In today’s data-driven world, Enterprise-level businesses require powerful tools to analyze, visualize, and derive actionable insights from their vast amounts of data. Power BI, a suite of business analytics tools by Microsoft, caters to these needs with various deployment options tailored to different scales and complexities.
This article explains the differences between Power BI enterprise deployment and regular deployment, highlights features used for enterprise projects, and shares our experience in delivering Power BI solutions to enterprise-level clients like Teleperformance, UK Ministry of Defense and DS Smith.
It is designed for large organizations requiring extensive data analytics and reporting capabilities across the enterprise.
It is ideal for smaller organizations or individual teams with specific reporting needs and a more straightforward setup.
A standard Power BI Pro license is often sufficient even for enterprise-level Power BI deployments. However, there are several Power BI licenses that are specifically meant for enterprise-level clients. We will discuss these licenses in more details below.
Power BI Premium is a special Power BI license which is more expensive and gives access to more features. It costs $20 per user per month whereas the regular Power BI Pro license is $10 (going up to $14 in April 2025).
Power BI used to cost $4995 per month and many blogs still claim so but this is old information. Microsoft rolled out the end of sale of Power BI Premium at this cost on July 1, 2024.
Power BI premium per user brings several benefits to teams including:
The Microsoft Fabric pricing model is different as it is charged per used capacity rather than per user. Under this license model you would have one license for your whole team and you would pay for capacity (amount of computation power available).
The Fabric Capacity license is 40% cheaper when it is reserved in advance through monthly agreements. Alternatively you can choose to “Pay-as-you-go” for your capacity. The price starts from ~$160 per month for 2 reserved capacity units.
Enterprise level businesses usually pay for Microsoft Fabric capacity when the other licenses don’t give them enough computing power to work with their data size. We know of one business that is analysing 50+ millions rows of data in their model and the extra Fabric capacity gives them the necessary computing power to process these heavy data operations.
Please note that Fabric capacity is not only used by Power BI workflows. It is also used by other Microsoft services such as Azure Synapse, Co-pilot, Azure Data Factory, etc.
Microsoft used to charge for Power BI Report Server licenses separately but now they charge for it as part of SQL EE SA core licenses. If you have a SQL Server Enterprise license, you will have access to Power BI Report Server. Alternatively you get access to Power BI Report Server by getting an F64 Fabric Capacity license which is $5,000+ per month.
Power BI Report Server is a good option for organizations working with highly sensitive data. It essentially stores your data on an on-premise server with a web-portal for you to view your reports. As a result, your data is stored on-premise on your internal server and is fully owned by your organisation. In other words, your data does not get copied into the Microsoft cloud.
Business working with patient data or financial data are often under stricter regulation for how they work with their data. As a result, Power BI Report Server is often the license of choice for them.
This license cost is $735+ per month and it allows you to share Power BI reports securely with other users who don’t have a Power BI license. This cost may increase depending on how many users access the Power BI reports and how often they are accessed.
This license is common where Power BI reports are used by the software companies for reporting to their software users. The Power BI reports are “embedded” into the software and when users log in they can see the reports filtered to their own data.
Another use-case that we have seen for Power BI Embedded is embedding Power BI reports inside of tools like Salesforce. We have seen some solutions where Power BI users take action inside of Salesforce by clicking on a button in a Power BI report.
For Power BI enterprise projects, several advanced features are utilized to meet the needs of large organizations:
This feature facilitates efficient data preparation and management across multiple workspaces and Enables data transformation, cleansing, and loading (ETL) processes within Power BI.
You can essentially use dataflows to extract the data from your source, apply transformations and then make the resulted dataset available to all other users in your team. This way the data transformations don’t have to be repeated by different data analysts in the team.
License Needed: Power BI Premium (Per User or Per Capacity)
Deployment pipelines are also a Power BI premium per user feature which reflects how Power BI reports are developed in large organizations. With deployment pipelines you can first publish your reports to “development” environment, then move them to “testing” and then to “production”. This way enterprise-level clients can keep their Power BI development process more organized.
License Needed: Power BI Premium (Per User or Per Capacity)
Many enterprise-level clients need pixel-perfect table-based reports for investor presentations or other needs. Paginated reports are ideal for generating pixel-perfect reports suitable for printing and detailed analysis. This feature provides flexibility in report formatting and layout, catering to enterprise reporting needs. You can read more about it in our detailed guide.
License Needed: Power BI Premium (Per User or Per Capacity)
Power BI Copilot is an AI-driven assistant that helps users create reports and dashboards using natural language queries. It simplifies data analysis by generating insights and visualizations based on user queries, making it easier for business users to derive meaningful insights without deep technical knowledge.
License Needed: Power BI Pro
Choosing Data Residency allows organizations to specify the geographic location where their data will be stored. This is crucial for compliance with data protection regulations and ensuring data sovereignty. It ensures that data residency requirements are met, providing peace of mind for global enterprises.
License Needed: Power BI Premium (Per User or Per Capacity)
Vidi Corp has successfully delivered enterprise-level Power BI solutions to numerous clients, helping them transform their data into actionable insights. Our approach is customized to fit each client’s unique needs, ensuring that the solutions provided are both effective and scalable.
One of Vidi Corp’s key strengths lies in their ability to integrate data from various sources. For instance, we developed proprietary Power BI connectors for platforms like QuickBooks and Salesforce. This enables clients to bring together data from different systems, providing a comprehensive view of their business operations. By doing so, we have helped clients like Neterra Telecommunications and Delta and Kardex streamline their reporting processes, saving significant time and effort.
Vidi Corp also excels in advanced data analysis, using tools like DAX to handle large datasets. This capability allows clients to derive meaningful insights from complex data, enhancing their strategic decision-making. For example, by leveraging these advanced features, clients can better forecast demand, optimize inventory, and improve customer satisfaction.
If you need more information or want to explore how Vidi Corp can help your organization, feel free to reach out at Vidi Corp.
Power BI Enterprise features designed for large organizations ensure robust data governance, high performance, and seamless collaboration. Features like deployment pipelines, extra data capacity, AI-driven insights, and efficient dataflows enhance decision-making and streamline data management.
For large teams, Power BI Enterprise features are crucial as they supports scalability, advanced analytics, and effective collaboration across the organization. By leveraging these capabilities, businesses can make informed decisions, drive efficiency, and achieve strategic goals. For tailored Power BI solutions, feel free to reach out to us at Vidi Corp.
