Power BI vs Excel + AI for recurring business dashboards — is Power BI actually worth it?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a project where we’re evaluating the best approach for recurring business/HR dashboards, and I’d really like some real-world opinions from people who have dealt with this in companies.

The situation is roughly this:

We already have a reporting process where data is consolidated into a few Excel files, and Microsoft’s AI/Copilot tools are being used to help create/report insights. The process works reasonably well.

Now we’re considering whether it makes sense to have a dedicated team working on dashboards in Power BI, and potentially move towards a more structured Power BI/Fabric setup.

The questions I’m trying to answer are:

1. If Power BI + AI can already produce the required reports, what does Power BI team actually add that justifies the additional people, development and maintenance effort?
2. For recurring monthly dashboards, what are the real advantages of Power BI beyond better visuals?
3. Would you keep the consolidated Excel files as the source and connect them to Power BI through OneDrive/SharePoint, or move towards something like Fabric/OneLake + Power BI/Direct Lake?
4. Are there other tools/approaches that would make more sense?
5. From your actual experience, how would you compare these approaches on:
   • Effort — how much manual input is still required?
   • Accuracy — how reliable/controlled is the output?
   • Longevity — if the person who built it leaves, how easy is it for someone else to understand and maintain?

I’m particularly interested in real-world experience rather than “Power BI is better because it’s enterprise BI.”

For example, if you’ve worked in an environment where and individual with Power BI+ Copilot/AI was already working and then moved to Power BI Team, what genuinely improved, and what didn't?

Would appreciate opinions from people who have actually maintained these kinds of reporting systems.