Power BI Desktop

Pros

• Easy to create visually appealing charts, visuals, and data displays very quickly
• Automates the process of data preparation and culling by throwing out outliers
• Pairs with dozens of Microsoft and open source applications

Cons

• Difficult to learn at first
• Relies on large datasets in order to generate statistically significant reports

Power BI is an analytics tool offered by the Microsoft company that allows clients to visualize data. In addition to analyzing data, companies are able to share data-driven insights across their organization, embed results in an app, and connect to thousands of different interfaces to flesh out their results.

Though it can seem a little inaccessible, Power BI is first and foremost meant for companies that want to make informative decisions about their products and services. Using the application, clients can connect, model, and explore data with highly visual reports.

Once the reports are generated, it's possible to collaborate with coworkers by publishing, sharing, and connecting to the results. Power BI fully integrates with Microsoft Excel for even more powerful data operations.

Though some may conflate Power BI with excel, it is definitely a more robust application that simplifies the process of information transformation, integration, and enrichment. It's much easier to make fully-fledged visual reports and charts in Power BI than it is in comparable Excel or data plotting programs.

Additionally, Power BI is somewhat open source, meaning that your organization can share insights with other companies that share the same application. Power BI fully pairs with a large number of Microsoft technologies, allowing for seamless integration and communication.

To put it simply, Power BI simplifies large scale data analysis. Microsoft features a large number of in depth written and video tutorials so that all clients can get up to speed with the application's functions.

In addition to data analysis and statistics toolsets, users will also have access to Machine Learning tools that make research even more powerful. Companies can pair their Power BI project with artificially intelligent solutions in order to identify anomalies, changes in data, and other important events.

Companies can also compare their results to competitors who've released their information, allowing for even more powerful analytic insight.

The only drawback is that Power BI can seem very unintuitive and hard to use at first. Unless you have a background in data analytics, it can be hard to generate informative reports with accurate insights. Overall, this application is best suited for companies and may be too difficult for individuals with small datasets.

Pros

• Easy to create visually appealing charts, visuals, and data displays very quickly
• Automates the process of data preparation and culling by throwing out outliers
• Pairs with dozens of Microsoft and open source applications

Cons

• Difficult to learn at first
• Relies on large datasets in order to generate statistically significant reports