Microsoft Power BI Previous Solutions
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Tariq Raza (MS Certified)
Operations & BI Analyst at American Hospital Dubai
I can mentions main difference between Power BI and tableau which is as under. Advantages of Tableau Here, are pros/benefits of using Tableau BI: •Less cost of training •Very fast and easy to create visualizations •Good customer support •Data Interpreter Story-telling ability •Tableau offers a feature of visualization •It helps you to combine shape & clean the data for analysis. •It helps you to handle a large amount of data. •Uses scripting languages like R & Python to avoid performance for complex table calculations. •Allows users to create reports, dashboards, and stories using Tableau Desktop. Advantages of Power BI Here, are pros/benefits of Power BI •Offers pre-built dashboards and reports for SaaS Solutions •Provide real-time dashboard updates. •Secure and reliable connection to your data sources in the cloud or on-premises •Power BI offers quick deployment, hybrid configuration, and a secure environment. •Data exploration using natural language query. •Feature for dashboard visualization •New features frequently added that are great for excel users. •Extensive database connectivity capabilities Q&A feature publish to the web. •integration with both Python and R coding to use visualizations. •Power Query provides many options related to wrangling and clean the data. •Post publishing the data into Power BI web service can schedule refresh without manual intervention. •Power BI backed by the superpower of with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Disadvantages of Power BI Here, are cons/drawbacks of Power BI •Dashboards and reports only shared with users having the same email domains. •Power Bl will never mix imported data, which is accessed from real-time connections. •Power BI can't accept file size larger than 1 GB. •Dashboard never accept or pass user, account, or other entity parameters. Disadvantages of Tableau Here, are cons/drawbacks of Tableau •Relatively high cost •No change management or versioning •It is expensive, BI, when compared to other tools. •Importing custom visualization is a bit difficult. •Not offers easy methods for embedding reports to other applications. •Tableau is suitable only for a large organization which can pay for licensing cost. •The tableau does not offer support for artificial intelligence and machine learning. •There is integration with other Microsoft products like Power Apps , Dynamics 365, Office 365, and Microsoft Flow, which uses Single Sign-On (SSO).
View full review »I have used more than ten to 15 different types of software in the past 20 years.
I have used Tableau and I have used Qlik Sense. These two are, I would say, the top two leading platforms. We switched completely to Power BI, however, we started using Power BI more, alongside Tableau and Qlik Sense. The organization where I used to work previously had the commercial ability to acquire multiple software, depending on use cases, or depending on business requirements, or needs. In the previous organization, the organization was using one particular platform, then they decided to bring in a second platform, then they decided to bring in the third platform. As part of that mix-and-match scenario, we ended up using Qlik Sense and Tableau. And then we also started, in parallel, using Power BI, which then started to get better feedback and reviews, in general, so we ended up using it more and more.
View full review »RK
Ram-Krish
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We used different solutions, ranging from Excel to Microstrategy to various other business automation tools.
Power BI became part of our toolkit after we moved to Microsoft Office 365. It fits the requirements of 70% to 80% of the people in the bank, making it a strategic tool. If there are special needs, individuals might choose other tools, but overall, it is available for all users.
So, the bank has an Office 365 contract with Microsoft, which includes various services like SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. It is used as a productivity solution in the bank. In doing so, we also need to mitigate risks, such as malicious attachments, links, and files attempting to steal credentials.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps the bank mitigate these risks. It performs real-time scanning and uses machine-learning algorithms to help us detect and block threats. So, we use it as part of our Office 365 to mitigate risk against our productivity suite of applications.
There are three Defender products.
- One is Microsoft Defender for Office 365, also known as MDO.
- The other products under the Defender category are Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Defender for Identity.
So, there are three products: MDO, which is used for Office 365; Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, which is used as an endpoint solution on desktops; and Microsoft Defender for Identity, which is a sensor used in our identity management. The one we mainly use is MDO.
Power BI has good integration capabilities with Microsoft suite products and backend products like SQL and SharePoint, both on-premise and online, as well as other internal applications using databases like SQL or Oracle.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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I previously used Dundas. Compared to Dundas, the visuals look better in Microsoft Power BI. Microsoft Power BI gives you the option to have paginated reports rather than just one page, which I find quite easy.
View full review »IO
Itay Oleinik
Vice President at Shiluv
A few years ago, we've tested QlikView and Qlik Sense. Their deployment costs were rather high, so we decided to use Power BI.
View full review »In my previous experience, I had some exposure to SAP Business Objects. At that time, around ten years ago, the main differentiators were the pricing and the integration with Office tools and data sources, making it stand out in the realm of BI.
We have been using different tools, such as QlikView, on-premises OBIEE, Tableau, Excel, etc. We are trying to migrate almost everyone to Power BI. So, eventually, we will have only Power BI. Its usage is growing.
MS
reviewer1671858
Program Director Education Technology & Data Services at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
I was using Tableau but the licensing cost went up when Salesforce required them to raise the price. But if the price hadn't changed, I would've absolutely stuck with Tableau because I like it. I do not know about the cost of the licenses. We buy it from the state and when it went up, our CIO at the time said no more Tableau licenses. I had to scramble to find a replacement, and fortunately, I discovered that Power BI is included in Microsoft 365. However, I prefer Tableau's interface. Microsoft BI's user interface is convoluted in terms of how you attach a data source. You have a separate screen for defining your data and then you have to jump to a different screen to model the results. In other words, there are two separate interfaces for data and analytics. In Tableau, it's more seamless.
View full review »I used MicroStrategy. It's very nice, and similar, but a bit more difficult to connect to other systems. You need more technical skills. With Power BI, those connections are easier. I am not obliged to learn a lot of technical aspects.
For me, Power BI is a very good option. If you're in the Microsoft ecosystem, working with people who use Microsoft solutions, Power BI makes sense. It might be a bit more difficult if you're in a different ecosystem – companies tend to promote their own technologies for upsells and cross-sells. It's a sales thing.
View full review »IE
IdanEnright
Inovation Manager at SoCalGas
We previously used SAS and it is similar to Microsoft BI. It's a little different in the visualization. It was more on analytics, but it also had the visualization.
We had SAS Enterprise Guide which was on-premise. When they were looking at cloud solutions, they kind of opened it up for more possibilities. The deciding factors of why we switched to Microsoft BI was we already had many Microsoft products and we have a SQL Server Data Warehouse. There's good integration between our existing Microsoft systems with Microsoft BI.
View full review »SK
Swarupa Kallu
Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
We initially used Tableau because our data was an internal data source, and now all of our data is migrated to tool environments, that the Power BI is more comfortable with. BI is also a free product which is another reason the company recommends it.
We're essentially a Microsoft house. We use a wide range of Microsoft products and are very happy with them. So far, we have no plans to switch, as we haven't found alternatives for essentials like Office or Windows.
Azure DevOps is something we're starting to explore to enhance our desktops. We also work with Microsoft Dynamics, DPM, Hyper-V, and Microsoft Exchange.
Cost was a decisive factor when opting for Power BI.
View full review »GB
reviewer1264689
Director, IoT and Connected Products Portfolio at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
I work with a services company and we work with a lot of different customers. So depending on which customer, what is that ecosystem, we'll end up using a lot of different BI tools. That includes both licensed and open-sourced software as well. For example, we've used Tableau and Microsoft Power BI.
We have multiple BI tools. We previously worked with Oracle BI. Our expectations were not met, and therefore we moved over to Microsoft BI.
In my sector, currently, we are using Qlik Sense. We started using it one year ago.
We are shifting from Microsoft to Qlik due to the fact that we have Oracle ERP as a back end. We are trying to find a technology or BI, which already has a direct connection with this ERP. We went into Qlik Sense for that reason.
CR
Cort Rowland
Lead Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
We have more of an industrial type application and we're going to have Tulip interface with Qlik Sense or we're just going to use Domo's platform. Domo is more expensive, a little bit more expensive, however, one of my colleagues here already used Domo and he really liked it, so we're gearing towards Domo. We haven't purchased it yet.
View full review »DM
Dawn McClure
IT Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Previously, they were using BusinessObjects.
With the EA agreement, we get access to everything from Microsoft. It just made sense to switch.
View full review »MP
Marcelo Pissinati
IT Cybersecurity and Compliance Coordinator at Plaenge
I have been acquainted with SolarCloud for three months.
I haven't worked directly with the solution, but I downloaded the eBook to learn more about it.
View full review »In the past, I worked with other Python data visualization tools like Dash and Panel. Compared to those tools, Power BI is very easy.
View full review »WW
WinayakWagle
Owner at Pranali Consultants
We were using a CA tool and we have done work on Oracle. We have done work on many such platforms. However, since 2008 or 2009, we have been focusing on Microsoft as the total cost of ownership has been quite reasonable.
NG
Nathan Gadson
Managing Director at Streamline Strategies
As a matter of fact, we had built a tool, but it took so long to get it vetted and get it through to ATOs. That's when we decided to convert to Microsoft Power BI. It has already been vetted and approved in the army environment. It is an approved government site for cloud services. We were looking for the easiest path, and that's why we worked with Microsoft BI. They've already been embedded into the government. It is bundled with Office 365.
View full review »AG
reviewer1566945
Statistician / Data Scientist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
I've used Tableau, but now we primarily use Power BI.
Each has its advantages, but Power BI supports our needs effectively.
View full review »JM
JasminaMarkovic
BI Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
In my professional experience, I have primarily worked with AS (Analysis Services), Power BI, and SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services).
Last week, I worked on creating SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports and integrated them with SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services). Additionally, I hold a Microsoft certification in this field.
View full review »That would've been Excel. So, it isn't a switch; it is growth.
View full review »RU
reviewer1752714
Chief Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
I also use SAS Visual Analytics. It's a little bit cheaper, however, it's not that much different in terms of price.
View full review »SK
Santosh Kurakula
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
We currently use Qlik Sense as our BI product.
View full review »RT
reviewer1516839
Information Architect at a government with 10,001+ employees
We also have IBM Cognos. We haven't switched. They're being used in tandem. There are different sets of requirements for two different solutions.
View full review »EP
Ermanuel Policarpio
Head of business transformation and digitalization at Apple
I have also used Active Directory. I was a service desk analyst, which is a level one IT. For Active Directory, I use that to support the organization's directory, IT concerns like internet error issues, their profile, if they can't access a certain website, their password needs to be reset, et cetera.
Power BI has different kinds of setups, so one setup would be connecting to an SQL server database. I have experience connecting to SQL databases, and I do basic SQL coordinates because normally it's done in collaboration with SQL administrators.
View full review »Most of my experience was with MS BI, with Power BI the difference is mainly in the report sections. It is more user-friendly compared to SSRS.
View full review »We are exploring Power BI, Microsoft Synapse Analytics, and some BI features on Azure.
We previously used Oracle BI. It's a good tool. Oracle BI is more for the enterprise, big enterprise, for big control of data security and can get into how you control your people, who can see what, et cetera. The downside is, it is very old. You will not get the very latest tools or visuals in Oracle BI. That, we can easily find in Power BI.
BS
BlessingSithole
Software Engineer at syntegra
We have used Eclipse BIRT and Knowage in the past but were not as good and more complicated. We find Power BI is more direct, it is much easier to connect to other data sources and so forth.
View full review »SG
SwatiGupta2
Head of analytics team at Botree Software
Between Microsoft BI and Tableau, I would go for Tableau because it's more powerful. Tableau could connect to a variety of databases, and the visualization is much, much better. I would always prefer Tableau because of the dimension picking you could do there. Speed-wise, the latency issues were much lesser in Tableau.
If you're using Azure in general as a cloud service provider, Power BI would be more integrative. If you need a stand-alone system and are not worried about the cloud setup, I recommend using Tableau.
AM
Ariful Mondal
Global Data Architecture and Data Science Director at FH
Prior to incorporate Power BI in the stack, we were using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services(SSRS) only. They do not have any visualization interface, but you can do static reporting. This is the reason that we are switching. Probably, we will use SSRS and Azure SQL at the backend, but there won't be used as the visualization tool.
For visualization, we used to use Excel. Which not reliable.
View full review »MB
Manu Boudewyn
IT Enterprise Architect - Partnership at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The current deployment we have relies on SAP BO (Business Objects) which is a vintage version and an aging solution, over approximately 10 years old now. SAP does have a more innovative replacement product, of course, namely SAP Analytics Cloud, or SAC.
We discussed our needs, requirements, report layouts, and so on with SAP and following further deeper analysis, SAP came back and confirmed that they could not realize it in the short term using SAP Analytics Cloud. It would require much more effort, including the integration of a data warehouse and more to reach our goals. And hence, as per SAP's recommendation, we dropped that scenario from our considerations.
View full review »IG
Irving Ginzburg
President & Owner at Altrim Systems
Before using Power BI, we used a lot of Excel, Power Pivot, and other similar tools. We transitioned a lot of our data models from Excel and Power Pivot to Power BI, including the PivotTables. It was a Microsoft solution. It was Excel, from Excel and Power Pivot to Power BI.
View full review »RA
Rakesh Acharya
Manager Technical Architect at Legato Health Technologies
In some projects, we have used Tableau or ThoughtSpot. If we're dealing with big data, then we often consider using Tableau. Power BI has some additional features that Tableau doesn't have, like DAX and Power Query, but Tableau works better from a scalability standpoint. Sometimes for reporting purposes, when we want to generate some kind of dashboard on the fly for the user, we have used ThoughtSpot.
View full review »MJ
reviewer1262910
Global Director - HR Technology & Platforms at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
With our company, there were probably those that needed to do advanced analytics that were using solutions like Tableau or Excel.
AS
Akhilesh Shrivas
Cognos Consultant at Surtel technologies
I've previously used Cognos BI. I've also had the opportunity to work with SAP.
View full review »RP
reviewer1620744
VP Cloud Platform
I also use Tableau. I've used Power BI to a larger extent than Tableau, however, we have a startup in which we have an audience on BI and we are doing research to see how many of them are on Tableau versus Power BI.
We didn't previously use a different solution. We started with Power BI because that was one of our device partner's tools of choice. However, we are trying to support Tableau and Power BI now.
SS
Smita S
Founder/Director at Thoughtschools
I previously used the Tableau solution.
View full review »TS
reviewer1753443
Cloud business Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I have experience with a couple of other similar products but I'd only downloaded the free versions of these tools to play around with. One of these is Tableau.
Tableau is a solution that would be used more at the enterprise scale. It may be more suitable for analytics.
These days, from a visual perspective in terms of analytics, dashboards, and customized dashboards, I tend to use Google products.
View full review »AD
AndreaD'Orio
Chief Technical Officer at Value Partners
We use SAS BI and Microsoft BI. I prefer Microsoft BI as, from a licensing point of view, it's easier as it's a per-user licensing. If Power BI is the right tool for companies, it's a shorter time-to-market approach to business intelligence.
AE
reviewer1638714
Junior Data Scientist at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
I also have experience with Tableau.
View full review »AA
Ankur Arya
Solution Architect
Microsoft BI is similar to Talent and Pentaho BI but Microsoft is more competitive and flexible over the other BI solutions. We can cover up or build our end-to-end solution from scratch and that includes reporting and we don't need to go to any kind of a visualization tool for that.
View full review »CM
reviewer1565994
Technical Director, Information Management at a construction company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We had other solutions, but they were some form of ad hoc databases and spreadsheets. We switched to this solution for integrating various data sets from different data sources and for richer analytics.
View full review »PC
reviewer1477869
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
I've also worked with Tableau and SAP products. We use them all currently.
View full review »JB
Jorge Barroso
Consultor at Scitum
This is different from other solutions in that Power BI offers ease of use. It is different from any SQL tool because you can use it right away.
View full review »A different solution was not used previously.
View full review »We have worked with SAP BusinessObjects. Power BI is better because it has more flexibility and functionalities.
View full review »We switched to Power BI because it is easy, and there is rapid development.
View full review »SG
Sumit_Gupta
BI Consultant at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I am certified in MicroStrategy and have worked with it for several years. However, most of the business I am getting lately is all Power BI.
In my experience, everybody is switching from either MicroStrategy to Power BI or Tableau to Power BI. I'm hearing and seeing this going on in the market, for some very good reasons. I'm no longer working with MicroStrategy, but not because I don't like it. It's simply that I'm not getting enough work in that area.
CA
reviewer1417392
Contact Center Consultant at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
I have used Tableau.
View full review »BK
reviewer1447362
Manager - Customer Success at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I also use Tableau. I've used Tableau for about seven months.
There are other programming languages like Python and R, where they use analytics for graphical representation, or they can use Power BI and Tableau in our company. There are many options.
View full review »The previous products include Tableau, Cognos, BusinessObjects, and Sisense. All of them have high price tags! Why pay and get ripped off for these products when you have Power BI? It will give you just as much, growing every month at an acceptable cost model.
Want to waste a lot of money? Then go for the others, I can recommend BusinessObjects as a great way to burn your money.
View full review »AY
reviewer1789389
BI/BO Hana Application Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I'm also familiar with SAP, which doesn't scale as well. SAP also is much more expensive. SAP is a big product, whereas Microsoft BI is much smaller. They only overlap in terms of the analytics cloud and the SAP goes above and beyond and offers many, many more things.
View full review »EH
reviewer1785144
Strategy & Advisory - Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Originally, we were only using Excel, trying out different dashboards for the data. This was not powerful enough for us. It was not easy to use or streamline so we made the switch.
View full review »AS
reviewer1755777
Technical Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
I use a variety of tools, including Salesforce, and I have developed a number of Python-based tools.
View full review »HA
Hanine Allaya
Data Science Intern at Clockworkx Gmbh
I was using Dash Open Source, but when I discovered that it would take a lot of time, I wanted to define a platform for that. So, Power BI was the solution. Now I want to try Tableau, but I haven't had a chance to do that yet.
View full review »Yes. We used Crystal Reports, see above.
View full review »RT
reviewer1257072
Senior Business Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Sometimes I work with Qlik Sense, which is another BI tool.
View full review »AS
AndreasSemousu
Technical Sales Manager at Skhomo Technologies
One of the vendors we used to work with was Qlik, but we found that Qlik's support wasn't as good as what we're getting from Microsoft. With IBM, the biggest challenge was that companies didn't have the analytics skills to use their solution. Customers would complain that it didn't do what they wanted it to do, but it is not the tool. It's the skill that you have on the market.
Microsoft made sure they certified competent solution implementers. It was great. We were privileged to be one of those companies that Microsoft picked, and they helped us train some of our technicians to be adept at some of these solutions.
All of our technicians are certified, so Microsoft refers certain organizations to us locally for help implementing their solutions. We have a solid technical team, especially around the Microsoft Power Apps, including Power BI.
View full review »TM
TariqMuhammad
Assistant General Manager at ELEVATE Solutions Limited
We did not use a different solution previously.
View full review »KD
reviewer1702647
Senior Technology Architect/Strategist at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees
I have used other solutions but not in this cooperation.
View full review »HS
Hadi Soeharto
IT RM at KNV
I have experience with Tableau.
View full review »AK
AmitKumar23
BI Analyst at Infosys Technology
We previously used a different solution for a different location, a different customer. If a customer decides to go for one vendor, they stick to that vendor, so changing a vendor is not an option most of the time.
MF
reviewer1644669
PMO at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I have previously used QlikView and Qlik Sense.
View full review »MN
Michele Nelson
BI Solution Engineer at DataSelf
I also use Tableau. They're very comparable products. I worked for different companies that built their own proprietary stuff, and mainly for visualization, Tableau and Power BI were the connectors to go to. So, there wasn't a switch.
I really like Tableau's web version over Power BI's web version. It is just easier to drag and drop things and blend data on the backend. It has a little simpler process in that regard. I don't like the charting in Tableau. Its charting is a little more complex than Power BI's charting.
Calculations are a little harder in Tableau. They can be a little more complex in Tableau as compared to Power BI. Tableau is a little more detailed in terms of creating calculations. You can't just add two columns together. Tableau should have the ability to add or subtract columns. They should make it like a wizard.
View full review »SS
SureshSrinivasan
Assistant Vice President at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I have worked on Tableau. Before Tableau, I have worked with traditional tools, such as SAP BusinessObjects. My team has got experience with Spotfire, but we are not seeing a great demand for Spotfire.
If you ask me for the top three, I would qualify Power BI, then Tableau, and then QlikView. That's the demand that I'm seeing in the market from various customers.
View full review »CB
ChrisBanks
Business Intelligence Developer at Kathmandu
Microstrategy, and no, we have not swapped yet. I use both to keep on top of my own skill set.
View full review »I used other reporting platforms along with the Microsoft BI stack, but never switched.
View full review »We use SAP BI in parallel to Microsoft BI currently. Our plan is to replace the SAP BI with Power BI. The phase we are in now is to run both of them in parallel and see how everything is operating before we completely phase out SAP BI. The focus isn't on SAP or Power BI. It used to be our SAP BI solution. Since we started using Power BI, the plan is to actually discontinue SAP BI. maybe by next year we will no longer use the SAP BI.
I switched to Microsoft BI from SAP BI because, in my part of the world, it is becoming the most popular BI tool. Additionally, the ease of integration and our organization is a Microsoft shop. Everything is Microsoft, our databases, our ERP, and we use Microsoft dynamics and Business Center.
The ease of integration of the BI tool is important for our organization. The scalability and then the licensing are good. If you choose the cloud for SAP BI, you have to spend more. The planning modules sometimes do not come with the package and you will need to spend on it.
It is not necessarily that Microsoft BI is better, but because there are other benefits when you consider Microsoft BI. The ease of integration with the DB and the ERP, and then you look at the overall cost.
View full review »LC
reviewer1062786
MBA, MS Business Analytics at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
We work in such a way that we can use any tool and accomplish whatever we want. That's the way it works. I wouldn't be able to say that every team uses Power BI for the same purpose, but we have Power BI available to us and can use it however we see fit. I know that it is primarily used for dashboards at this point.
View full review »RD
RichardDuggan
Owner at Richard Duggan Pty Ltd
I also use Tableau. Tableau and Power BI are similar in terms of capability.
View full review »SK
Sai-Krishna
Manager, BI & Analytics at Perceptive Analytics
I have also worked with Tableau and I think that each of these tools has its advantages.
I believe the cost of the software plays a deciding factor in a company's decision to implement either of the two. While each product has its pros and cons, if you're looking for something that's more value for money, then I think Power BI is the better choice.
On the other hand, if you are willing to choose an expensive option that gives you a lot more flexibility, then I think that Tableau would be a better choice.
It ultimately depends on what you are going to use it for. If you're using it for a variety of visualizations that you want to create, Tableau will be a better choice. On the other hand, if people have budget constraints then Power BI will provide a good value for the money.
View full review »GR
reviewer936228
Manager- Projects at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We have used QlikView. Microsoft BI's dashboards are easier to use and not as complex.
View full review »TS
reviewer1494948
Senior Manager Analytic & Insights at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
We use Oracle BI and Oracle OBIEE.
View full review »SH
reviewer1509708
Project Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We are also using Tableau. We use Tableau right now, and we are likely introducing Microsoft BI in-house in the near future. For now, we just have customers that use it.
View full review »BL
reviewer1389651
Certified Adjunct Faculty, School of Engineering and Computing at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have worked in the data warehouse technology group at Oracle for three and a half years, helping Oracle's clients deploy a data warehouse with Oracle as the database. But when Power BI came onto the scene, I was more and more persuaded to use it instead for business intelligence and data warehouse purposes. This was mainly because I enjoyed how easily Power BI builds on existing tools that I'm already familiar with like Excel and Access.
View full review »NL
Norbert Langewiesche
Interim Manager Supply Chain / IT at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
We have SAP BI working. It has cost us more than a million Euro, and it does not work. This was one of the reasons to change.
Power BI is very easy to use and much sleeker.
GG
Gilberto Gutierrez
Presales Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I was using Oracle before, we switched to Microsoft because Oracle is very expensive for the benefits that they offer.
View full review »NA
reviewer1247253
DGM IT at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Prior to using Microsoft BI, we had been using OBIEE. Oracle is a complicated product with poor visuals. Comparing with Microsoft BI, we found Microsoft to have better handling, graphics, features, and easier development and coding.
View full review »CK
Chomanand Kokil
Analyst Operations with 5,001-10,000 employees
I have used other solutions, such as Apache Tika and Kafka.
View full review »EH
CTOINBI874
Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
We were previously using Excel, and Excel did not have the ability to deploy nor did it have the ability to easily do some of the things that people were asking for. The switch was driven by being overwhelmed in the Excel world.
My most important criteria when selecting a vendor are
- usability
- the ability to develop solutions in an agile fashion
- the ability to have power users on the business side able to do their own work.
AN
AYANDA NKUNDLA
Senior Manager: ICT Compliance at Department of Public Service and Administration
I did not use another solution previously.
View full review »RS
Rajesh S
Technical Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We also use Oracle BI.
View full review »BY
reviewer1650804
Senior Data Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have used Tableau previously.
View full review »AN
AYANDA NKUNDLA
Senior Manager: ICT Compliance at Department of Public Service and Administration
I did not use a different solution previously before the implementation of this product. This is the first solution we've used for these purposes.
View full review »IH
reviewer1159494
Advisory Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have worked on SiteSense and Oracle OBIEE. I feel more satisfied when I'm working with Power BI. It is more convenient as compared to other solutions.
View full review »FM
Farhan Ahmed MCTS/MCITP/MCC SQL Server
Senior Software Engineer - Business Intelligence at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
We were using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS reports), now we are moving towards Power BI due to its Publish on web part, as well as the interactive cross-filtering throughout all the visuals (i.e., if you need).
View full review »JG
reviewer1759668
Associate Data Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Previously we used Excel, which took a long time - two or three weeks - to bring the data into a uniform format, whereas BI can do the same job in a day.
View full review »JR
reviewer1784373
Assistant Manager Databases at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Before we were using Microsoft BI we used Tableau and an open-sourced solution called PHP.
We ended up switching to Microsoft BI because it has proper tools, easy to use, and is user-friendly.
View full review »PH
reviewer916719
System Specialist at a government with 201-500 employees
I have experience with IBM Cognos products before Power BI. It's very difficult to compare products as there are so many different functional, decent products.
NN
reviewer1028202
Functional Consultant at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Before we had this solution, we used some internal software development using normal SQLs and JavaScripts. We also take advantage of our SQL Server.
View full review »LK
LunikKanungo
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I've used other solutions, such as Tableau and Power Query. Tableau from a graphical point of view is much better than Power BI, however, from a data manipulation standpoint and things like that, I prefer Power BI and Power Query to prep the data.
Tableau got bought out by Salesforce, which is a cloud-based company, so they're all going to push everything to the cloud. I'm sure they'll incorporate all these new features.
View full review »SK
reviewer1517895
Partner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I have used Qlik Sense in the past and it is more functional than this solution. I prefer Qlik Sense and I will most likely be switching soon.
View full review »SK
Samuel Kamau
Co-Founder at Beta Edge Technology Limited
I used Tableau in 2016, but I decided not to use it in this startup company because they don't have a free option. They do have a trial version, but that expires and I would have to then look for another solution.
With Microsoft BI, they have a free desktop version.
I have also used Cognos BI before, although it was a bit complicated. This is another reason that I settled on Microsoft BI.
View full review »FM
Bidirect377
Manager at a logistics company with 501-1,000 employees
The decision to use Microsoft BI was made by the financial department.
View full review »ES
reviewer1047609
Founder & CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I have previously used another solution.
View full review »RH
reviewer1537680
Head of Analytics Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I didn't really use any other product. I used to be a Qlik partner, and I became a Microsoft partner two years ago.
View full review »VC
reviewer1381863
CEO at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We used simple Excel reports, but Excel reports are not as good as Power BI. Power BI is far ahead.
View full review »SR
itspec564565
IT Specialist at a wholesaler/distributor with 1-10 employees
We previously used iFrame.
We did long studies about which tool to use in our company. We decided to use Microsoft BI because it was a complete product, and it is easier and cheaper than others.
View full review »AL
Arturo Laos
CEO at a tech services company
The customers we work with didn't have very elegant solutions. They were using traditional ERP and were getting default reports. Now, with programming code, it is fantastic. They are very happy with our solutions with Power BI.
View full review »We were using some open-source BI tools. It was very difficult to get support for open-source and that is why we switched to Microsoft.
View full review »OA
Okay Akdeniz
Business Application Group Manager at OBASE
We also work with and sell MicroStrategy in Turkey. 95% of the MicroStrategy projects have been completed with our company. It is a direct competitor with Power BI. My company commonly does consulting for some small and medium markets and for that we recommend Power BI. Whenever we talk about enterprise-level solutions, the company we will use is MicroStrategy.
View full review »GG
Gary Gonsalves
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
We hadn't previously used another solution. We were just using Excel and decided to go to a much better platform.
View full review »KC
Khumbulani Chikura
Business Intelligence Architect at a tech services company
Personally, I used Excel Services/Visio Services.
View full review »I use Cognos Analytics 11 for some projects, but many of my clients prefer Microsoft Power BI because it is less expensive.
View full review »Before, we just had a whole bunch of spreadsheets lying around all over the place. So we really needed to get things tightened up but we weren't ready to invest in a database. But with Power BI, you're able to store your data within spreadsheets and SharePoints, and then have Power BI pull the data out and report on it. So we actually saved a ton of money not needing to load the data into databases, which is a big prerequisite for many other reporting tools.
My most important criteria when selecting a vendor are usability and support.
View full review »PH
PerHemström
Partner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
QlikView and Qlik Sense. We felt demand in the market for Microsoft Power BI. Also, within my company we are selling services around Microsoft Dynamics, and Microsoft Power BI hooks very well into the other Microsoft products.
KB
reviewer1311126
Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I'm also familiar with Tableau.
We are SAP partners and resellers also. We make lots of SAP business intelligence solutions and do business intelligence projects.
View full review »AB
reviewer1556970
CEO Gerente General at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We also work with Tableau and and QlikView alongside Microsoft. We do use some others, however, to a much lesser extent.
View full review »EP
Enrique Pacheco
Managing Director at IDMdev Tech Solutions®
We also use Oracle and Tableau.
View full review »RH
reviewer1679622
Head of Internal Control at a tech company with 51-200 employees
We previously used Cognos.
View full review »FB
reviewer864999
Project Leader at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We are currently using IBM, Microsoft BI, and Qlik.
View full review »KR
reviewer1482141
Strategic Market Development Sr. Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 201-500 employees
I have previously used Microsoft Excel.
View full review »MR
sharepoi927843
Senior Manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Previously, we did not use another solution.
View full review »DK
reviewer1590450
BI technical analyst at a government with 11-50 employees
I have used other business intelligence solutions previously and I switched because this solution was cheaper and is on a Microsft platform.
View full review »JS
reviewer1398615
Consultant at a training & coaching company with 201-500 employees
Before Microsoft BI, we used Tableau.
View full review »JC
JorgeCastro1
Data Scientist at Packen SAS
Previously we used MS Excel but continue using it mainly for prototyping.
View full review »LB
reviewer1040850
Director of Sales and Marketing at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I have some past experience with solutions such as Tableau and Cognose but not integrated into this ERP product. We chose one that we would feel would be on a common platform of our customers.
View full review »ND
reviewer1391733
Business Intelligence Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
This is the only tool that we are using for reporting. Previously, we used Crystal Reports.
View full review »SS
reviewer1447446
Data Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I have also used Alteryx and Informatica. We still may use one of these other products, depending on our client's requirements. If the client wants us to work using a specific product then that is their choice.
View full review »CA
Actnt932
Accountant at a government
I knew there must be a better way of doing what I was performing, so I searched. I did not have a previous solution, I just did things manually.
View full review »MB
reviewer1536369
Power BI Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have worked only with Power BI.
View full review »I switched from 2005 to 2008 in order to get more features.
View full review »No previous solution used.
View full review »We did not have a previous solution. And we did not choose this solution. We actually inherited it.
View full review »This product was used during tests.
View full review »Worked in different technical environments but never saw a switch from MS BI.
View full review »I do work on projects to switch clients to MS BI usually due to its attractive pricing and tight integration with MS Office suite. Also the learning curve for users is flattened due to their fluency with Excel.
View full review »I did not previously use a solution.
View full review »As implementors or consultants, we use different tools.
View full review »We used Infobeacon and then we added Microsoft BI to Cognos. We are currently looking for a better product and are evaluating Tableau.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.