Is Power BI Slowing Down Your Organisation?

"We want a dedicated team for Power BI. Everyone else? View-only access."

At first glance, it seems like a streamlined approach, right? A specialised team to handle all reporting, leaving the rest of your organisation to focus on their core responsibilities. 

But here’s the real question: Is this strategy truly efficient, or is it holding your organisation back? 

What many companies don’t realise is that restricting Power BI usage to a small, specialised team can create bottlenecks that ripple across the entire business. 

Here’s what typically happens:

• Employees get frustrated: Teams waste time waiting for reports or data adjustments that they could manage themselves if given the tools.

• BI teams get overwhelmed: With every data request funneled through one small team, your BI experts become overwhelmed, bogged down by ad-hoc requests rather than focusing on strategic, high-value tasks.

• Inconsistent data emerges: Teams that need quick access to data often create workarounds in Excel or other tools, leading to fragmented, unreliable reporting. The result? A lack of trust in data and disjointed decision-making across departments. 
  

Important! This problem doesn’t need to exist. 

Microsoft’s vision for Power BI is one of self-service Business Intelligence (BI) and BI for everyone - where every employee, regardless of their technical skillset, can engage with data. With advances in low-code capabilities and AI-powered insights, Power BI is no longer just a tool for the IT, data, or BI department. 

It’s time to rethink your approach. What if, instead of concentrating all data access in one department, you empowered your entire team to use Power BI effectively? 

Here’s what happens when you do:

1. Faster Decisions: Your teams no longer have to wait for reports -they can access, analyse, and visualise the data themselves, making quicker, data-driven decisions.

2. Reduced Bottlenecks: Your BI team can focus on strategic initiatives rather than handling basic data requests, improving efficiency across the board.

3. Consistency and Control: With company-wide access to the same data sources, you eliminate vague spreadsheets and reduce the risk of inconsistent reporting. Everyone works from a single source of truth. 
   

What You Probably Don’t Know Yet:

• Power BI is user-friendly: With the right training, even non-technical employees can create and manipulate their own dashboards, freeing up your BI team for more valuable work.

• It’s not just about dashboards: Power BI can integrate with tools like Excel, SharePoint, and Teams, providing seamless collaboration and allowing data to flow across all your business systems.

• You don’t need to be a Power BI expert: With the help of AI-driven insights and tools like Power Automate, Power BI can streamline repetitive tasks and help every team member extract actionable insights without needing to write code. 
  

So imagine, your entire organisation is equipped to handle their own reporting and data analysis. Employees aren’t waiting days, weeks, or even months for a simple report - they can dive into the data themselves, identify trends, and make decisions on the fly. Meanwhile, your BI team isn’t buried under routine data requests. Instead, they’re driving innovation and uncovering deeper insights that give your business the insights and growth it deserves. 

Here’s how I and my team can help:

We offer a 2-day Power BI training course that walks your team through Power BI from A to Z - empowering them to create, analyse, and share data across your organization. No more silos, no more bottlenecks. Just data-driven decision-making at every level. 

Or, if you’re unsure about where to start with Power BI and/or Fabric, why not book a free strategy session? I’ll help you identify the gaps in your Power BI approach and show you exactly how to empower your entire organisation without overburdening your BI team. 

Have any questions? Feel free to reach out - I’m just an email or Teams chat away. 

Cheers,

Sharona