Introduction

Power BI is Microsoft’s hosted business intelligence (BI) service that provides an Internet-based platform for sharing interactive, refreshable Excel reports. For most organizations, Power BI is less expensive, easier to manage, and quicker to deploy than an outwardly facing on-premises solution, and it is more secure and timely than distributing reports as e-mail attachments. However, customers have to trust Microsoft to keep the system working and protect their data, and they also have to manage additional on-premises solutions to enable access to on-premises data. Significant changes to the service (likely in late 2015) will reduce its dependency on Excel and SharePoint Online, improve access to more on-premises data, and include access to a wide range of preconfigured reports and services. The updated service promises to deliver a BI platform that balances self-service features with IT managed data access and report delivery. However, for most organizations this year is about evaluating the Power BI service and planning for the future, as current deployment options are limited.