The verdict in three sentences
For a 350-employee company, Power BI remains the best cost and speed trade-off when the need is to view indicators: about EUR 13 per user per month plus EUR 15,000 to 35,000 of modelling. A custom application at EUR 30,000 to 60,000 pays off once leadership wants to enter forecasts, receive alerts and trigger actions from the same screen. Either way, 70% of the budget and risk sits in the data warehouse and the reliability of the numbers, not in the charts.
The real problem: 14 Excel files and a 10-day lag
Every Monday, the controlling team consolidates exports from the ERP, the CRM, payroll, production and two subsidiaries. Formats change, item codes diverge, one file arrives late. The result: month M's margin is known at M+10, too late to correct prices or purchasing.
| Indicator | Current situation | Target after project |
|---|---|---|
| Files consolidated manually | 14 per week | 0 |
| Time to know the monthly margin | Day 10 | Day 1 |
| Controlling time spent consolidating | 2 days per week | 2 hours per week |
| Sales refresh frequency | Weekly | Hourly |
| Conflicting versions of the same figure | Frequent | One single source of truth |
| Users with access to the numbers | 4 | 25 (leadership team and managers) |
Power BI or custom: 2026 cost comparison
| Criterion | Power BI | Custom application |
|---|---|---|
| Licences for 25 users | About EUR 3,900 per year (Pro) | EUR 0 (hosting EUR 100 to 300 per month) |
| Initial setup | EUR 15,000 to 35,000 | EUR 30,000 to 60,000 |
| Delivery time | 6 to 10 weeks | 10 to 16 weeks |
| Forecast entry and comments | Limited (paid add-ons) | Native |
| Business alerts (thresholds, email, WhatsApp) | Simple alerts on visuals | Complex, multichannel rules |
| Mobile experience | Decent, generic | Designed for the executive |
| Team autonomy to build reports | High | Low without a developer |
| Total cost over 3 years | EUR 27,000 to 50,000 | EUR 34,000 to 71,000 |
A hybrid setup is common: a shared data warehouse, Power BI for controllers to explore, and a small custom app for the leadership team with forecast entry and alerts. Budget EUR 40,000 to 70,000 in total.
The data warehouse and the 12 KPIs that matter
Whatever the display tool, you need a warehouse that centralises cleaned data. In 2026, a managed PostgreSQL database or a cloud warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure SQL) costs EUR 50 to 400 a month for a company this size. Connectors to the ERP and CRM make up 30 to 40% of the setup budget.
| Area | Indicator | Recommended refresh |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Revenue and order intake vs budget | Hourly |
| Sales | Gross margin by product family and customer | Daily |
| Sales | Order backlog in days of production | Daily |
| Finance | Available cash and 13-week forecast | Daily |
| Finance | Receivables and late payments (DSO) | Daily |
| Finance | Estimated monthly operating profit | Monthly on day 1 |
| Operations | Service level (on-time, in-full deliveries) | Daily |
| Operations | Production line utilisation | Hourly |
| Operations | Stock value and turnover | Weekly |
| HR | Headcount, absenteeism, overtime | Weekly |
| Purchasing | Price trend of the top 20 components | Weekly |
| Customers | Open complaints and resolution time | Daily |
Beyond 12 to 15 indicators on the main screen, a leadership team stops looking. The rest belongs on drill-down pages.
Mini case study
Markus, CEO of a 350-employee industrial company in Berlin, currently pays for 2 days of controlling per week on consolidation, about EUR 46,000 a year in loaded cost. He picks the hybrid setup: EUR 22,000 for the warehouse and connectors, EUR 9,000 for Power BI reports, EUR 18,000 for the steering app, so EUR 49,000, plus EUR 4,500 a year for licences and hosting.
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Consolidation drops to 2 hours a week, about EUR 40,000 a year of time redirected to analysis. More importantly, knowing the margin on day 1 let him correct a 1.5-point drift on one product family in March, about EUR 60,000 of margin protected over the year. The project pays back in under 12 months.
FAQ
Is Power BI enough for a mid-size company?
In 6 cases out of 10, yes, if leadership views rather than enters data. Licence cost stays low, about EUR 13 per user per month for Pro.
Do we need a data warehouse if we use Power BI?
Above 3 sources or 5 million rows, yes. Without one, models become slow and each report recalculates its own rules, producing conflicting numbers.
How long until a first usable dashboard?
A first batch of 5 to 6 reliable indicators ships in 4 to 6 weeks. The full scope of 12 indicators takes 10 to 16 weeks depending on connectors.
Who maintains the custom application?
A maintenance contract of EUR 400 to 1,200 a month covers source changes, fixes and 1 to 2 days of additions per month.
Does the data stay in Germany?
Yes if you ask for it: Azure, Google Cloud and German hosts offer Frankfurt or Berlin regions at no meaningful extra cost for this volume, in line with GDPR.
Let's scope your project. List your data sources and your top 10 indicators: we will price a dashboard between EUR 15,000 and 60,000 depending on the option, delivered in 6 to 16 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
