It’s often said that data is now the world’s most valuable resource. Every organization, from small local business to multinational corporation, sits on a mountain of data that is growing with each passing minute. But if “data is the new oil” how do you go about extracting it?

Data visualization is just one step in helping employees make sense of data and turn “ones and zeros” into actionable insights, but it is crucial. In this blog we will look at how Microsoft Power BI makes it easier than ever for non-developers and non-IT-specialists to leverage data to achieve everyday business outcomes.

In particular, we’ll explore the benefits of Microsoft’s Application Insights and Power BI Integrations, highlighting how data visualization with Application Insights can help your organization.

What is Application Insights?

Application Insights is an application performance management (APM) service from Microsoft, located in Azure Monitor. It can be used to manage and monitor live applications, detect performance anomalies, diagnose issues, and analyze app usage. Essentially, this information can be used to ensure that applications are working effectively – in other words it’s a pretty useful piece of kit.

Application Insights can gather data, such as:

  • Page views and load performance
  • User and session counts
  • Request rates, response times, and failure rates.
  • Dependency rates, response times, and failure rates
  • Performance counters such as CPU, memory, and network usage

This is invaluable data that can help organizations manage applications better, providing crucial information about how, when, who by, and why applications are used. But Application Insights is a tool for developers. For most people in an organization, it is not something that is going to come into their remit. Yet in a world where organizations are increasingly charging their line of business teams (who tend not to have much if any specialist developer knowledge) to lead digital transformation, one question comes to mind. Would it not be useful for them to have access to in-depth information about how the apps and processes they use every day are working?

This is where the Power Platform comes in – and in particular where an Application Insights and Power BI Integration is really handy.

The benefits of an Application Insights and Power BI Integration

The Power Platform is designed by Microsoft to help non-developers build, manage, and optimize custom applications by providing easy-to-use tools. Power BI is its business intelligence arm. Microsoft proudly states that Power BI can help your organization establish “a data-driven culture with business intelligence for all”.

Application Insights and Power BI Integration can bring live applications data, performance anomalies, diagnostic issues, and app usage data into one place.

A common pain point for organizations trying to get a better handle on their data is having to go to multiple locations for information. What is required is a “single pane of glass” for the organization’s information. One place where everything is easily accessible.

With Power BI, you can do just that. You can bring analytics queries from Application Insights into Power BI, so that all insights are presented in rich, unified, easy to use dashboards. A seamless experience, users can find all the analytics and insights they need in one place, improving their ability to manage applications and make informed decisions about the apps that power their teams.

Bringing everything together

At the Bauen Group we believe in making IT solutions as beneficial to everyone in an organization. In the current climate digital transformation is as crucial as ever. But digital transformation for the sake of itself is not the point. What we should aspire to is using technology to make life easier for every type of business user across the line of business.

Fortunately, we are not the only ones. Microsoft’s Power Platform is designed with this goal and purpose in mind. Power BI, alongside, Power Apps and Power Automate, has huge potential to speed up operations, to increase efficiency, and to provide the data for businesses to keep improving. Whether it’s app maintenance, improving user experience, or detecting security risks, bringing all your data together into one single pane of glass is key. Data visualization with Application Insights in Power BI is just one example.

We are fervent supporters of Microsoft’s Power Platform and Power BI. Application Insights and Power BI integration is another way that it can be used to arm non-developer employees with sophisticated insights and information that can boost operations.

To learn more about Application Insights and Power BI integration and how bringing information into a single pane of glass can help your organization build and manage modern business applications, get in touch with the Bauen Group today.