Power BI is so much more than a piece of software developed by Microsoft – it’s an efficient, productive tool that focuses on business intelligence like nothing else on the market. As far as using its features for supply chain management is concerned, you’ll be pleased to hear that there are many ways to implement it. In this article, we’ll be exploring some of the most prominent data-driven use cases.
Practical and effective uses of Power BI
Power BI provides a wide variety of features and some of the most beneficial for supply chain management include:
- Analytics boasting internal software systems – a great way to manage supply chain activities either remotely or in-house, while keeping track of vital data pertaining to stock levels, distribution, and more. Any Power BI consulting company will tell you why this can be especially beneficial when considering the ability to monitor products and stock via software, from production right through to the distributor or end user – all of which can be automated like with Carnegie Mellon University.
- Visualization for a cleaner, more efficient User Experience – it has long been known that people respond to visuals and graphics far more effectively than textual data. With this in mind, a supply chain can benefit from being able to see analytics in a neat, professionally prepared way that stimulates the mind and allows data to be processed and absorbed. For management purposes, this information can then be used to produce valuable knowledge relating to product development and more. A good example of this was when Heathrow airport used graphics and visuals to identify how to make the process for passengers all the more straightforward by collating data and reviewing the results.
- A real-time view of a business’s financial position – another excellent solution for businesses keen to stay on top of their financial situation, monitor growth, minimize losses, and maximize ROI. Power BI can assist with this by collating information on accounts, expenditures, gross and net profit, as well as any fees to provide the user with a clear-cut image of the finances, as was the case with MediaCom, whereby they utilized BI to evaluate and perform a ‘health check’ on their media and assets.
- Data provision within applications and software – with a broad level of compatibility, data collected by Power BI can be extracted and imported into other pieces of software and then stored to be referred to whenever needed. For a supply chain manager, this can make it all the easier to prepare a presentation while on the move, pull up the most relevant data when needed to showcase a product, or explore a target market in front of investors.
Is Power BI a worthwhile implementation?
Power BI isn’t a tool developed to pass time, it’s an asset that even some of the most prominent establishments and businesses use on a daily basis. It’s efficient, effective, and perhaps most appealing of all – incredibly cheap to use considering the sheer volume of features. This is why it’s rapidly becoming one of the world’s leading business intelligence tools.