Power BI development company handle big data by using techniques like incremental refresh, DirectQuery, and aggregations to optimize performance. They connect Power BI with data lakes and cloud storage solutions, such as Azure, to manage large datasets. DirectQuery allows real-time querying of massive datasets without loading them into memory, ensuring faster processing times. Aggregations are used to summarize large datasets, improving report performance without losing data granularity. These companies design scalable solutions that can handle growing data volumes, ensuring that businesses can continue to access and analyze data efficiently as it expands.

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is crucial for Power BI developers because it allows them to create powerful calculations, such as calculated columns, measures, and aggregations. With DAX, Power BI developers can write custom formulas that enhance data analysis and help users extract valuable insights from reports. It enables advanced business logic, such as year-over-year comparisons, running totals, and time-intelligent calculations, making the dashboards and reports more dynamic. A strong understanding of DAX is essential for creating customized data models and performing complex analysis that goes beyond standard Power BI functionality.

Power BI developer use streaming datasets, push datasets, or direct connections to data sources (DirectQuery) to handle real-time data updates. For real-time dashboards, they may set up automatic refresh schedules or use APIs to push live data into Power BI. Streaming dataflows allow developers to connect to IoT devices, APIs, or any source providing continuous data. Power BI developers ensure real-time visualizations by configuring data refresh settings and implementing appropriate gateway setups to ensure that the dashboard is updated seamlessly as new data becomes available.

For startups, Power BI developers tend to focus on rapid development, cost-effective solutions, and building scalable dashboards that can grow with the company. They often work with limited data sources and prioritize flexibility and simplicity. In large enterprises, developers face more complex data environments and must integrate multiple data sources, manage larger datasets, and adhere to strict data governance. They also need to implement enterprise-level features such as role-based access, advanced security measures, and Power BI Premium, ensuring the scalability and performance of dashboards across multiple departments.