Executive Dashboard: Power BI vs Custom Build Cost in Amsterdam

The verdict in three sentences

When a mid-sized company's KPIs arrive 10 days after month end, the leadership team steers on stale numbers. Power BI (14 EUR per user per month, plus 15,000 to 30,000 EUR of integration in Lyon) suits analysts who want to explore data themselves; a custom dashboard (25,000 to 45,000 EUR) wins when leadership wants a handful of fixed KPIs, alerts and a polished mobile experience. In Amsterdam, where day rates run higher, the same projects land between 30,000 and 60,000 EUR, and in every case the real work is the data warehouse (300 to 800 EUR a month) that consolidates the 3 ERPs and delivers KPIs at D+1 within 3 months.

Why it takes 10 days today

The typical company has 3 subsidiaries, each on its own ERP (for example Exact, AFAS and an older Navision). Finance extracts files, aligns charts of accounts and product codes, then consolidates in a 40-tab Excel workbook. A week goes into manual work every month, and version differences fuel debate in the leadership meeting.

Power BI or custom: the numbers side by side

Over 3 years, costs converge, so the decision is about usage. Power BI wins when finance wants to build its own reports, slice dimensions and share with 50 managers; beyond 100 users, capacity-based licensing changes the maths. Custom wins when the CEO wants 12 KPIs readable in 30 seconds on a phone, with business-specific rules (margin per project, service level, weighted order backlog) and alerts built into the workflow.

The data warehouse, the shared foundation

Whichever option you choose, you must extract data from the 3 ERPs nightly, align charts of accounts, customers and products, and store reliable history. A warehouse on Azure, BigQuery or managed PostgreSQL costs 300 to 800 EUR a month depending on volume. Mapping master data alone represents 40% of the project effort. Plan a finance subject-matter owner at 20% of their time for the 3 months.

Mini case study

Pieter, CEO of a 180 million EUR industrial company near Amsterdam, holds his leadership meeting on the 12th of each month. Finance spends 6 person-days a month on consolidation, so 72 days a year at a 650 EUR loaded day cost: 46,800 EUR. He chooses a custom dashboard at 52,000 EUR and a warehouse at 500 EUR a month. He recovers 66 days a year (42,900 EUR) and moves his meeting to the 2nd. Net annual gain: about 36,900 EUR. Payback: about 17 months, without valuing pricing and purchasing decisions taken 10 days earlier.

FAQ

Can we start with Power BI and move to custom later?

Yes, because the data warehouse stays the same. Only the visualisation layer changes, which is 40 to 50% of the initial budget.

Do our 3 ERPs have connectors?

Exact and AFAS expose APIs. An older ERP is handled through scheduled file extraction, for an extra 3,000 to 6,000 EUR.

How many users does it take for Power BI to pay off?

Up to 100 users, Pro licences at 14 EUR stay economical. Beyond that, Fabric capacity starts around 5,000 EUR a month and custom becomes competitive again.

Does data stay in Europe?

Yes, both the warehouse and Power BI can be pinned to an EU region. That meets GDPR with no notable extra cost, within the 300 to 800 EUR monthly range.

Who maintains the KPIs after delivery?

With Power BI, your analysts, after 2 to 3 days of training. With custom, a maintenance contract at 15% of the budget per year covers changes.

Let's scope your project. Describe your ERPs, key KPIs and user count, and we will price the warehouse and the right visualisation layer, between 30,000 and 60,000 EUR in Amsterdam, delivered in 3 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.