Executive / Board Member & Power BI - Are Your Decisions Made from Facts or Just a Very Expensive Guess?

You know that phrase, “I think…”? – It’s the most expensive phrase in corporate jargon. When it comes from an experienced Executive or Board member, it carries weight but in a fast-paced, competitive business environment, relying on “gut feeling” or “instinct” is basically like trying to navigate the Stockholm archipelago with nothing but a dodgy hand drawn map. Effective board oversight involves regular evaluation of executive board performance, management processes, and strategic planning to ensure alignment with the organization's mission and long-term strategic goals. Board members, directors, and executive board members have defined responsibilities to provide guidance, set direction, and support the implementation of strategic objectives, ensuring the organization achieves success and meets its desired results.

If your Board meetings are still all about debating themerits of one spreadsheet versus another, then you don’t have a data strategy. You’ve just got a very expensive hobby. The executive board should focus on strategic priorities and meet regularly, or on an ad hoc basis, to review operations, monitor progress, and make important decisions that align with organizational goals.

The Problem with Power BI: The “Car Still on the Garage Floor” Syndrome

Most mid-to-large companies have already invested in Microsoft Power BI - they’ve got the licenses, they may even have a dedicated analyst on the books - but when the Board asks for a clear picture of where the business is headed at the moment, the response is: “we’ll get that report out to you by Thursday”.

By Thursday?

By then the market has moved, the lead has gone cold and your window to make a decision has slammed shut.

As the saying goes: Having Power BI is like having a powerful engine minus the rest of the car. Its a great bit of kit, a real workhorse but it won’t get you to the office. To get moving you need the chassis, the wheels, the steering and a dashboard. You need the finished vehicle. You need BI Book.

The Cost of the “Excel Shuffle”

When data is siloed in different spreadsheets then the “Excel shuffle” begins - this is the frantic dance where finance and ops teams manually export data from the ERP, clean it up in a spreadsheet and then try to make it look presentable for the Board. Organizations should conduct a situational analysis to analyze internal strengths and the external environment, which is critical for developing company strategy and achieving organizational goals. This process ensures that resources are allocated effectively and that the organization’s capacity is aligned with its strategic direction.

The Result?

• Out of Date Information: You’re making decisions on data that is weeks old.
• Report  Chaos: Different departments are bringing different versions of the truth to the table.
• Zero Predictability: Anomalies and trends are only visible once they’ve already hit the bottom line.

To be honest, if you’re still squinting at static PDF reports that look like they were chiseled into stone tablets, then you’re not leading - you’re just reacting.

A Cost Case from Construction Business

Suppose a construction firm is hit with a sudden 20% spike in timber prices.

• The  “Zero Predictability” Scenario: The company keeps bidding on projects at the old price and 2 months later the CFO is left asking why they lost €200,000 on three projects.
• The  BI Book Solution: The CEO sees the material cost trend line ticking upwards in real time on the dashboard and immediately puts the brakes on  new bids to adjust pricing. The trend was visible before it hit the bottom line.

Power BI enables organizations to create real-time dashboards that provide immediate insights into key performance indicators, helping measure progress and support important decisions.

In short: it’s a case of reacting to the past rather than controlling the future.

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The Solution: BI Book – Your Strategic Business Command Centre

This is where BI Book makes all the difference. BI Book isn’t just another tool. It’s a business intelligence platform that centralizes all your Power BI reports into one secure accessible environment. It turns that “engine on the garage floor” into a high-performance vehicle that’s ready to go from day one.

BI Book supports strategic management by centralizing communications, documentation, and access to strategic plans, action plans, and performance metrics. This ensures that board members, senior executives, and employees are aligned and can measure and achieve desired results. The platform facilitates the implementation of strategic initiatives, supports the evaluation of objectives, and enhances the relationship between the organization and its external stakeholders by providing secure access to critical information and services.

What does this mean for an Executive?

1. A Clear, Real Time Picture: You get one view that tells you where the ship is heading. No more fact-checking during the meeting.
2. Trust in your Numbers: Because BI Book automates the data pipeline from over 150 systems, human error is eliminated from the equation. The data is the data - always up to date.
3. BI  Book AI (Chat with your data): Instead of waiting for a manual report, you can literally ask the most advanced AI chat-with-your-data solution: “why did our margins dip last week?” and get an answer instantly.
4. Strategic Agility: With BI Book Planning & Forms, you’re not just looking at the past - you’re actively planning the future within the same platform.
5. Monitor and Evaluate Strategic Objectives: BI Book and Power BI facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of strategic objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), allowing management to adapt action plans and resources to ensure the successful implementation of strategic initiatives.

Why BI Book is the Smart Investment?

From a strategic viewpoint, BI Book is simply the more cost-effective option. We use Microsoft Fabric premium capacities so you can ditch the expensive individual Power BI licenses for every user. You get top-level analytics comparable to what the world’s largest corporations use -within days or hours, instead of weeks.

We’ve helped thousands of companies around the world move away from “gut feelings” and towards high-velocity data driven decision making.

The Bottom Line. You can keep going on gut instinct, hoping your gut is always right - which, let’s face it, is a pretty big ask. Or, you can give your board and stakeholders what they’re really craving - some real clarity.

The BI Book gives you the visibility, the collaboration tools and the control you need to cut through the report mess and get down to business. And the best part? It’s 100% compliant with Fabric capabilities, secure as can be, and backed by some of the best tech brains in the game - so you’re not just buying software - you’re getting a real solution that’s going to work for you.

Time to see things as they really are?

Don’t let your strategy be a guessing game. Strategic planning is an iterative process that involves continuous feedback, monitoring, and adaptation, and leveraging Power BI and BI Book helps organizations define, communicate, and implement their strategic direction and priorities for long-term success. Book a demo of the BI Book now and we’ll show you exactly how we can turn your data into your secret weapon for outcompeting the competition.

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Start making your data more useful. Contact us now.

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