Apr.232021
Power BI, Excel

Is Power BI the new Excel alternative? 

According to various online sources, around 90% of all companies use Excel for a wide range of tasks, from ad hoc calculations and tabular analyses to sophisticated financial and other key performance indicator reports. Almost everyone has experience with Excel, either as a user or a programmer. Excel skills are now found in nearly every job application. Power BI has been available for some time, and the Power BI community is growing rapidly ( over 7 million users worldwide ). What do you think? Is Power BI the new alternative to Excel? We'll answer some questions about this in this blog post.

 

 

Does Power BI really have the potential as an Excel alternative?

Before we examine this question in more detail in the following blog post, let me state this upfront: Power BI and Excel are complementary and complement each other perfectly in many ways. Excel remains the tool for classic spreadsheets for ad hoc calculations and compilations, such as budget planning. In our view, Power BI will become the new standard for data visualizations and analyses, the creation of customized dashboards, and standardized reports that are distributed and used company-wide.

 

Power BI as an Excel alternative

 

 

Why is Power BI so successful?

The main reason is that Power BI to a new generation of Self-service business Intelligence (BI) toolss heard which one the gap between Excel and the classic ones (expensive) Enterprise Business Intelligence Tools closes. Die Combination von easy operation (Office interface), a large poretfolio of interactive visuals, simpler Programming language for extensions, graphical data modeling, AI-supported analysis and Cloud based services is unique in the market and possiblet so new Application scenarios. Another reason is the dynamic further development (monthly update) and the global Power BI community, which has a very strong influence on further development and provides countless templates and examples.  

 

 

What are the biggest differences between Excel and Power BI?

In the table below, we compare Microsoft Excel and Power BI in the most important categories – we tried to determine for you whether Power BI is a good alternative to Excel:

 

Categories Excel report 
Application 
  • Essentially a traditional spreadsheet program that has been continuously expanded 
  • Progressive, sophisticated BI-Tool with a comprehensive portfolio of functions for the data visualization and  aanalysis 
Visualization & Dashboards 
  • Many demandingfull Charts – but these are not linked to the data model 
  • Limited dashboard functionality 
  • ideal for alerts, KPIs and visualizations including visual data analysis 
  • Comprehensive dashboard functionality including aautomatic update 
Reporting 
  • Excel reports are simple and normal table reports, which are expanded with charts 
  • Ideal for ad hoc analyses 
  • Comprehensive reporting tool with automated updates and report distribution 
  • Ideal for regular reporting 
data modeling 
  • Focused on structured and simple data models 
  • It is difficult to create relations between different tables 
  • Does not support advanced cross filtering 
  • Graphically supported data modeling, even for complex data models 
  • It is very easy to create relationships between different tables 
  • Expand cross-filtering between charts 
Data distribution 
  • Not very flexible – mostly via email 
  • Very flexible – via cloud service  
  • Flexible and role-specific 
  • Mobile-specific views 
  • Seamless access and security concept 
Performance  
  • Calculation of tables, graphics and filters is slow 
  • Fast processing of tables, graphics and filters 
programming language 
  • MDX for data queries 
  • DAX for data processing, calculations 
  • Power Query to easily cleanse and transform data from any data source 

 

Why should you evaluate Power BI?

Excel has many strengths and will continue to be the everyday spreadsheet tool. But if you also use Excel for regular Evaluations or for your company-RIf you use eporting, then you should definitely consider Power BI. With the extensive possibilities in data visualizationsiation, data analysis and report distribution via the cloud-based Power BI service Take reporting to a new level and make it available to all employees at all levels. redIT has a group of Power BI experts who can help youerne during the evaluation supportedt. Contact us at any time!

 

If you are already convinced that Power BI is a good alternative to Excel and would like to get started immediately , we offer various workshops and training courses :

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