From Excel Hell to Fabric Frustration – Exploring the Stages of a Typical Data Journey

Here at Circyl, helping businesses of all sizes and sectors achieve their goals through the strategic use of technology is what we do. Every business we meet is on its own unique data journey, and one of our first tasks at the start of a new partnership is to assess the current level of data maturity and where our services can add the most immediate value.

Data maturity isn’t a destination you arrive at; it’s more of a spectrum. Depending on your business needs and the skills available within your organisation, you’ll move forward at your own pace. Along the way though, it’s understandable that certain approaches or technology selections will be causing you issues and it can be difficult to understand what options are out there to address them.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at three common challenges businesses face when it comes to analysis and reporting —Excel Hell, Power BI Pain, and Fabric Frustration—and how Circyl can help you figure out the best way to move forward.

Excel Hell: The Struggle of Manual Data Management

Many businesses begin their data journey relying heavily on spreadsheets. While Excel is a versatile tool, its overuse for data management and reporting often leads to complicated  processes and question marks of the accuracy of the information. Teams spend countless hours manually consolidating data, creating reports, and double-checking figures for errors. This reliance on manual processes creates a bottleneck, delaying insights and increasing the risk of costly mistakes.

Excel Hell also fosters dependency on a few key individuals who “know how it all works,” making businesses vulnerable to knowledge loss if those individuals leave. Furthermore, as data grows in volume and complexity, Excel becomes less capable of handling the load, resulting in outdated or incomplete reports.

Escaping Excel Hell is one of the most common things that we help our clients achieve. By centralising your key data and implementing reporting tools like Power BI, we can automate regular reporting processes and create trust in the information your users receive. Our expertise ensures you’ll have accurate, real-time insights, freeing your team from manual tasks and reducing the risk of errors. Most importantly, we can help future-proof how data is managed, paving the way for scalable growth.

Power BI Pain: Disjointed Reporting and Lack of Governance

For businesses ready to move beyond Excel, Power BI often becomes the next step. While this shift marks progress, it’s not without its challenges. Advanced Excel users tend to replicate old habits, creating multiple disconnected data models within Power BI. While the dashboards created appear more visually appealing and interactive than their Excel equivalents, without a centralised data platform behind them, this disjointed approach results in inconsistent reporting, duplicated effort, and a lot of the pitfalls of the Excel-based approach.

Without proper governance, it’s easy for businesses to fall into self-service chaos. Different departments may build their own reports, leading to silos and a lack of alignment across the organisation. Additionally, poorly designed data models by users without the relevant data management experience can lead to performance issues, frustrating users and diminishing the value of the investment in Power BI.

A key part of our client relationships is helping businesses navigate this phase of their data journey. Our team works closely with you to establish a single, governed data platform that eliminates duplication and ensures consistency. By implementing best practices and providing training, we enable your team to build reports that align with business goals and deliver actionable insights. With this approach, you can transform Power BI from a collection of isolated dashboards into a strategic asset that drives collaboration and decision-making.

Fabric Frustration: Growing Pains with Microsoft Fabric

As businesses mature in their use of Power BI, many start to look at ways to automate data preparation tasks and establish a centralised data platform. This will typically include the use of data analytics services in Azure (e.g. Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Database) or, increasingly, the use of Microsoft Fabric. Fabric promises a unified solution for data integration, data engineering, and advanced analytics. However, with the platform still in its early stages, businesses face several challenges:

• Limitations in Features: Certain capabilities may not yet meet the needs of complex organisations.
• Unpredictable Costs: Trial licenses at premium SKUs offer high performance but can mask the true cost of production use.
• Complex Migrations: Moving existing Power BI reports and data workflows to Fabric can be time-consuming and require significant expertise.

These issues often leave businesses questioning whether they should fully commit to Fabric or explore alternative solutions.

Our services help businesses make informed decisions about the suitability of their Azure data platform and the feasibility of adopting Microsoft Fabric. We assess your organisation’s unique requirements, current data architecture, and long-term goals to determine whether your current solution is fit for purpose in line with best practice, or whether Fabric is the right fit. If so, we guide you through a structured migration plan, ensuring minimal disruption to your operations. Where Fabric falls short, we can recommend complementary solutions or alternative platforms to meet your needs. Our expertise ensures you can leverage Fabric’s capabilities while avoiding the pitfalls of early adoption.

Partnering with Circyl

Navigating the complexities of data transformation requires experience and a tailored approach. We have a proven track record of helping businesses at every stage of their data journey and here’s how we can support you:

• Strategic Assessment: We evaluate your current data maturity and recommend solutions aligned with your business objectives.

• Expert Implementation: Our team ensures seamless deployment of tools like Power BI, Azure, and Fabric, optimising them for your unique needs.

• On-going Support: We provide training, security and governance advice, and continuous improvements to help you extract maximum value from your data investments.

Whether your business is stuck in Excel Hell, struggling with Power BI Pain, or navigating Fabric Frustration, Circyl is here to help. By partnering with us, you can unlock the full potential of your data, enabling smarter decisions and driving sustained growth. Don’t let data challenges hold you back— contact us for a free introductory call and take that first step towards a data-driven future.