Data analysis is no longer an exclusive club for IT – and that's exactly what we talked about with our colleague Thomas Hentschel, Team Lead Business Intelligence at TSO-DATA.
In a compelling article, Thomas explained how modern BI solutions using Power BI and AI support companies in analyzing their data. We wanted to know more – so we asked him directly.
Thomas, in your article, you say that Business Intelligence needs to be more than just numbers on a dashboard. What do you mean by that?
Traditional dashboards often only show what has happened, for example, how sales figures have developed or whether targets have been met. But modern BI goes far beyond that: it helps users understand why something happened and what might happen next. Our PowerDashboards are a great example - they don’t just provide numbers, but also deliver context-based insights that support better decision-making.
Let’s talk about Self-Service BI – why is that so important today?
Because the expectations have changed. Business departments want to run their own analyses independently of IT. Our PowerDashboards make this possible - users can work in a highly targeted way using drilldowns, filters, or dynamic time frames. That saves time, increases flexibility, and makes BI accessible to everyone - not just data professionals.
And now AI is entering the picture... How does that change the BI world?
With Microsoft Co-Pilot and the AI features in Fabric, it’s now possible to interact with data using natural language - even directly in Microsoft Teams. Users can ask a question like “How did our revenue develop in March?” and receive a comprehensive answer, including suggestions for deeper analysis. That’s a real game-changer for informed decision-making.
Fabric seems to play a central role here. What’s behind it technically?
Microsoft Fabric unites various data and analytics components such as data lakes, warehouses, and other analytics tools into a single platform. This opens up new possibilities - for example, for machine learning or AI-based forecasting. At the same time, we remain pragmatic: not everything has to be activated at once. A targeted approach, for example using Co-Pilot Studio or Fabric Data Agents - already makes many use cases productive today.
You also mentioned planning and forecasting – directly in the dashboard?
Exactly. Many companies no longer want to hide planning figures in isolated Excel files, they want to manage them directly within their BI environment. To support this, we use visuals from partners that can be embedded into Power BI. This allows users to enter planned values, compare them with actual data, and even receive suggestions based on historical performance - all within one tool.
Thank you, Thomas! If you want to dive deeper into this topic, you can download the full article here:
Would you like to discuss the individual benefits for your company? Then secure a free presentation now and see the benefits of TSO Power Dashboards for yourself! Simply contact us directly by e-mail.
TSO-DATA
bi[at]tso[dot]de
Thomas Hentschel is Team Leader Business Intelligence at TSO-DATA GmbH. Among other things, he is responsible for the development and implementation of innovative BI solutions based on Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. With many years of project experience in the areas of data integration, analysis and reporting, he supports companies in making their data strategies future-proof and user-friendly - from classic dashboards to AI-supported analysis platforms.
