We are using it for reporting ERP data, IT service data, financial data, and so on.
Power BI Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Useful for collaboration and insightful data visualizations, highly scalable, and easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
- "We are able to collaborate on things and get insightful data visualizations."
- "Its performance and stability can be improved. It takes time to load, and sometimes, it also breaks down for the whole region. Its usability could also be better, and it could also have more connections with different data sources."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It has been helpful in getting insights. We weren't able to get insights at such a level. It is also helpful in getting an overview of different departments. We are able to do it much faster than before.
What is most valuable?
We are able to collaborate on things and get insightful data visualizations.
What needs improvement?
Its performance and stability can be improved. It takes time to load, and sometimes, it also breaks down for the whole region.
Its usability could also be better, and it could also have more connections with different data sources.
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January 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years. In this company, I have been using it for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is not completely stable. Sometimes, it goes off for the whole North Europe region. Its stability should be improved.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable, and there are no issues with its scalability. I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of scalability. We have around 300 users of this solution.
How are customer service and support?
We don't have any issues with their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked only with Power BI.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy because documentation and a lot of tutorials are available. Its deployment took one month.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Power BI premium is really expensive for our market. A lot of small and medium companies would like to purchase it, but they can't afford it.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Power BI an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
BI Junior consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Excel in BI mode provides an excellent approach to the BI world for end users
Valuable Features:
Power BI (except Power Query)
Improvements to My Organization:
Reduced time to develop and deployment projects.
Room for Improvement:
PowerQuery (so long) + smt exists in SSAS cube but cannot do the same in tabular.
Use of Solution:
2 years
Deployment Issues:
Yes. Language DAX
Stability Issues:
No
Scalability Issues:
No
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sr. Solution Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Stable and useful for generating BI reports
Pros and Cons
- "It seems stable. I haven't heard of any difficulties from my clients that utilize Power BI."
- "Power BI could be improved by implementing more options for data integration. Nowadays, the cloud takes care of scalability and security. As we all know, data sources are increasing, so we get data from a variety of streams. But if we could get the downstream data into the database and update the reports more easily, Power BI would be better."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is to generate BI reports.
What needs improvement?
Power BI could be improved by implementing more options for data integration. Nowadays, the cloud takes care of scalability and security. As we all know, data sources are increasing, so we get data from a variety of streams. But if we could get the downstream data into the database and update the reports more easily, Power BI would be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
My company has been working with Power BI for five to ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It seems stable. I haven't heard of any difficulties from my clients that utilize Power BI.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have never contacted technical support.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't install this solution, our IT team took care of it.
What about the implementation team?
Our in-house team took care of implementation. It should take a team of two to three to deploy and maintain Power BI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't own the licenses — our clients do, and we work for them as engineering partners.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Tableau is another option.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Power BI, but it depends on one's business requirements. Tableau is another option, as well as a few other tools. My recommendation depends on business needs, budget, and the exact type of reports they need.
I would rate Power BI an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Data analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Stable, easy setup and reasonable performance unless pulling multiple sources which can cause issues
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable with reasonable performance."
- "If you have to pull multiple data sources performance is somewhat lacking."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this product was for financial reporting and dashboard reporting. I'm a business development executive and our company is based in Belgium.
What is most valuable?
The solution is stable with reasonable performance. The initial setup is relatively easy.
What needs improvement?
The quality of the performance is dependent on the data source. If you have to pull multiple data sources performance is somewhat lacking.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for over a year.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and we had around 25 users in the company.
What other advice do I have?
We are fading out the use of this solution and we're switching to Tableau.
I would recommend this solution if you have good knowledge of DAX.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Certification Division at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Feature-rich, scalable, and is easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft BI is scalable."
- "I would like to see better, undisturbed stability without any interruptions."
What is our primary use case?
I am using this solution for official purposes and for my personal needs. I use it to sort my documents.
What is most valuable?
I have yet to experience all of the useful applications. I need to experience a lot more.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see better, undisturbed stability without any interruptions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft products for three decades.
I believe we are using Version 10.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Because our internet here is not constant, it fluctuates, which is why I don' use the cloud-based version.
It is not stable. The stability could be improved.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft BI is scalable.
We have more than 50 users in our organization. More of the users are technical people.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have an IT technical expert in our organization. If we have any issues, he is the person who resolves them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It is very easy to install.
What about the implementation team?
I completed the installation myself. I did not need the help of an integrator or consultant.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am considering personalization but I don't know what the possibilities and the advantages of it are.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others who are considering it.
I would rate Microsoft BI an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Suitable for smaller businesses, scalable, but large data challenges
Pros and Cons
- "In my experience the scalability is good. You are able to increase users and add more data."
- "When there are large amounts of data being processed there are additional tools needed to handle it."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft BI can be used for business data visualization.
What needs improvement?
When there are large amounts of data being processed there are additional tools needed to handle it.
In an upcoming release, there could be an associative experience, such as in Qlik.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good but as you add more data the stability decreases.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my experience the scalability is good. You are able to increase users and add more data.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be easy if you have a small amount of data being used. I have found Qlik is better if you have large amounts of data.
What about the implementation team?
We have a team of approximately 20 people that handle BI operations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is priced well for what they offer. However, the premium version is very expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Tableau and Qlik.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to those that have smaller businesses where they have lower user numbers and not a lot of data points. If they have a larger business I would choose an alternative, such as Qlik.
I rate Microsoft BI a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Part Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Great technology and some very good features
Pros and Cons
- "Good CS and administration."
- "Creating dashboards could be easier."
What is our primary use case?
I am a consultant for a big company. We deal with energy companies, petroleum, sales companies and we deal with everything from financials to operations. We deal with market strategy and we provide consultancy services - I'm a part owner of the company.
What is most valuable?
I like the CS, administration, most of the features are good as well as the technology.
What needs improvement?
I think creating dashboards could be easier. Compared to other solutions, the cost of the license is expensive and that could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for over 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is excellent.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is excellent, all our professional consultants use it. Where we deploy in the banking sector, they can have 1,000 licensed users; in smaller companies there can be 50 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is quite good, but I'd like to see a quicker response time.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment time depends on the company, it can take up to two months.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
BI Analyst at eVision Industry Software
Easy to use, good self service functionality, facilitates collaboration with other users
Pros and Cons
- "If you are not very technical this tool could be very useful."
- "Adding paginated reports to this tool could be of great help for users who want to move away from SSRS."
What is our primary use case?
Power BI is a great tool for analytics. It is useful if you have a requirement to create a dashboard with self-service capability, along with KPIs, and you want to drill down to the data details.
How has it helped my organization?
I have tried SSRS and later moved to Power BI. SSRS requires every analytical feature to be implemented separately. However, with the appropriate granularity of data, you can drill down and drill up easily which gives you a different view of the dashboards. Now with having on-premises availability, it makes this tool even more powerful.
What is most valuable?
If you are not very technical this tool could be very useful.
The most valuable features are:
- Self service
- Inbuilt analytics
- Custom visualization
- Printing of dashboard helps a lot
- Dashboard scheduling
- Easy collaboration with other users on Power BI
- Learning curve for this tool is small
- Dashboard refresh rate can be configured
- Power BI works both on-premises and cloud
What needs improvement?
Adding paginated reports to this tool could be of great help for users who want to move away from SSRS.
I would like to see built-in Git support, incremental loading of data, and a machine learning model for predictive analysis.
Custom colouring from the dashboard itself would be helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft BI, SSRS, and Power BI for four years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: January 2025
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