Business intelligence technology like Microsoft Power BI has a significant role to play in all of this. This software solution uses AI to turn all kinds of data into coherent, interactive insights displayed in dashboards. It can connect to a wide range of data sources, link them together, and tidy up all the information in such a way that it can be easily digested and understood.  

Retailers use Power BI to analyze not only what has happened in the past, but also what’s going on now and what might happen in future. The tool’s built-in machine learning capabilities enable it to identify patterns in data and use them to make predictions based on limitless what-if scenarios. It means that retailers can get closer to delivering the right product, at the right price, to the right customer, at the right time, and close the gap between demand and fulfillment. 

This is especially valuable for retailers with a vast catalog. Take digital pioneer Asos. The fashion and cosmetic retailer recognized years ago that its customers don’t necessarily want to browse through thousands of products to find what they want. Asos runs its entire retail platform on Microsoft Azure, and takes advantage of Microsoft’s business intelligence and machine learning technology, including Power BI. It uses it to run its operations as efficiently as possible and understand its customers’ needs, to offer them products that are personally relevant to them.  

Microsoft estimates that 97% of Fortune 500 organizations use Power BI to make data-driven decisions. Championed by Gartner and Forrester as an industry leader, this proven tool is a safe bet for businesses looking to build their BI capabilities. 

In its report "The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Power BI Pro in Microsoft 365 E5", Forrester calculated that Power BI delivers to business a 321% return on investment over 3 years. 

Gartner also named Microsoft a leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms. Gartner highlighted the company’s massive market reach and comprehensive and visionary product roadmap.  

And that’s why we at LS Retail are proud to build our own analytics and business intelligence solution Analytics for LS Central on the Microsoft intelligence suite. Our team and our customers know they can take advantage of all the insights Microsoft offers, and of all the investment and improvements they put in. Analytics is an add-on to LS Central, which means that, if you use LS Central, you don’t need to do an integration project – all the data flows seamlessly from POS and ERP, and you can take advantage of clear, real-time reporting and dashboards.