North Star Power Platform
Martha Weitz
As the amount of data we generate grows by the day, so does the value of extracting information from it. Data is essential for businesses, but gathering it is pointless unless it is transformed into value. Businesses now require business intelligence software to extract value from this critical data. This is the first in a series of posts introducing Power BI, Microsoft's business intelligence software designed to meet this need. So, exactly what is Power BI? let's see
Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence tool for creating reports and extracting insights from data. Power BI can connect to a variety of datasets and "organize" the data it receives for better comprehension.
The reports and visualizations created with this data can be shared with other users through the Power BI service. Power BI includes machine learning capabilities, allowing users to see not only what has happened in the past and present, but also what may happen in the future.
You can use Power BI Desktop, an online SaaS (Software as a Solution) service called Power BI service, a mobile Power BI app for iOS and Android phones and tablets, or an established on-premises version. A white-label service in the role of a Power BI Report Server is also available for software developers.
A paid per-user license is required for access to advanced features and the ability to share reports. Power BI Pro costs $9.99 per user, per month. Power BI Pro is also included in the Enterprise E5 plan for Office 365, which costs $35 per user per month.
Enterprise licenses for large businesses and organizations. Power BI Premium provides you with a dedicated resource for your organization and is thus priced based on capacity. The cheapest available capacity level is "P1," which costs $4,995 per month.
The cost of Power BI Embedded on a pay-as-you-go basis is determined by which "node" you use. A node is a connection point between a system or device and the network to which it is linked. The pricing structure of Power BI Embedded offers a variety of nodes, each with a different level of processing power; the more power the node has, the more expensive it is to use.
Azure Data Services enables users to quickly build intuitive applications with built-in AI by utilizing a variety of tools, technologies, and deployment options. Server for Machine Learning Microsoft Machine Learning Server is a versatile service that analyzes large amounts of data, builds AI-powered applications, and uncovers insights using Python and R.
The Microsoft Analytics Platform System is a data warehouse and Big Data analytics platform. The service provides users with comprehensive data integration, lightning-fast query processing, scalable storage, and simple maintenance tools via SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse.
SQL Server is a relational database server developed by Microsoft for storing and managing large amounts of data in rows and columns, much like a spreadsheet. SQL Server is a standardized programming language that is used by SQL Server.
Microsoft's Power Platform includes Power BI. This category includes Power BI, PowerApps, and Microsoft Flow. PowerApps' drag-and-drop interface enables anyone to create and launch fully functional, professional apps without having to write a single line of code. To collect and use business data and engage customers, the apps are simple to integrate with Office 365 and Dynamics 365.
The product north star is easily the most powerful and misunderstood product strategy framework in use today. More product teams are dealing with the consequences of not defining it at all or defining it the wrong way and leading their team down an unintended path.
A north star metric is the key measure of success for the product team in a company. It defines the relationship between the customer problems that the product team is trying to solve and the revenue that the business aims to generate by doing so.
Since we are currently in rapid growth mode, our metric of Weekly Querying Users (WQUs) reflects breadth-i.e., the number of customers who get value at least once a week. This is a leading indicator of our ability to retain and expand accounts over time.
For example, at Amplitude our product north star is the weekly # of users who run at least one query in Amplitude. We call it Weekly Querying Users (WQUs). In addition to this, we have metrics around infrastructure performance that is owned specifically by our backend engineering team.
Below is the example of a north star tree for a grocery ordering and delivery app. The tree ties together a dozen different product initiatives together into a single framework to drive each dimension of the north star metric forward.
Below are some north star examples of companies that are playing each of these three games and what their product north stars could be. You will notice that companies playing the same game can have radically different north stars because it reflects their unique product strategy.
Similarly, Amazon Retail and Walmart might have very different north stars despite being players in the same transaction game. Amazon is likely optimizing for # of Prime subscribers and the value they generate because the subscription model gives them loyalty and visibility into LTV. Walmart on the other hand is a cost leader likely focusing on the wallet share of their customer for every visit.
Salesforce aims to be the central source of truth for customer records in B2B companies. Their new strategy revolves around AI for decision making in sales. This means that their north star is less about user adoption and more focused on the amount of customer data they store for their accounts. Unlike that model, the Adobe Creative Cloud likely focuses on individual subscribers and driving enough engagement to ensure continued subscription.
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With the Microsoft Power Platform, users can build custom solutions tailored to their specific business needs, enabling them to streamline workflows, improve decision-making, and enhance productivity. It is used by businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
Power Apps is a component of the larger Microsoft Power Platform. While Power Apps is a low-code application development platform, the Power Platform encompasses several other tools and services designed to help organizations create custom business solutions. The Power Platform consists of four main components: Power Apps, Power Automate (formerly known as Flow), and Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents. These tools are designed to be user-friendly and accessible to non-technical users, allowing them to build custom applications and automate business processes without writing code.
Additionally, Microsoft provides a wealth of resources for learning about and exploring the Power Platform, including online documentation, tutorials, and community forums. You can also download the Power Platform applications and start building your own solutions using the free trial version.
Microsoft Power Platform is not a part of Office 365, but it can be integrated with Office 365 and other Microsoft products. Office 365 is a cloud-based suite of productivity tools that includes popular applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more. On the other hand, Power Platform is a separate suite of low-code development tools that enable users to create custom business solutions that integrate with Office 365 applications.
Power Platform includes a broader set of applications that can be used to create custom business solutions, such as Power BI for data visualization and analysis, Power Apps for building custom applications, and Power Automate for automating workflows and business processes.
This year, Ive been running a couple of workshops with customers in Manufacturing industry. Many of them having one thing in common: Their usage of SAP software. A common goal at these workshops was to identify the potential of low-code / no-code to embrace their bedrock and improve digital transformation.
First, we deep-dived in customers mission and identified a couple of goal statements that were on a mission of. Those could be part of the general companys mission. Think about the main focus areas of vision pillars, such as outlined with the three examples in above visual. In many situations when starting the workshops, those North Stars already existed and we just needed to write them down and make a prioritization for them.
Next, it was on attendees to drill-in more details around the bedrock. What do I mean by this: A bedrock is an essential system, process or ecosystem that is currently in place and is foundation for the digital transformation. There could be many of them, depending on how deep you drill into the details.
In an ideal situation, using low-code tools inside your organization should be a self-service. But as we all know, citizen development is about creating apps, flows, chatbots, custom connectors and many more. If you follow above visual that I am using in my workshops, you see that those activities are surrounded by two important layers.
It shouldnt be a surprise that this layer exists, as it is true for any other application or product that is used in a company or even for private use-cases. Meaning, you should be in a safe environment when using those apps, flows, etc. as well as you should be in a secure and compliant environment when creating such. In many companies this is regulated by so called Governance teams. Dedicated teams who ensure that security settings are in place and compliance is met based on company or industry requirements. Whats less often talked about, but of course also in place is to measure business value. Just purchasing a software and then not using the licenses is a waste of money, I think we can all agree on this one.
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