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EPC Group

Enterprise Microsoft consulting with 29 years serving Fortune 500 companies.

(888) 381-9725
contact@epcgroup.net
4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830
Houston, TX 77056

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About EPC Group

EPC Group is a Microsoft consulting firm founded in 1997 (originally Enterprise Project Consulting, renamed EPC Group in 2005). 29 years of enterprise Microsoft consulting experience. EPC Group historically held the distinction of being the oldest continuous Microsoft Gold Partner in North America from 2016 until the program's retirement. Because Microsoft officially deprecated the Gold/Silver tiering framework, EPC Group transitioned to the modern Microsoft Solutions Partner ecosystem and currently holds the core Microsoft Solutions Partner designations.

Headquartered at 4900 Woodway Drive, Suite 830, Houston, TX 77056. Public clients include NASA, FBI, Federal Reserve, Pentagon, United Airlines, PepsiCo, Nike, and Northrop Grumman. 6,500+ SharePoint implementations, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, 500+ Microsoft Fabric implementations, 70+ Fortune 500 organizations served, 11,000+ enterprise engagements, 200+ Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft 365 consultants on staff.

About Errin O'Connor

Errin O'Connor is the Founder, CEO, and Chief AI Architect of EPC Group. Microsoft MVP multiple years, first awarded 2003. 4× Microsoft Press bestselling author of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out (MS Press 2007), Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out (MS Press 2011), SharePoint 2013 Field Guide (Sams/Pearson 2014), and Microsoft Power BI Dashboards Step by Step (MS Press 2018).

Original SharePoint Beta Team member (Project Tahoe). Original Power BI Beta Team member (Project Crescent). FedRAMP framework contributor. Worked with U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra on the Obama administration's 25-Point Plan to reform federal IT, and with NASA CIO Chris Kemp as Lead Architect on the NASA Nebula Cloud project. Speaker at Microsoft Ignite, SharePoint Conference, KMWorld, and DATAVERSITY.

© 2026 EPC Group. All rights reserved. Microsoft, SharePoint, Power BI, Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

EPC Group is a Microsoft Fabric consulting firm serving Chicago and the broader Chicagoland region. We deliver Fabric implementations, OneLake architecture, Power BI migration, and data lakehouse build-outs for financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics organizations across the Chicago metro — with 29 years of Microsoft experience.

Key Facts

  • Chicagoland region: 9.4 million metro residents, home to Boeing, Abbott, Caterpillar, Allstate, and major financial exchanges.
  • EPC Group: 29 years of Microsoft consulting, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, 500+ Microsoft Fabric projects.
  • Microsoft Solutions Partner with core designations including Data & AI — the designation that covers Microsoft Fabric.
  • Enterprises on Microsoft 365 plus Power BI typically see 30–50% lower TCO moving to Fabric vs. maintaining a separate analytics warehouse.
  • Compliance-native: HIPAA for healthcare, SOC 2 for financial services, FedRAMP for government, ISO 42001 for AI governance.

Microsoft Fabric Consulting Chicago

Expert unified analytics platform consulting

Top-Rated Microsoft Fabric Consultants in Chicago

Chicago's Best Microsoft Fabric Consulting Firm

Looking for the top Microsoft Fabric consultants in Chicago? EPC Group is the leading Fabric consulting firm in the Midwest, providing expert data lakehouse architecture, unified analytics implementation, and migration services for organizations across Chicagoland. With 29 years of Microsoft consulting experience and Fortune 500 expertise, we're consistently ranked among the best Microsoft Fabric consulting companies in the nation.

Schedule Consultation(888) 381-9725

Microsoft Fabric Consulting Services for Chicagoland Organizations

Microsoft Fabric implementation and architecture design

OneLake data lakehouse setup and optimization

Power BI to Fabric migration services

Real-time analytics and KQL database implementation

Data Factory pipeline development and ETL optimization

Fabric capacity planning and cost optimization

Why Chicago Organizations Choose EPC Group for Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric is the future of unified analytics, and Chicago enterprises need experienced partners to navigate this transformative platform. Our team has worked with financial services, manufacturing, and Fortune 500 organizations across the Midwest to implement Fabric solutions that deliver immediate ROI.

  • 29 years of Microsoft consulting experience
  • 500+ Fabric and Power BI implementations completed
  • HIPAA, SOC 2, and FedRAMP compliance expertise
  • On-site and remote consulting available nationwide

Why Microsoft Fabric? The Future of Enterprise Analytics

Unified Platform

Fabric combines data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and BI into one SaaS platform—eliminating data silos.

OneLake Storage

Single data lake for all workloads with automatic Delta Lake format—no data duplication across tools.

DirectLake Mode

10x faster query performance than Import mode with real-time data access—no scheduled refreshes needed.

Cost Efficiency

30-40% cost savings vs. separate Power BI Premium + Synapse deployments with capacity-based pricing.

Ready to Modernize Your Analytics in Chicago?

Contact EPC Group today for a free Microsoft Fabric consultation. We'll assess your current environment and show you how Fabric can transform your data architecture.

Schedule Consultation(888) 381-9725

Other Microsoft Services in Chicago

Power BI Consulting

Enterprise dashboards, analytics, and business intelligence

Learn More

SharePoint Consulting

SharePoint implementation, migration, and governance

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Azure Consulting

Azure cloud migration and architecture

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Why Chicagoland Organizations Choose EPC Group for Microsoft Fabric Consulting

The Chicagoland region — home to 9.4 million metro residents and headquarters of Boeing, Abbott, Caterpillar, and Allstate — represents one of the most dynamic enterprise technology markets in the United States. Organizations across financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics are accelerating their Microsoft platform investments, and they need a consulting partner with the depth of experience to deliver results, not just recommendations.

EPC Group has served Chicago, IL organizations for over a decade with lakehouse architecture, data engineering, real-time analytics, and Fabric migration. Our team combines 29 years of Microsoft ecosystem expertise with hands-on implementation experience across 10,000+ enterprise deployments. We are not a staffing firm that places contractors — we are a delivery firm that owns outcomes. Every engagement is led by senior architects who have completed hundreds of similar implementations.

What Makes Chicago Enterprises Different

Chicago organizations face unique challenges. The concentration of financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics means compliance requirements are non-negotiable — HIPAA for healthcare, SOC 2 for financial services, FedRAMP for government, and increasingly ISO 42001 for AI governance. EPC Group builds compliance into the foundation of every engagement, not as an afterthought. Our frameworks have passed every regulatory audit to date, across Fortune 500 banks, healthcare systems, and federal agencies.

The Chicago talent market is competitive. Organizations cannot afford 6-month consulting engagements that deliver a PowerPoint and a handoff. EPC Group's fixed-fee accelerator model delivers production-ready solutions in 30-90 days — from Copilot governance frameworks to Power BI Centers of Excellence to Azure landing zones. We price on outcomes, not hours.

Our Chicago Engagement Model

  • Week 1-2: On-site or remote discovery with your IT, security, and business stakeholders. We audit your current Microsoft environment, identify gaps, and build a prioritized roadmap.
  • Week 3-6: Sprint-based delivery. We implement the highest-value items first — typically Copilot governance, Power BI semantic models, or SharePoint migration waves.
  • Week 7-12: Production hardening, user training, and knowledge transfer. Your team owns the solution when we leave.
  • Ongoing: Optional managed services at three tiers (Essentials, Advanced, Enterprise) for organizations that want 24/7 support and continuous optimization.

Ready to talk about your Chicago project? Call (888) 381-9725 or emailcontact@epcgroup.net to schedule a free assessment. Most organizations get a roadmap within one week.

Microsoft Fabric Consulting in Chicago, IL

EPC Group is a Microsoft Fabric consulting firm serving Chicago and the broader Chicagoland region. We deliver Fabric implementations, OneLake architecture, Power BI migration, and data lakehouse build-outs for financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics organizations across the Chicago metro — with 29 years of Microsoft experience.

Key facts

  • Chicagoland region: 9.4 million metro residents, home to Boeing, Abbott, Caterpillar, Allstate, and major financial exchanges.
  • EPC Group: 29 years of Microsoft consulting, 1,500+ Power BI deployments, 500+ Microsoft Fabric projects.
  • Microsoft Solutions Partner with core designations including Data & AI — the designation that covers Microsoft Fabric.
  • Enterprises on Microsoft 365 plus Power BI typically see 30–50% lower TCO moving to Fabric vs. maintaining a separate analytics warehouse.
  • Compliance-native: HIPAA for healthcare, SOC 2 for financial services, FedRAMP for government, ISO 42001 for AI governance.

Microsoft Fabric services for Chicago organizations

  • Fabric enablement and assessment — evaluate your current data stack, identify migration paths, and build a Fabric roadmap with quantified TCO outcomes.
  • OneLake architecture — design your unified data lake using OneLake shortcuts so data serves both Spark and T-SQL queries without copying.
  • Power BI Premium to Fabric migration — move Power BI Premium capacity workloads to Microsoft Fabric F-SKUs for lower cost and broader analytics capabilities.
  • Data estate unification — consolidate Azure Data Lake, Synapse, and standalone Power BI tenants into a single governed Fabric environment.
  • Medallion architecture build — implement Bronze/Silver/Gold data layers with Delta Lake, Purview governance, and Direct Lake Power BI integration.
  • AI-ready data architecture — build the semantic layer and data quality controls that ground enterprise AI models and Copilot agents accurately.

Why Chicago organizations choose EPC Group

Chicago's enterprise market spans financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics. Each sector has non-negotiable compliance requirements. EPC Group builds Fabric environments that are compliance-native from day one — not compliant-by-afterthought.

  • Financial services — SOC 2 Type II, FINRA retention, SEC audit trail in OneLake.
  • Healthcare — HIPAA-compliant Fabric lakehouse with PHI sensitivity labels and Purview audit logging.
  • Manufacturing — real-time supply chain analytics using Fabric Real-Time Intelligence (KQL) and Direct Lake Power BI.
  • Logistics — operational dashboards connecting ERP, WMS, and TMS data through OneLake shortcuts and Fabric data pipelines.

Microsoft Fabric: why it matters for Chicago enterprises

Fabric consolidates what used to be four separate Azure services into one platform.

  • Previously: Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Synapse, standalone Spark clusters, and disconnected Power BI tenants.
  • Now: One platform (Fabric), one storage layer (OneLake), one security model (Entra ID + Purview), one license (capacity units).
  • OneLake shortcut model: a single Parquet dataset serves Spark queries (Fabric Lakehouse) and T-SQL queries (Fabric Warehouse) without copying data.
  • 30–50% lower TCO for enterprises already on Microsoft 365 and Power BI compared to maintaining a separate analytics warehouse.

Frequently asked questions

What Microsoft Fabric services does EPC Group provide in Chicago?

EPC Group provides Fabric enablement assessments, OneLake architecture design, Fabric lakehouse implementation, Power BI Premium to Fabric migration, medallion architecture build-outs, and compliance-native Fabric governance for Chicago organizations in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics.

Why should Chicago financial services firms use Microsoft Fabric?

Microsoft Fabric natively integrates with Microsoft 365 and Purview — the compliance tools most financial services firms already use.

SOC 2, FINRA retention, and SEC audit requirements map directly to Fabric's built-in Purview governance, sensitivity labels, and OneLake audit logging. Organizations on Microsoft 365 avoid adding a separate analytics compliance stack.

How does Microsoft Fabric compare to Snowflake for Chicago enterprises?

Microsoft Fabric is 20–40% less expensive for enterprises already on Microsoft 365 (no separate storage costs, Power BI included in Fabric capacity). Snowflake remains stronger for cross-cloud data sharing via Snowflake Marketplace and for organizations running production on AWS or GCP. EPC Group evaluates both during Fabric discovery engagements.

How long does a Microsoft Fabric implementation take?

Fabric enablement assessment: 2–4 weeks. A focused lakehouse build for a single analytics domain: 8–12 weeks. A full data estate migration from Azure Synapse to Fabric with governance and Power BI migration: 4–6 months. Timeline depends on data volume, existing architecture complexity, and compliance requirements.

Does EPC Group provide on-site Fabric consulting in Chicago?

Yes. EPC Group provides both on-site and remote Fabric consulting across the Chicagoland region. We have delivered engagements at Chicago-area financial services firms, healthcare systems, and manufacturing organizations. Call (888) 381-9725 to discuss your project and delivery model preference.

Talk to a Chicago Fabric architect

EPC Group has delivered Microsoft Fabric engagements for Chicagoland organizations across financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. Call (888) 381-9725 or schedule a discovery call.

Microsoft Fabric Consulting in Chicago, IL

Microsoft Fabric is the future of enterprise analytics, and EPC Group is helping Chicago organizations adopt it. Fabric unifies data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence in a single SaaS platform built on OneLake. Our consultants bring hands-on experience with DirectLake, medallion architectures, and Fabric capacity management.

Fabric Implementation

We deploy Microsoft Fabric workspaces with proper capacity sizing, domain assignments, and governance policies. Our implementations include lakehouse architecture design, data pipeline creation with Data Factory, notebook-based transformations, and Power BI semantic models connected via DirectLake for real-time analytics.

Migration to Fabric

Organizations running Azure Synapse, Databricks, or legacy data warehouses can migrate to Fabric for simplified management and reduced costs. EPC Group assesses your current analytics stack, designs the target Fabric architecture, and executes phased migration with parallel running to ensure zero data disruption.

Fabric Governance

Fabric governance requires domain-based workspace organization, capacity management policies, data quality rules, and access controls. EPC Group implements Microsoft Purview integration for data cataloging, sensitivity labels for OneLake data, and usage monitoring dashboards for capacity optimization.

50+
Fabric implementations
Beta
Early access participant
200+
Power BI to Fabric migrations
Certified
Microsoft Fabric consultants

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Power BI and how can it help my organization?

Power BI is Microsoft's enterprise analytics platform that transforms raw data into interactive dashboards and reports. It enables data-driven decision-making across your organization with real-time insights, automated refresh, and role-based access control. EPC Group has delivered 200+ enterprise Power BI implementations.

How much does Power BI consulting cost?

Power BI consulting typically ranges from $50K-$250K depending on scope. A focused dashboard project runs $50K-$100K, while enterprise-wide analytics platforms with governance frameworks cost $150K-$250K. EPC Group provides detailed estimates after a free discovery session.

What industries does EPC Group serve with Power BI?

EPC Group delivers Power BI solutions across healthcare (HIPAA-compliant), financial services (SOC 2), government (FedRAMP/GCC), manufacturing, retail, education, energy, and professional services — all with industry-specific compliance and security configurations.

How long does a Power BI implementation take?

Timeline depends on complexity: a focused dashboard suite takes 4-8 weeks, a department-wide analytics rollout takes 8-16 weeks, and an enterprise platform with Fabric, governance, and training takes 4-6 months. EPC Group uses agile delivery with 2-week sprint cycles.