All Map enthusiasts, we have a special treat for you this week. You are going to love it! Some of you might have seen this already in our demos but this week you can touch it and feel it with your own hands (I mean your own data đ
Today digital map has become integral part of everyday life. Most organizations have data with geo attributes in some form or other and the need to understand geographical significance of data has been on the rise.
The combination of aggregating information with location and presenting them in a small space allows Map visualizations to present the big picture out of sea of data. They help you find the theme and outliers at a quick glance. While a 2D map can help achieve this goal to some extent, when it comes to multiple attributes and widespread data, they fell short.
A 3D Map makes this experience more immersive and magical. They provide the sense of connection to the data with the physical world. This, combined with our spatial ability, brings a new perspective to the data when we present them as 3D objects.
GlobeMap brings this magical map exploration experience to Power BI. To use, simply import the Globe Map from the Visuals gallery to your Power BI report and use it with a location data type. The location could be an address, city, county , state/province or country/region. On this 3D map, you can project a measure as the height of the bar. The 3D bars reduce the clutter of overlapping bubbles and allow you to get instant insight. GlobeMap also allows you to rotate the Globe and see it from different angles. But we didnât just stop here. We added one more goody to this visual. The icing on the cake is the added benefit of heat map in this visual. You can use a second measure for heat intensity and draw immediate attention to the right areas.
For many mapping solutions, some location names may be ambiguous, when considered in the context of multiple countries or regions. You can increase the accuracy of geo-coding of such location names by concatenating the city, state and country. For example, instead of using just âBellevue,â as the location you can provide it as âBellevue, WA, USA'.
NOTE: This Globe Map custom visual is not the same as Power Map for Excel (called 3D Maps in Excel 2016). Power Map is a 3D data visualization tool for Excel that lets you plot geographic and temporal data visually, analyze that data in 3D, and create cinematic tours to share with others in Excel. Globe Map is a custom visual for use within Power BI reports.
VMob uses real-time contextual analytics to give retailers the ability to create highly personalized marketing campaigns which reach customers at the right time and place. Tracking and exploring your VMob data is easy with Power BI and the VMob content pack. Power BI retrieves your data, including User Statistics, Retail KPI and Campaign Performance, and then builds an out-of-box dashboard and reports based on that data.
This post will provide an overview on how the Power BI content pack helps users explore and monitor VMob data. For additional details on how to get started, please see the VMob content pack for Power BI help page.
Start loading the content pack by connecting to your VMob account in Power BI. Once the content pack is loaded, youâll see a new dashboard, report and dataset in your workspace marked with an asterisk. Clicking on the tiles will drill into the 4 pages of reports built on top of the data set. For example, selecting the Redemptions by Campaign tile will load the Campaign Performance report which shows details about your campaigns for the last 30 days.
You can hover over any of the visualizations to see additional details about that specific data point. You can also leverage the filters in the report by opening the filter pane on the right.
Navigate between the report pages using the named tabs at the bottom. On each page, you can also switch to Edit Mode, to view all of the tables and fields that are included in the dataset. This mode allows you to add filters, create or modify visualizations and add new report pages. The highlighted tables in the Fields list show where the fields come from for a specific visual.
Any of the visualizations be pinned back to the dashboard to further customize it. When you pin a visual youâre prompted to choose which dashboard to pin to, allowing you to build up a dashboard with tiles from multiple different reports. Each tile can be resized or moved on your dashboards allowing for further customization.
After you initially import the data, the dashboard, reports and data set will continue to update daily. You can control the refresh schedule on the data set as well. The VMob content pack for Power BI helps you visualize and explore an initial set of metrics and reports that can be customized for your scenario.
Watch Microsoft Mechanics for Power BI updates
On October 22, 2015 marks the launch of Microsoft Mechanics, an official new show and video platform for IT professionals and tech enthusiasts. Shows comprise informative demos, how-tos and insights from the engineers and tech leaders behind our technology each Wednesday or as news breaks, all in around ten or so minutes.
Beyond the news and blog announcements, itâll help you to see the technology for yourself, get broader context and understand the potential application so that you can decide whether or not to explore further.
Wednesdays with Will: Microsoft Dynamics CRM & Office 365 â Working In Perfect Harmony
By William Marchesano, Technology Advisor & Evangelist
Welcome back! Last week we talked about the recent expansion in Office 365 to include Dynamics CRM. This week we are going to discuss how you can enhance your experience in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with Microsoft Office 365. Separately, they work well as standalone solutions, solving different day-to-day challenges. Put them together, though, and you have managed to enhance both of these valuable business tools for the user as well as the administrator.
Over the past 3-4 years there has been prevailing sentiment for businesses to move to Microsoft Office 365. The most common, and logical, starting point for an organization would be their email (Exchange). Gone are the days where you have to buy new server hardware every few years, allocate the space in your office for said hardware, buy new software to upgrade, and pay for an anti-spam solution to keep you safe. Oh, and letâs not forget the maintenance that goes along with keeping it running in good order. All the above challenges have been either eliminated or reduced by Office 365 Exchange Online. There are also other parts to the solution such as file sharing (SharePoint/OneDrive), video conferencing (Skype For Business), crowdsourced collaboration (Yammer), and the tried and true Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) that can be consumed through Office 365 as well.
As you know, much like Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online is also a platform that was designed to improve efficiencies in accomplishing daily tasks as well as enhance collaboration between your employees. In addition to that, Dynamics CRM is a process driven user experience tool that gathers analytics for business intelligence. These qualities are important when you are looking to implement a sales automation, marketing automation, or services automation solution for your organization. Dynamics CRM was designed to be used for these functions out-of-the-box. Yes, customization is required to make it hum along to the rhythm of your particular business but all the major pieces to make it work are there. But how does it all tie into Microsoft Office 365?
Letâs start with the reasons why your users will love it. All the featured applications I mentioned above (Exchange, SharePoint/OneDrive, Skype For Business, Yammer, and Office Suite) are logically integrated and used throughout the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online experience. Through Dynamics CRM Online you are able to synchronize emails, tasks, contacts, and appointments with Exchange Online and your Outlook. Documents that you save in Dynamics CRM pertaining to an account or opportunity are also synchronized and saved to SharePoint. You have the ability to click on a phone number in Dynamics CRM Online to make a phone call by using Skype For Business. One of the best new features, Office 365 Groups, allows non-Dynamics CRM users a single location to share documents, conversations, meetings, and notes with Dynamics CRM users. This would be helpful in the scenario of sales opportunity where the input of non-CRM users could be instrumental in winning a deal.
From an administrative perspective, Dynamics CRM Online is a familiar experience if you are already using Office 365. This is because Dynamics CRM users can be created and managed through the Office 365 admin center portal. You have the ability to do many other things through here such as manage billing and licenses, manage passwords, view self-serve service health, track planned maintenance, or leverage the Message Center. The Message Center is a great resource because it can tell you how to fix or prevent issues, plan for service changes, or just to stay informed of new or updated features. You can even request service to resolve an issue through the Message Center.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to go deeper into how these tools will apply in different scenarios such as sales automation, marketing automation, and services automation. I hope you enjoyed and found this weekâs article informative. If youâre interested in some how-to related CRM material, check out blogs by my colleague Ben Ward here. Till next timeâŚ
About the author:
Will has over 16 years of experience in business development, team management, and project management. Will has worked at Managed Solution for over four years and is currently advising businesses on best CRM practices and implementations. Willâs focus is on process improvement and analytics specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Will is a Microsoft Certified Professional, with certifications in Presales Technical Specialist â Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Sales Specialist- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Application, Sales Specialist- Office 365, Sales Specialist- SMB Infrastructure and Sales Specialist- Datacenter.
For information on deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM in your organization, please call us at 800-257-0691.
Wednesdays with Will: Making Your Business Intelligent
By William Marchesano, Technology Advisor & Evangelist
You are a Business Owner or Operations Manager who is always looking for a way to improve efficiencies in your organization. Recently you heard about Office 365 and were wondering if it would be the right fit for you and your employees. There are a few reasons why you are considering it. You realize your 5 year old email server has seen better days. It hasnât been functioning as it should and is possibly costing you business because employees are not able to send and receive email communications internally and externally as they should. You also realize that the version of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc...) is not the same throughout your organization so additional time is needed by employees to change formatting when sharing and opening documents. This costs the company time and causes frustration for your employees. Your workforce is becoming more mobile and some of your employees work remotely from the office. Last but not least, you are looking for an easier way to collaborate on the latest version of documents and spreadsheets. For these reasons and possibly more, you decided it was time to look for a way to improve your situation.
Microsoft Office 365 is typically considered because it is a versatile solution that can address these individual scenarios or all of them. This means you can just use the parts you need such as Exchange (Email, Contacts, Calendaring), Office Pro Plus (the current version of Office Suite), Skype for Business (IM, Presence, Video Conferencing), SharePoint (Intranet Portal, Document Storage) or more. It doesnât require additional hardware and you can add each piece of the solution as needed. This allows you to easily operationalize your costs while providing your employees the latest tools to be successful in their job. Under this model, Microsoft is now able to revise and improve the product more frequently at no additional cost. This also improves user experience and adoption because the changes now are much more subtle and less drastic to a complete version change.
Microsoft recently extended its Office 365 Platform to include Dynamics CRM. If you are not familiar with Dynamics CRM or what a CRM is in general, let me tell you why youâll want to know. The most basic description for a CRM is that itâs a business intelligence tool that can be leveraged by your Sales, Marketing, Services, and Management teams improving customer engagement and customer experience. This will help your organization generate more business and improve client satisfaction. The analytics gathered will also allow you to maneuver more fluidly with the changes in the businesses you work with as well as the current environment. Over the next few weeks I will be taking a deeper dive into:
How Dynamics CRM integrates with Office 365
How Dynamics CRM is used in each team setting (Sales, Marketing, Services, & Management)
How Dynamics CRM is used by different industries
Hopefully you enjoyed my article and if youâd like to read more you can follow me here. If youâre interested in some how-to related CRM material, check out blogs by my colleague Ben Ward here. Till next timeâŚ
About the author:
Will has over 16 years of experience in business development, team management, and project management. Will has worked at Managed Solution for over four years and is currently advising businesses on best CRM practices and implementations. Willâs focus is on process improvement and analytics specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Will is a Microsoft Certified Professional, with certifications in Presales Technical Specialist â Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Sales Specialist- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Application, Sales Specialist- Office 365, Sales Specialist- SMB Infrastructure and Sales Specialist- Datacenter.
For information on deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM in your organization, please call us at 800-257-0691.
VIDEO: David McCandless, renowned data journalist and speaker, uses the worldâs data to create powerful and provocative data visualizations and stories with Office.
Building a bank that can surprise and delight with Power BI
When Metro Bank opened in London in 2010, it was a brash competitor in a seriously traditional industry. The vision? To redefine the relationship people have with their bank by innovating customer service. With such offerings as seven-day-a-week store hours and lightning-quick service â a customer can open an account and get a debit card within minutes â the bank built a foundation for fast growth, doubling in size year after year and soaring to more than 500,000 customer accounts.
But with that growth has come a need for deeper and more detailed information about what customers want and need â how they interact with the bankâs services, including stores, online, telephony and mobile. Metro Bank needed a business intelligence (BI) solution that could quickly and accurately provide information to guide analysis and decision-making. Microsoft Power BI gave Metro Bank what it was looking for, with interest.
A focus on customers
âWe set out to create fans, not customers,â says Bruce Rioch, head of Business Information and Customer Systems at Metro Bank. âWe want to surprise and delight. We want to be the bank that our customers tell their family and friends about â the bank that offers amazing customer service and has a simple, understandable proposition.â
To provide an innovative, personalized service, Metro Bank needs to capture rich detail about its customers, from how long it takes to resolve their questions via telephone call centers, to identifying peak times for transactions conducted via the bankâs mobile app. And those details need to be clear and easy to understand, and available to the right person at the right time.
âAs weâve grown, more and more people have been asking questions about how effective or efficient the service is, and how well we are providing services,â Rioch says. âWe struggled along during the first few years; we had what we needed. But as we've grown bigger, the question has become âhow on earth do we provide the right information to the right people at the right time?ââ
A system that looks familiar
Metro Bank decided to implement Microsoft Power BI because the solution integrated easily with the bankâs existing Microsoft stack, and was easy for colleagues to quickly learn and personalize for their daily needs.
âPower BI is our only BI solution,â Rioch says. âWe had a solution previously that was fine for us as a brand-new startup organization. But as we grew, we needed something more dynamic, more visually appealing and more user-friendly for our colleagues. Power BI fits the bill in all of those respects.â
Metro Bank uses Power BI to track customer interactions, internal metrics and more:
â˘Call center operations. Power BI enables Metro Bank to track call volume, service levels, customer demographics, call times and shift scheduling. Reporting data is refreshed each night so colleagues have a clear picture of the previous day, weeks, months or year.
â˘Mobile and Internet banking. Colleagues can analyze data including the volume and types of transactions customers are performing online, the devices they use, and peak activity times throughout the day. âWe get a real sense of how the channels are growing, and how they're being used by our customers, and what services they use once they're inside that service,â Rioch says. âWhich is quite important because it helps us direct what we build next.â
â˘Customer dissatisfaction reports. Metro Bank can track customer complaints, including the rate of open complaints per 1,000 accounts, the time it takes to resolve them and the departments involved. One key feature is the ability to flag the most urgent complaints so that colleagues can take steps to resolve them before the deadline for reporting an outstanding issue to regulatory bodies.
â˘Staffing and workload planning. Power BI collects data on peak activity times in bank branches, types of transactions and other customer activity details, enabling Metro Bank to plan staffing to meet customer demands â for example, identifying the busiest hour of the busiest day of the month per branch â and help ensure quick, efficient service.
Rich detail, easy to visualize
By collecting rich detail and making it easy to analyze through personalized dashboards, Power BI helps bank colleagues identify problems before they can affect the bankâs relationship with the customer. Colleagues can combine details from account activity, data from customer satisfaction surveys, branch traffic patterns and more to understand which proactive solutions can make the biggest difference to the customer experience. Similar survey data offers insight into the employee experience, or what Rioch calls âthe voice of the colleague.â
âThe internal survey is built out of the dashboard,â Rioch says. âIn the past it would have been all spreadsheet-driven; this year we've been able to display the colleague results really visually â and fantastically."
As a participant in the Power BI Preview, Metro Bank is also working with Microsoft developers to preview and test new features and offer feedback on functionality. The bankâs input helps shape the future of Power BI. And the dynamic program provides frequent updates, helping Metro Bank continually improve its customer service and offerings built on new capabilities.
âWe use Power BI for everything,â Rioch says. âWe love this product.â
