a Power BI partner in USA to help you out with a solution. Yureka! You found one who is just the right fit for your requirements!
Result
Now, your team has the exact insights with intuitive dashboards & reports on the top-selling products and products that could be cross-sold to skyrocket your sales and make the most out of the peak season! Voila!
Now, let’s look at what Positive ROI means in this case.
Simply put –
Problem was “Lack of visibility”
Solution approached was “Customized Power BI visualization & reporting services”
ROI yielded was “Improved visibility and maximized sales numbers”
Now, as you are aware of what Positive ROI looks like in a Power BI partnership, let’s look at diverse signs of it.
Gain Visibility into Business Data
Before you presume this is being repeated, it is not.
Visibility into business data has a higher multitude, that many fail to understand.
And, today we are not going to repeat the same mistake.
When we say, “Visibility into Business Data”, what comes to your mind?
- Is it customer data?
- Is it vendor & supplier data?
- Is it user & employee productivity data?
- Is it the sales data on products/services you sell?
- Is it the data on how efficiently your business processes are configured?
The list is non-ending, because data is everywhere, and is everything!
Visibility into business data means everything that we listed above, everything that you could think of, and even beyond that.
The more the data, the more streamlined your actions are.
Thinking about, “How does a Power BI partner help gain visibility into business data?”
Simple and straight-forward – They help you make sense of your data & empower you to make data-backed business decisions.
CEOs and leaders making data-driven decisions are 77% more likely to succeed.
~ According to a survey by Deloitte
The Power BI partner of your choice understands the importance of the decisions you make and the impact those decisions have on your business growth.
- They help foster customer relationships with customer insights.
- They help nurture vendor relationships with vendor insights.
- They help define market fit with usability trends & insights.
- They help identify potentials flaws with performance data.
Simply put –
Problem is “Lack of insights to make data-backed decisions”
Solution approached is “Roping in a Power BI partner”
ROI yielded is “Improved decision making!”
Curb Operational Expenditure
Yet another investment to rope in a Power BI implementation partner – It may sound counterproductive from a CTOs standpoint, as technological investments are often looked upon as a cost center.
It’s time to realize that an investment in a data initiative is a value center.
Still thinking – ‘How’
Let’s unravel the truth.
Inclining operational costs may prove hazardous if not watched out in time.
No matter what the nature of your business is, it’s cent percent viable to curb the operational expenditure with routine monitoring and acute data points.
Thinking about – “How a Power BI partner can help reduce operational costs?”
- They help segregate the insights on the operational spends
- They help identify the hot spots for cost burns
- They help seize the budget leaks prominently
Let’s understand this with an example.
Assume that you are the CTO of a manufacturing company.
Problem
Your team is handling the finances right. But you are experiencing cost burns on the inventory. At times you end up with events of overstocking and understocking. Resulting in cost burns that are irreversible.
Solution
You decide to invest in Power BI consulting services.
Result
With the help of Power BI consultants, your team is now able to spot the trends in inventory overruns. With improved visibility into inventory and consumption trends, you can spot gaps in the procurement and consumption patterns. As a result, your procurements are more streamlined now with reduced cost burns.
Simply put –
Problem was “Inventory overruns & irreversible cost burns”
Solution approached was “Microsoft Power BI consulting services”
ROI yielded was “Improved procurement cycles & cost savings”
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
We know you are not the leader who wouldn’t care about “Customer Experience” and “Customer Satisfaction”, right?
Still, to underline your beliefs, have a look at the following statistics.
Companies that view customer service as a value center — as opposed to a cost center — see 3.5x revenue growth. ~ Accenture
On average, companies that put in the work to improve the customer experience see a 42% improvement in customer retention, a 33% improvement in customer satisfaction, and a 32% increase in cross-selling and up-selling.
~ Keap
74% of consumers are at least somewhat likely to buy based on experiences alone. ~ Forbes & Arm Treasure Data
Consumers will pay a 16% price premium for a great customer experience. ~ PwC
Now, with those statistics to advocate your beliefs, “Customer Experience” and “Customer Satisfaction” certainly takes the center-stage.
Thinking about – “How a Power BI partner can help ace Customer Satisfaction?”
A skilled Power BI consultant understands the equation of customer data and customer satisfaction. They are aware of the interdependence of these two co-ordinates and help you make the most of it.
You may start to think “When we say, ‘Customer Data’ what it means?”
- Those are customer interactions.
- Those are the customer journeys.
- Those are changing customer preferences.
- Those are numbers on products viewed and not bought!
- Those are metrics that surged during peak shopping seasons.
Pivoting these numbers, and many other insights, Power BI experts help you devise a core strategy to hack “Customer Satisfaction”.
Still uncertain? Let’s understand this with an example.
Assume you are the CTO of a consumer goods company.
Problem
Your sales team is struggling to get hold of goods consumption patterns during peak season, leading to unavailability of goods in demand and increased customer churn.
Solution
You decide to rope in a Power BI consulting partner to meet changing customer demands.
Result
The Power BI partner deploys a team of experts to help gain real-time insights into customer buying patterns, changing customer preferences, and feedback. They help you identify popular products as well as customer satisfaction metrics such as order fulfillment & product rankings. As a result, your sales team is now enabled to address issues instantly, optimize inventory based on demand trends, boosting customer satisfaction.
Simply put –
Problem was “Inability to meet changing customer demands”
Solution approached was “Power BI consulting services”
ROI yielded was “Improved customer satisfaction”
Improved Business Processes
Yet another key area where a Power BI partner strengthens your business – optimizing your business processes.
Flawed workflows are slow poison to kill your business.
- They create chaos leading to operational friction.
- They are the reason why data siloes get developed!
- They distort your workforce & sustain manual errors!
- They allow loopholes to persist & cause redundant fallacies!
You may start to think – “How on earth will a Power BI partner streamline my business processes? They don’t even know my business!”
We won’t cut you here, because you are right.
But what you need to realize is your Power BI consultants don’t need to know your business thoroughly. They are expected to know the advanced features of Power BI to help make sense of data.
It’s you who will share the business goals with them, and they will help set up data models to extract the right data points.
If you want a domain expert, you can always work with a Power BI partner who has already worked with businesses in your domain. There is no greater deal than that.
Now, let’s understand how skilled Power BI experts help you streamline your business processes with an example.
Assume that you are the CTO of a manufacturing company.
Problem
Your team is facing challenges in streamlining production operations due to unprecedented delays in the supply chain. They are unable to identify the bottlenecks and fix them due to lack of clear visibility.
Solution
You decide to engage a Power BI implementation partner to integrate Power BI with your manufacturing ecosystem.
Result
The Power BI-partner deployed a team of experts that spent time understanding the challenge and integrated Power BI with the existing manufacturing systems. They created custom-tailored dashboards & visualizations offering active visibility into production line performance, inventory levels, and supply chain processes. As a result, your team is empowered to identify the bottlenecks, optimize inventory based on the changing demands, and streamline production floor operations.
Simply put –
Problem was “Inability to streamline production operations”
Solution approached was “Power BI implementation services”
ROI yielded was “Streamlined business processes with rectified bottlenecks”
Now, as you are aware of how the ROI changes depending upon your unique challenges, let’s look at how Power BI partner sets you up for BI excellence.
How Power BI Partner Sets You Up for BI Excellence?
Now that you are enlightened with diverse areas where Power BI Partners prove to be instrumental in making your BI journey successful, let’s understand what to expect from the implementation point of view.
Demarking Positives of Power BI Implementation Strategy
Adopting Power BI to drive your BI initiative to greater heights is a wise choice that you would make, today.
Not to underestimate the fact – It is a must for you to have a stringent Power BI implementation strategy and a reliable Power BI partner to assist.
Yet again, you may start to think – “Why so much facade around Power BI implementation & how a Power BI implementation partner helps?”
Let’s draw a clear demarcation of the positives that you gain with a rock-solid Power BI implementation strategy. And, we are sure this will prove to be instrumental in making your decision to work with a trusted Power BI partner.
Let’s get the ball rolling!
Determine Whether Power BI is the Right Tool for You!
BI adoption is on the rise, but it doesn’t mean that you should invest in whichever tool comes your way, just to hop the trend of adoption!
The first step of a successful BI implementation is – choosing the right tool.
And this is where your Power BI partner proves advantageous.
Right before you ask, here’s how the BI partner helps –
- They assess your BI needs carefully.
- They understand use cases for BI usability.
- They assess your team’s readiness for BI adoption.
- They help identify BI functionalities that will prove beneficial.
- They help devise KPIs to measure the effectiveness of the BI tool.
Right after your usability and KPI metrics are met, your BI partner would suggest investing in the BI tool. Not to mention, it is ideal to give a try to diverse reporting tools, before finalizing a BI tool like Power BI.
Involve Key Stakeholders as Early Birds
Involving key stakeholders at an early stage of Power BI adoption guarantees your Power BI implementation success.
Thinking about – “Why to involve stakeholders in the Power BI adoption process and how will it make a difference?”
First, realize the key stakeholders are the ones who will benefit the most in the decision making via the insights that Power BI will derive.
Involving them in the early stage have multifarious benefits such as –
- They won’t fear change but will become the face of change.
- They will be the ones who are excited to unravel the features of Power BI.
- They will be the ones who will get up to speed in using Power BI & build expertise.
In fact, it will be a great deal to pair these key stakeholders with Power BI partner in the implementation process. This inclusion will encourage your key stakeholders to contribute to making the Power BI adoption process smoother & swift.
Thinking about – “How will the key stakeholders contribute?”
They will –
- Bring you the real-time feedback about Power BI adoption
- Lead by an example, encouraging team members
- Be first touchpoint users will approach for help
With this collaborative approach, your Power BI implementation partner will have genuine & real-time data points on the adoption of the technology, ensuring run-time changes in the implementation approach.
Validate Data Connection
Validating data connection is yet another crucial positive sign of a successful Power BI implementation.
It’s a primary responsibility of your Power BI partner to ensure adept connectivity of Power BI with diverse data sources that your business has.
Power BI has about 150 different data sources, making it a versatile BI platform.
It’s essential to realize that connecting diverse data sources can be challenging as it may invite trouble if the requested data source doesn’t have the right data to return.
Data connections hold the full potential to make or break the implementation process. Although Power BI boasts 150 different data sources, data connectors used for establishing the connection may or may not perform as expected.
And, this is what strengthens the significance of having a reliable Power BI implementation partner to establish error-free data connections, saving you from data loss and cost overruns.
Identify Power BI Development Resources
Power BI development – as you have the basic architecture mapped out and know how the data is going to flow, it’s time to identify the development resources.
Development resources will develop the visualizations, reports, and dashboards and publish them on Power BI.
You may start to think – “How do development resources concern the Power BI implementation process?”
Well, your question has a merit, but an answer too!
As we are looking at a comprehensive onset of Power BI implementation, it is essential to assign the development resources, before deploying the Power BI solution.
There are two ways this can be done –
- Existing In-House Team
- Extended Team of Power BI Consultants
Existing In-House Team
Leveraging in-house team as development resources can prove beneficial as the team has in-depth process knowledge, industry awareness, clarity with the BI objectives, and is cost effective.
Yet, the in-house team may lack the technical expertise to fully utilize Power BI functionalities. They may need more time to get familiar with the functionality and perform as per the expectations.
Extended Team of Power BI Consultants
An extended team of Power BI consultants is well-versed with Power BI’s functionalities and proves instrumental in making the most out of your investments. They keep you current with the upgrades that Microsoft launches and leverage them to your business’s advantage.
Yet, a common challenge sought after by this approach is the inability to find a suitable Power BI partner to hire a team of Power BI experts with the right mix of technical & domain-specific knowledge to cater to your unique requirements.
Choosing the right approach to Power BI development services contributes equally to your Power BI implementation success.
Comprehensive Training Plan
As we approach the last phase of Power BI implementation – training your users is significant to make your Power BI implementation a success.
Might sound repetitive yet again, but a trusted Power BI partner is pivotal in getting your team of Power BI users up to the speed and running.
Here, at the training phase, it’s essential to realize and avoid one major mistake that a lot of business leaders do – Failing to assess the training requirements.
Thinking about – “How do I assess the training requirements?”
By figuring out the answers to some key questions –
- Who should attend the Power BI usability training?
- How often should that training be conducted?
- Do the users have the bandwidth for training?
- Will the users be able to apply what they learn?
- What will training look like for new hires?
- Should there be periodic assessments?
With the answers to these questions, you will have developed a structured training program that the existing team and the new joiner’ will undergo.
This ensures that your Power BI implementation succeeds, and the users never lose track of skills and upgrades launched by Microsoft.
Integrative Systems – Your Trusted Power BI Partner
As a technology leader, we believe you want nothing less than the best for your business, when it comes to choosing a Microsoft Power BI partner.
As you read this, we are certain that you want to take your Power BI initiative to the next level.
We are confident that you have developed a strong sense of understanding on “What does a successful Power BI implementation look like? And, what to expect as a positive sign of ROI.”
With proven expertise and about 10+ years of experience as a Microsoft Partner, we would take immense pride in becoming Power BI partner of your choice.
Have the feeling that we are the match?
Drop us a line at [email protected] and we shall circle back in 2 business days, to take it from there.