Joel Gagnon

Despite decades of investment in Business Intelligence, most organizations still rely on slow, manual decision-making processes. This session argues that the true promise of BI has never been better reports—but automated, scalable, and governed decision making. Based on real-world experience delivering Power BI and Fabric solutions across dozens of organizations, this talk traces the evolution of Microsoft BI and explains why only now—through Fabric and Copilot—do organizations finally have the technical capabilities required to automate recurring decisions. The session highlights why transformation efforts often fail, the organizational resistance they create, and what leaders must do differently to unlock the next wave of productivity gains in data-driven organizations.

While the best websites are carefully designed around user experience, Power BI applications are often built with a strong technical focus and little formal UX guidance. Yet Power BI users face the same challenges as web users: finding information quickly, understanding context, and taking action. This session introduces key UX principles from the web and shows how to apply them effectively in Power BI. Using practical examples, you’ll learn how to avoid common design pitfalls, improve adoption, and significantly enhance user satisfaction—often with minimal additional effort. Finally, the session explains why strong UX design is also essential for high-quality Copilot interactions and AI-driven insights.