We’ve seen it time and again – teams struggle to convince stakeholders that data transformation is more than just a buzzword. Trust in data is shaky. Reports need to be updated, but no one has faith in the numbers powering them. Teams are hopping between tools that don’t talk to each other, juggling multiple data sources that aren’t integrated, and each department seems to have its own way of storing and accessing data for its own workaround reports.
And let’s not forget security. Storing data in a way that’s safe, compliant, and easy to access becomes even more challenging when every area is tucking data in spreadsheets no one even knows exist.
If any of this sounds familiar, then you’re not alone. The data landscape is messy, but fixing it doesn’t have to be daunting.
Data management and governance projects have slowed modernization efforts for the past decade and will continue to impede AI projects into the next. According to Gartner: Data, Analytics and AI Predictions Through 2030, by 2027, 60 percent of organizations will fail to realize the anticipated value of their AI use cases due to incohesive ethical governance frameworks.
As we help clients with modernization initiatives and position their companies to enable AI to improve business outcomes, most have realized that they need to first address their data challenges. For several recent clients, we helped them determine that implementing Fabric was the best option for their business. It may not be the best fit for every company, but here are some key takeaways as you consider how your organization tackles these challenges.
For one client with a small, inexperienced data team, Microsoft Fabric provided an all-in-one, end-to-end solution to manage their data. After receiving guidance and best practices on setting up the environment, the team could load and manage data from multiple sources using Fabric’s pre-built connectors. This simplified the integration process and empowered the team to continue adding new sources even after the project was completed.
By removing the complexity often associated with traditional integrations, Fabric can help the organization take ownership of their data. The pre-built connectors make it easier for teams to ingest data and leverage centralized reporting, without relying on complex manual configurations.
Read how Trility helped a small data team stand up Fabric using a pre-built connector for Dynamics.
Another one of Microsoft Fabric’s benefits is its predictable billing model. With clear, transparent pricing, organizations can forecast and manage costs as they scale. Fabric offers autoscaling capabilities – if workloads require more compute, it can automatically scale up to meet the demand, smoothing over any compute overages over a 24-hour period, at no additional cost.
As companies determine what is the best option, some key considerations:
As more of our clients adopt Fabric and begin reporting from it, many are identifying opportunities to eliminate redundant tools and subscriptions, streamlining their operations and reducing costs. For example, if a team is using Tableau, there might be an opportunity to stop paying for it when choosing Fabric F64 or above, since Power BI will be included.
Speeding up the development process is always welcome. With Microsoft Fabric notebooks, you can execute code in TSQL, Python, SparkSQL, or PySpark – making it easy for teams to work with data in their preferred language. Empowering teams to leverage the tools they’re already comfortable with reduces their learning curve and increases adoption.
Version control becomes more manageable with Fabric’s Git integration, enabling smoother collaboration and easier code management. Its UI-based deployment pipelines simplify moving objects from development to testing and production environments, making the deployment process more efficient.
On top of that, Fabric shines in scalability. It easily handles data from both on-prem and cloud sources, ingests large volumes of data in parallel, and ensures good performance even at scale. Plus, its autoscaling capabilities adjust compute power when workloads require more resources.
Learn how we helped a retail client lay the groundwork for flexible development.
If you use Fabric, you most likely intend to use Copilot. By modeling data in Fabric the way Copilot prefers, you set yourself up for a future where you can more easily leverage AI.
We’ve seen this approach help clients take advantage of AI-powered tools as they become available.
By preparing your data this way, organizations have a solid foundation for efficient workflows that leverage AI for enhanced decision-making.
See how Trility laid the foundation for the use of Power BI copilot.
At the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference, Microsoft reinforced that they are SaaS-ifying Fabric. The seamless integration allows teams to quickly spin up Lakehouses, Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines, and Dataflow Gen 2 for simple transformations. Getting started is fast, with minimal setup required. By abstracting away the complexities of traditional data management systems, Fabric enables your team to focus on leveraging data for insights and growth.
By abstracting away the complexities of traditional data management systems, Fabric enables your team to focus on leveraging data for insights and growth.
Fabric streamlines processes that would typically require extensive configuration. It provides a more efficient and intuitive approach to working with data, empowering your team to deliver results faster while reducing time spent managing infrastructure.
If you are already in the Microsoft environment or using Power BI Premium, Fabric is a great option to help your organization make progress on data management and governance.
The chart below demonstrates the results our clients achieved by partnering with us to transform how they manage their data.
If you are interested in learning more about Fabric, Trility is offering a two-week Proof of Concept that lets you explore its capabilities and see firsthand how it simplifies data management. You can leverage this as a hands-on introduction to the platform and demonstrate ROI to your business leaders.
