Power BI Reporting: 2023 Solutions to Business Problems

While multinational corporations have their position in the global economies, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are the primary drivers of US financial growth. In fact, the majority of US businesses employ less than five employees. Despite their prevalence, running an SMB can be challenging. From product development to marketing and financial management, it’s a delicate balancing act. You’ll have to get it all right to navigate the challenges of 2023 and beyond. But what if you could solve all of these challenges with Power BI Reporting? While it might seem far-fetched, experts believe business intelligence (BI) and data analytics are the ideal solutions to business problems regardless of the size of an organization. 

As Andrew McAfee puts it, “The world is one big data problem.” That means solutions to most challenges are in data interpretation and reporting. Power BI and Power BI Report Scheduler work in tandem to help you tap the right data to measure performance and adjust operations priorities and solve business problems in 2023. But before we go deeper into the benefits of installing a BI reporting tool for your business, it is essential to clarify a few things.

What Size of Business Qualifies for Power BI Reporting?

Sometimes, BI is seen as being reserved for multinational corporations and IT titans. However, all businesses can benefit from BI. The size of the organization does not matter. But due to their size, multinationals can hire experts in every area, including business intelligence and data analytics.

Small and midsize businesses may not have the resources to hire such experts. That is why Power BI Reporting makes more sense for use in small business settings. In fact, tools like Power BI and Power BI Report Scheduler have revolutionized business intelligence for small and midsize businesses. But what are small and midsize businesses? 

Gartner, define SMBs according to workforce size and annual revenue. An organization qualifies as a small business if it has one to ten employees and annual revenues of $1 to over $40 million. A midsize organization, on the other hand, has ten to 49 employees and annual revenues of $50 to $1 billion. From these definitions, most business organizations in the USA are either small or midsize. 

Now that we’ve seen what types of businesses can use business intelligence, let’s look at the biggest challenges that business organizations are likely to face in 2023.

Inflation and Economic Downturn

The global economy has not yet fully recovered from the impacts of the pandemic. Although most countries have overcome the health impacts of the pandemic, they now must deal with skyrocketing inflation, which will continue into 2023. Experts predict most economies will stagnate or continue to shrink, with organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgrading their global economic growth for 2023. Businesses must prepare for these realities. 

However, business leaders can overcome inflation challenges by implementing prudent financial management strategies in their organizations. This can include establishing end-to-end spending visibility and cost categorization by function or business unit. Businesses can also overcome rising inflation by cutting spending and reducing their production costs. Hiring consulting experts may help multinationals overcome the financial challenges posed by inflation. However, SMBs may not have the resources and time to train their staff in advanced financial management skills. A business intelligence tool can make up for some of this. Business intelligence tools like Power BI Reporting can help track business spending and identify categories and units that can operate with a reduced budget. 

Supply Chain Issues 

Several factors have led to the disruptions in the global supply chain. While many thought businesses could overcome the supply chain congestion caused by the pandemic by the end of 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Great Resignation have compounded to make the situation worse. The supply chain issues are expected to persist into 2023. As the world grapples with supply chain issues, business leaders should find ways to ease the impact. It is imperative that business leaders understand their datasets and make informed decisions. Power BI Reporting can help any leader achieve this objective by creating supply chain dashboards that provide real-time insight.  

Growing Customer Base

Businesses need to expand their customer base to survive in this highly competitive market. However, it is often difficult for SMBs to recruit new customers. In 2023, SMB leaders must look for tools and advertisement methods that bring in additional customers without overstretching their marketing budget. A business intelligence tool like Power BI Reporting provides dashboards that can help leaders evaluate the effectiveness of specific marketing methods. Small and medium business leaders can also take marketing courses to help them understand the various marketing strategies that work.   

Generating Leads

Online marketing has grown exponentially since its inception. This trend will continue in the coming 2023. Lead generation is at the core of online marketing. However, most SMBs face challenges in generating leads that convert. These challenges can be solved by analyzing data from various online platforms to gain insight into what works and what does not. BI dashboards can help visualize marketing KPIs and advertising platforms that aid in lead generation. Specifying the target market and their needs can also help direct a marketing budget toward platforms that actually pay. For instance, if the target market is on Facebook, adverts on other platforms may not generate leads that convert.      

Monitoring Employee Performance 

Unlike multinationals that have various methods for monitoring and assessing their employees, SMBs face a huge challenge in this area. SMBs may not have the right tools or methods to monitor and measure the performance of their employees. However, SMBs can take advantage of tools like Power BI Reporting to help them identify and measure the right performance metrics. 

Use the Right Power BI Reporting Technology to Solve 2023 Business Problems 

Business intelligence and data analytics can help solve most of the biggest business challenges in 2023. However, it is important to have the right Power BI reporting tools to overcome these challenges.