Microsoft Power BI vs Splunk

November 12, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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Microsoft Power BI
Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. Stay in the know, spot trends as they happen, and push your business further.
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Splunk
We make machine data accessible, usable and valuable to everyone—no matter where it comes from. You see servers and devices, apps and logs, traffic and clouds. We see data—everywhere. Splunk offers the leading platform for Operational Intelligence. It enables the curious to look closely at what others ignore—machine data—and find what others never see: insights that can help make your company more productive, profitable, competitive and secure.
Microsoft Power BI and Splunk are both powerful data analytics and visualization platforms, but they differ in their primary focus and target audience.

Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence tool that enables users to create interactive visualizations and dashboards from various data sources. It is designed to be user-friendly, with a drag-and-drop interface and extensive integration capabilities with other Microsoft products. Power BI is suitable for a wide range of users, including business analysts and non-technical users, who want to analyze and visualize data in a self-service manner. It offers robust data modeling, reporting, and collaboration features.

Splunk, on the other hand, is a leading platform for operational intelligence and log management. It focuses on analyzing machine-generated data, such as log files, to provide insights into IT operations, security, and business processes. Splunk is widely used for monitoring and troubleshooting complex IT infrastructures and applications. It offers powerful search and indexing capabilities, real-time monitoring, and advanced analytics features. Splunk is typically used by IT administrators, security professionals, and DevOps teams.

See also: Top 10 Business Intelligence software
Microsoft Power BI vs Splunk in our news:

2023. Cisco to acquire IT Monitoring giant Splunk for $28B



Cisco has announced that it is acquiring Splunk for $28 billion. This acquisition is strategically aligned with Cisco's security-focused business, as it gains access to Splunk's observability platform. This addition will enable Cisco to enhance its ability to assist customers in comprehending security threats while also providing valuable capabilities for analyzing extensive log data to address various challenges such as understanding system failures and troubleshooting a wide range of issues across enterprise systems. It's important to note that both company boards have already given their approval for the acquisition. However, it must undergo regulatory approval, which is not guaranteed due to the heightened scrutiny that such deals are encountering worldwide.


2020. Splunk acquires network observability service Flowmill



Data platform Splunk continues its acquisition streak as it expands its newly launched observability platform. Following the recent acquisitions of Plumbr and Rigor, the company has now announced the acquisition of Flowmill, a network observability startup based in Palo Alto. Flowmill specializes in helping users identify real-time network performance issues within their cloud infrastructure and offers traffic measurement by service to enable cost control. Similar to other players in this field, Flowmill leverages eBPF, a Linux kernel feature that allows the execution of sandboxed code without the need for kernel modification or loading kernel modules. This capability makes it particularly well-suited for application monitoring.


2020. Splunk acquires Plumbr and Rigor to build out its observability platform



Data platform Splunk has recently made two acquisitions, namely Plumbr and Rigor, in order to enhance its newly launched Observability Suite. Plumbr specializes in application performance monitoring, while Rigor focuses on digital experience monitoring. Through synthetic monitoring and optimization tools, Rigor assists businesses in optimizing their end-user experiences. These acquisitions serve as valuable additions to the technology and expertise gained by Splunk through its acquisition of SignalFx for over $1 billion last year.


2017. Splunk expands machine learning capabilities across platform



Cloud monitoring provider Splunk is bolstering its machine learning capabilities to facilitate the identification of critical data. The Splunk Machine Learning Toolkit introduces several new features specifically designed for those who prefer a do-it-yourself approach. Firstly, a new data cleaning tool has been implemented to prepare the data for modeling. Additionally, machine learning APIs have been introduced, enabling the importation of both open-source and proprietary algorithms for application within Splunk. Lastly, a machine learning management component allows for seamless integration of user permissions from Splunk into customized machine learning applications. For users seeking a more automated experience, Splunk offers new features such as Splunk ITSI 3.0. Leveraging machine learning, this tool assists in issue identification and prioritization based on the criticality of each operation to the business. These advancements empower users to derive meaningful insights from their data while tailoring the level of involvement according to their preferences.


2016. Splunk unveiled 300 machine learning algorithms for Operational Intelligence



Splunk, a leading provider of Operational Intelligence platforms, has made significant advancements in incorporating machine learning capabilities into its platform, thereby expanding its range of services and capabilities. The company has integrated machine learning at the core of its platform through the introduction of a machine learning toolkit, which can be installed as a complimentary app on top of the Splunk Enterprise platform. This toolkit offers users access to a comprehensive set of 300 machine learning algorithms, with 27 of them conveniently pre-packaged and ready to use. These algorithms cover various categories such as clustering, recommendations, regression, classification, and text analytics. Furthermore, Splunk has enhanced its machine learning functionality within the IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) platform, which was initially introduced a year ago.


2015. Microsoft integrates Cortana into Power BI service



Microsoft has made an announcement stating that the Cortana personal assistant will be integrated into Power BI, its business intelligence tool. It's important to note that Power BI already possessed some natural language query capabilities. With this integration, Cortana will be able to respond to written and spoken queries using data sets from Power BI. For instance, users can ask questions like "What was the revenue for the last quarter?" or request a chart showing the "number of opportunities by team." To utilize this new feature, users must grant Cortana access to their Power BI data sets. It's worth mentioning that Microsoft also offers Cortana Analytics, which caters to enterprises and focuses more on the machine learning and automation services that drive Cortana, rather than the Cortana client itself.


2015. Splunk acquired machine learning startup Caspida



Cloud monitoring provider Splunk has recently acquired Caspida, a startup specializing in utilizing machine learning methods to detect cybersecurity threats both internally and externally. Splunk offers assistance to organizations in managing the influx of machine-generated data from their IT systems, employing data science techniques and automation to derive insights from it. Within its product portfolio, Splunk provides a security solution called Splunk App For Enterprise Security. By acquiring Caspida, Splunk enhances its security capabilities by incorporating the advanced machine learning techniques developed by Caspida. This empowers Splunk to analyze user behavior at a granular level, even for seemingly legitimate users with proper credentials. Splunk's overall approach revolves around data science-driven solutions, delivering automated threat detection and leveraging machine learning to continuously improve its capabilities over time.


2013. Splunk launches Splunk Cloud



Splunk, the leading software platform for real-time operational intelligence, has announced the general availability of Splunk Cloud - a new service that brings Splunk Enterprise to the cloud. With Splunk Cloud, organizations can now gain visibility and operational insights into their machine-generated big data in the cloud, while also correlating this data across their cloud and on-premises environments. The introduction of Splunk Cloud for large-scale production environments expands the offerings of Splunk Storm, the cloud-based service introduced last year, which now provides free developer access to 20GB of total storage per month. Powered by Amazon Web Services, Splunk Cloud includes access to all features of the Splunk Enterprise platform, including apps, APIs, alerting, and role-based access controls.

Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com