PowerBIMap – Q&A for end users

PowerBIMap - Q&A for end users

Your guide to the Power BI eco system.

Power BI is part of Azure Analytics, the big Microsoft ecosystem for providing Data & Analytics solutions. Visit also azureanalyticsmap.com for the complete picture of the ecosystem.

What is the difference between the PowerBIMap browser and the PowerBIMap?

The PowerBIMap browser is an interactive tool offered on the website and includes ALL participants of the Power BI ecosystem. It allows visitors to select, browse, sort and search intuitively by vendor, product and success story. The data in the browser is collected top-down from different sources and combined with data from the questionnaire completed by the vendors themselves. BARC only corrects obviously false or misleading information.

The PowerBIMap is a static PDF, showing the analysts’ view of the Power BI ecosystem – at a certain point of time for a certain region. It integrates the most important and most visible vendors based on analyst research. The team defining the PowerBIMap comprises experts from different markets across the world including the United States, Europe and Asia. The PowerBIMap is updated on a regular basis throughout the year. The 2020 version for German speaking countries has already been released. Editions for North America, Middle East and Benelux are currently being prepared.

Icon and description in the PowerBIMap

What does the website offer?

The website consists of three innovative browser objects: Solutions, Service Partners and Success Stories Additionally, the website includes a (non-technical) blog about market developments in the Power BI ecosystem and an overview of webinars around the Power BI platform as well as some helpful links. How is the product (solution) browser structured? The main sections are Visuals, Dashboards, Apps, Data Management and Connectors.

Visuals are extensions to the Power BI visual library
Dashboards are preconfigured reports for different subject areas
Data Management covers all tools to organize the data for reports in Power BI
Connectors are data connectors to different source systems
Apps are applications that use Power BI as a front end

How is the Consultant object structured?

The Consultant browser allows you to sort, select and search consulting vendors by multiple criteria such as country (home country as well as countries in which services are delivered), service offering, further Microsoft competencies, other BI products supported and many more.

How is the Success Story browser structured?

The Success Story library allows visitors to search customer stories by name, country, industry and region. In all browser objects the search function is a powerful way to filter whatever you like. Just type some letters in the search box and try filter by region, technology or any other term.

What are the criteria for being included in the PowerBIMap (analyst’s view)?

The main criteria for software add-ons are status at Microsoft (Power BI certified, Co-selling), innovation and quality of the product, depth of Microsoft integration and market visibility (presence in marketing, partnerships, #of customers, #of success stories). For consultancies, the criteria are status at Microsoft (especially Data Platform and Data Analytics certification), #of success stories, market visibility (presence in marketing, speaker engagements, community engagements) and special expertise.

Who is behind PowerBIMap?

The PowerBIMap is an initiative of BARC, the best known BI software market analyst in Europe. Each year, BARC publishes “The BI & Analytics Survey”, the largest independent survey on the use of BI systems worldwide (formerly known as “The BI Survey”). The 2020 edition will mark its 20th anniversary. Stefan Sexl, chief editor of PowerBIMap, is a fellow of the BARC Institute and former co-founder of one of the major European Microsoft BI and Power BI consultancies. Additionally, a network of experts around the world with long-time experience in the Microsoft BI market space will be providing their expertise. For North America – the largest software market in the world (and the market with the highest number of Power BI partners) – we are honored to welcome Donald Farmer, former “face of Microsoft BI” in Redmond, as our partner and main contributor for the future development of PowerBIMap.

Does PowerBIMap have official status at Microsoft?

No, this is an independent activity, although Microsoft has become a main sponsor at a later stage. That is why vendors without official partner status can also be included. We see ourselves as a platform that adds significant value to the ecosystem and consider PowerBIMap as complementary to the market overviews provided directly by Microsoft. Feel free to contact powerbimap@bi-survey.com if you have any further questions.


Donald Farmer PowerBIMap North America Linkedin	Stefan Sexl PowerBIMap Europe Linkedin	Norman Manley PowerBIMap Benelux Linkedin	Wasseim Al Zouabi PowerBIMap Middle East/Asia Linkedin