Brian DeLuca In today’s data-driven world, the ability to share insights and analytics with external stakeholders is crucial. Microsoft’s Power BI, a leading business intelligence tool, offers extensive capabilities for internal data visualization and analysis. But what about when you need to share these insights with external users? This is where Power BI Embedded comes into play. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Power BI Embedded enables organizations to share their Power BI content with external users seamlessly and securely.
What is Power BI Embedded?
Power BI Embedded is a Microsoft Azure service that allows developers to embed interactive Power BI reports and dashboards into external applications or websites. This service enables organizations to provide their customers and partners with the same rich data experiences as internal users, without requiring Power BI Pro licenses for each external user.
Key Benefits of Using Power BI Embedded
- Seamless Integration: Embedding Power BI content into your applications or websites provides a seamless user experience, maintaining the look and feel of your existing digital assets.
- Cost-Effective: It eliminates the need for individual Power BI Pro licenses for each external user, reducing costs significantly.
- Customizable Security: Power BI Embedded allows for the implementation of custom authentication and authorization, ensuring that external users can only access the data meant for them.
- Real-Time Analytics: Just like Power BI, the embedded reports and dashboards update in real-time, providing up-to-date insights.
Security Considerations
When sharing data externally, security is paramount. Power BI Embedded offers robust security features, including row-level security (RLS) to control data access at a granular level. Service Principal Profiles can also be used to maximize security in a multi-tenant deployment. Additionally, integrating Entra ID (Formally Azure Active Directory) with Power BI Embedded allows for advanced authentication and authorization capabilities.
Common Power BI Embedded Use-cases
- Customer Portals: Provide your customers with personalized dashboards within your product or service portal.
- Partner Collaboration: Share interactive reports with partners to enhance collaboration and decision-making.
- Public Reporting: Display public data and insights on your website for broader audience engagement.
Conclusion
Power BI Embedded is a powerful tool for organizations looking to extend the reach of their Power BI reports and dashboards beyond their internal users. By leveraging this service, companies can provide valuable insights to external stakeholders, enhance customer engagement, and make more data-driven decisions together. As data continues to be a pivotal element in business strategy, tools like Power BI Embedded will play a critical role in shaping how we share and interact with data in a collaborative environment.