Salesforce Data, Fully Unlocked: What Power BI Missed and We Fixed

2 min read

Modern CRM systems like Salesforce store a goldmine of data. But turning that data into real insights — and actionable tools — isn’t always straightforward.

In this case study, we walk through how we helped a B2B client extract Salesforce data into Power BI, hit performance and flexibility limits, and ultimately build a custom dashboard application that gave their teams full control — including editing and pushing updates back into Salesforce.

The Challenge

Our client, a growing international sales team, needed:

Real-time visibility into leads, deals, and sales pipelines
Custom reports and KPIs segmented by region, product, and rep
A simple way to track and update deal progress across teams

They started by using Salesforce’s native reports — but quickly hit limits around:

Visual customization
Multi-source reporting
User experience
Collaboration between sales & ops

So they turned to Power BI.

Phase 1: Connecting Salesforce to Power BI

We helped the client:

Set up a secure data pipeline from Salesforce into Power BI
Create dashboards for sales performance, forecast accuracy, and rep activity
Build region-based reports using Power BI’s DAX engine and slicers
Refresh data hourly for near-real-time accuracy

This delivered quick wins. Leadership got visibility. Sales got benchmarks. Operations got KPIs.

The Limitations

As adoption grew, so did the pain points:

Power BI’s editing interface wasn’t intuitive for non-technical users
The dashboards were view-only — no way to interact or update records
Changing KPIs or filters required dev time
Embedding the dashboards into internal tools was clunky
Mobile performance was inconsistent

It became clear: Power BI was great for visibility, but not for action.

Phase 2: Building a Custom Web App on Top of Salesforce

To solve these limitations, we built a custom React-based web application tailored for sales and operations.

Key Features:

Interactive Dashboards
Dynamic charts, filterable views, and drilldowns built with React and Chart.js
Editable Data Tables
Sales reps could update deal status, notes, and probabilities inline — with changes synced back to Salesforce via API
Smart Forms with AI Assistance
Suggest next steps, draft emails, or validate data quality using OpenAI integrations
Role-Based Access Control
Managers saw team-wide data, reps only saw their own pipeline
Seamless Mobile Experience
Built with responsive UI for field teams on the go

Results After 60 Days

KPI	Before (Power BI Only)	After (Web App)
Dashboard Usage Rate	42%	91%
Average Time Spent in Reports	3m 12s	11m 40s
Update Latency (CRM ↔︎ Dashboard)	60–120 minutes	5–15 seconds
Reps Updating Data Themselves	❌ Rare	✅ Daily
Mobile Accessibility	⚠️ Poor	✅ Seamless