Data Analysis with Minimal IT Support

Most business intelligence (BI) and data analysis processes are highly dependent on the availability of IT resources. Although there will always be a need for the reliability and scalability of these platforms, self-service BI is now becoming a reality as analytics tool providers are focused on giving you the ability to report on big data with ease. Perhaps more than any other company, Microsoft is taking the lead by bringing more and more capabilities directly to the end user.

With Excel 2010, Microsoft introduced the PowerPivot add-in that made it possible to work with millions of rows of data and easily create useful charts and filters. However, no advanced data visualization capabilities were included in the package. With the release of Office 2013, Microsoft not only integrated the PowerPivot capability directly into the spreadsheet, but is also introduced the PowerView reporting tool as a new add-on for Excel.

These two moves mean that:
  • It is no longer necessary to have a separate PowerPivot window for data analysis in Excel.
  • PowerPivot is integrated directly into the spreadsheet, greatly increasing ease of use.
  • You can store tens of millions of rows directly in a spreadsheet, limited only by memory.
  • You don't need to set up PowerView on a SharePoint Server or a SQL Database Server.

That last item is key. You will be able to use PowerView right inside Excel. Not only does this tool provide advanced data visualizations like maps and bubble charts, but it benefits from Microsoft's goal to make data analysis and visualization as simple as possible for the end user.

So, although you might still need IT to provide a connection to a transactional database or data warehouse, you can access and report on data without the need to initiate a cumbersome IT project. For any data accessible to you, such as exports, Access databases, or other flat-files, of almost any size, you will be able to bring them into Excel and conduct data analysis without anyone's help, or easily make use of a pre-built PowerPoint analysis model.

It will be well worth the effort to implement a self-service BI strategy for your business in the foreseeable future!