Spotlight: Power BI Knowledge
Being flexible and quick-witted, qualities you cannot do without as an entrepreneur. But in recent months, these qualities have naturally become more important than ever! So did entrepreneur Waldemar of Power BI Knowledge. Waldemar gives on-site training to companies on Microsoft Power BI, a software tool that gives you a quick overview of all your figures. The current crisis forced him to switch to digital. We spoke to him about online training, the future and Japan.
"Fortunately, training online is also feasible, it just takes some switching with a screen in between!"
Who is Power BI Knowledge?
We help companies successfully implement Microsoft Power BI in the organisation through training courses. Power BI is a programme that allows you to create dashboards and reports based on data from various sources (Excel, csv, SQL, etc.) We provide training and can also support through consultancy and report development.
Where did the idea for these trainings originate?
The reality is that people often spend a lot of time manually collecting data from different systems. This is time-consuming and also error-prone. Power BI takes this work off their hands and is also powerful in visualising the data. When I first came into contact with Power BI, I quickly became convinced of its power and wanted to inspire others to start using it as well. This gave me the idea to start developing Power BI training courses!
What makes you different?
We work with certified trainers and have many years of experience in data visualisation.
You love Japan, what Japanese custom could we learn from here?
My wife is Japanese so we can regularly be found in Japan. What always strikes me then is the customer-friendliness with which companies try to help you as a customer. As soon as you enter a shop or restaurant, an employee always pays immediate attention to you. This high level of customer-friendliness is something we in the Netherlands can learn from. The fact that tips are not accepted proves that this is genuine service.
The biggest challenge of the quarantine so far?
We see that the demand for training is currently lower than before the corona crisis. Surely everyone is waiting to see how long this will last. At the same time, we see that the demand for reports and consultancy is actually increasing. People want more insight into their figures right now (do I have more/less customers than before the crisis? How am I doing financially? etc.).
What adjustments have you had to make since the quarantine?
Previously, the training sessions were on-site, but now we conduct them entirely online. Of course, we had to make some adjustments for this, but now it works completely smoothly.
Are there already plans to run training sessions on location?
Yes definitely, at the moment we are in the start-up phase where we are already giving some training sessions again on location.
How do you approach this?
We then make sure everyone keeps the 1.5-metre distance and that we have good ventilation in the room.
What did you miss most while working from home?
While working from home, I did miss getting atmosphere samples at companies. When we give training sessions at companies, you often literally get a look behind the scenes. You can often take a look on the shop floor and see how a production process runs.
Staying reachable by phone at home
We have been managing our landline telephony via Rinkel for years, and the answering service in particular is ideal for us. I'm in training a lot, so I can't answer directly. It's great that a professional team can then still speak to my customers and I receive a call-back memo.
So working from home is not a problem for you, will this become more common in the future?
Especially for consultancy, I expect that we will use online appointments much more often. This saves a lot of travelling and is therefore very efficient.
What tip do you have for all entrepreneurs in these times?
What I notice in these times is that your existing customer network is a valuable asset that you can fall back on. My tip would therefore be to get in touch with customers you have done something for in the past. By letting them hear from you, you are at least 'top of mind' again and can be that extra push to win that order again.
We spoke to
Power BI Knowledge
Founded by Waldemar de Haas
Number of trainers: 2
