Power BI Updates Expand On-Premises Data Access

Power BI, a Microsoft-hosted business intelligence (BI) service, has received enhancements to its Web and Windows Store solutions, including new visualization features and an interactive forecasting tool. Enhanced integration options simplify access to a wide range of on-premises data sources, which could benefit organizations by enabling their expert users to access and analyze critical on-premises data in real time. The rapid pace of updates also suggests that Microsoft will continue to invest in the service. However, Power BI is only offered as a hosted service in SharePoint Online, which may complicate deployment and connection to on-premises data sources.

Enterprise Improvements

Power BI is a Microsoft-hosted subscription service (part of an Office 365 online service) that enables users to leverage Excel 2013 and the organization’s data sources to build and share sophisticated interactive reports, charts, and other BI solutions. (For a discussion of the components in Power BI, see the sidebar “Power BI Basics“.) The service receives improvements on a monthly or more frequent basis. Updates delivered in the first half of 2014 will prove most useful to enterprises, offering improved access to on-premises data.