When most organizations think of PowerBI, they think of it as a ‘business intelligence’ product. We actually view it through a different lens and see it more as a Framework. Because business intelligence can apply to so many different domains – marketing (analytics), sales (pipeline stats), operations (efficiency dashboards) & management (performance oversight) – just to name a few, the use cases of the product are wide varying. This is the first way we see PowerBI as a framework. It’s able to stand as a ‘mesh’ that cuts across various departments within a business, serving one core purpose, providing insight and visibility into the organisation.

The second way we see PowerBI as a framework is because of its flexibility. We use PowerBI to integrate data from dozens of different data sources and file systems. From Excel, CSV & EDI to real-time data streams, we’re able to pull data from almost every type of organisational platform.

In addition, we’re also able to recombine data from all of these core platforms into reports & insights that can sit anywhere, from an organisation’s own digital experience to third-party platforms they leverage. Why does this matter? Because as organisations mature in their adoption of data analysis & data-driven decision-making – this mindset gives us the freedom to present insights in ways that works best for the business.

We perceive data through 4 distinct lenses: Reporting (what happened), Analysis (why it happened), Monitoring (what’s happening now), & Forecasting (what might happen). Because there are so many ways to leverage data as a business, it’s important to have flexibility in how you get, assess & interpret that information.