Power BI vs Custom Executive Dashboard for an SME: Cost in London (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For a distribution SME with 3 branches, the real problem is not the tool but consolidating Sage or Odoo data, which currently takes 10 days every month. Power BI is the best choice up to about fifteen internal users comfortable with Microsoft 365, with EUR 4,600 to 12,200 of setup (3 to 8 million FCFA). A custom dashboard (EUR 9,150 to 22,900, or 6 to 15 million FCFA) becomes more profitable once it must be opened to field sales on mobile, to partners, or run on an unstable connection.

Why the figures arrive 10 days late

In a typical SME, each branch enters its sales in Sage or Odoo, sometimes in separate databases. Every month the management controller exports the files, cleans them in Excel, reconciles item codes, recalculates margins and emails a PDF to the managing director. Between closing and reading, 8 to 12 days go by. Restocking, customer credit and sales follow-up decisions are therefore made on stale numbers.

A modern dashboard reverses this: a data warehouse fills automatically every night, indicators are calculated once according to written rules, and management reads day-minus-one figures on a computer or phone.

Power BI vs custom: 2026 comparison

The simple rule: if your leadership team already lives in Excel and Teams, Power BI wins. If 25 sales reps must check targets on Android phones over a weak signal, custom wins.

What a serious budget includes

The most underestimated item is master data cleaning: one customer spelled three ways in three branches distorts every receivable. Plan 2 to 3 weeks of work with your accountant.

Mini case study

Mr Ndiaye, managing director of a food distribution SME with three branches, employs a management controller who spends 6 days a month consolidating figures. Her loaded salary is about EUR 1,370 a month, so roughly EUR 380 of consolidation time monthly, EUR 4,570 a year.

He chooses Power BI for 10 users: EUR 7,620 of setup (5 million FCFA) and about EUR 1,500 of annual licences. Consolidation drops to half a day. Above all, the daily alert on receivables over 60 days lets him recover EUR 27,400 (18 million FCFA) of unpaid invoices in 4 months, paying back the project three times. ROI comes from faster decisions, not saved time.

FAQ

Does Power BI work with an on-premise Sage install?

Yes, through a gateway installed on the company server, at no extra licence cost. The server must stay on overnight for refresh, plus a UPS if power cuts are frequent, about EUR 380.

Can Power BI licences be paid in local currency?

Microsoft licences are billed in USD or EUR through a reseller. Several partners in Dakar invoice in FCFA with a 5 to 10% margin, which simplifies accounting.

How long until the first indicators?

A first revenue and margin dashboard per branch can ship in 3 to 4 weeks. Full scope with stock and receivables takes 6 to 8 weeks on Power BI, 10 to 14 weeks custom.

What if we move from Sage to Odoo later?

With an intermediate data warehouse, only the connector changes, about EUR 1,220 to 2,290 (800,000 to 1,500,000 FCFA). Dashboards and calculation rules stay the same.

Do we need a technical profile in-house?

For Power BI, one user trained for 3 days can build new reports. For custom, each new view goes through the provider, count EUR 230 to 610 per change.

Let's scope your project. Tell us your accounting software, number of branches and users: we will recommend Power BI or custom, with an indicative budget and delivery time. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.