Introduction

For SaaS vendors, data residency is no longer just a technical detail — it’s a contractual and regulatory obligation. Customers expect their data to be stored and processed only in the region they select, whether for compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, or local data protection laws.

When offering analytics and reporting services through Power BI Online + Embedded or Microsoft Fabric, vendors face a hidden challenge: without Multi‑Geo, data storage defaults to the tenant’s home region, regardless of where compute capacity is provisioned. This gap can expose SaaS providers to compliance risks and erode customer trust.

The Challenge Without Multi‑Geo

By default, both Power BI Online + Embedded and Fabric Dedicated Capacity store data and metadata in the tenant’s home region.

  • Power BI Online + Embedded: Imported datasets, reports, dashboards, and metadata are always stored in the home region. Compute can run in customer‑selected Azure regions, but storage remains centralized.
  • Fabric Dedicated Capacity (OneLake): Beyond BI artifacts, Fabric persists actual data files — Lakehouse parquet/Delta, Warehouse tables, Dataflow outputs, event streams. Without Multi‑Geo, all of these are stored in OneLake in the home region.

👉 For SaaS vendors promising “all data stays in the customer’s chosen region,” this default behavior creates a compliance gap.

What Multi‑Geo Enables

Multi‑Geo transforms this picture by giving SaaS vendors control over where data at rest is stored.

  • Storage residency control: Workspaces can be assigned to satellite geos, ensuring datasets, Lakehouse files, Warehouse tables, and metadata are stored in the customer’s chosen region.
  • Compute alignment: Fabric and Power BI Embedded capacities can be provisioned in the same region, aligning compute and storage locality.
  • Compliance assurance: Vendors can confidently commit to customers that both data and metadata reside in the selected region.

Fabric vs Power BI Online: Residency Layers

Layer Without Multi‑Geo With Multi‑Geo
Source DB (SQL, SAP, etc.) Always in its own region Same — unaffected
Compute (capacity) Runs in chosen region Same — unaffected
Power BI datasets Stored in tenant home region Stored in customer‑selected region
Reports & dashboards Stored in tenant home region Stored in customer‑selected region
Metadata (workspace info, lineage) Stored in tenant home region Stored in customer‑selected region
Fabric Lakehouse/Warehouse/Dataflows Stored in tenant home region Stored in customer‑selected region

Business Impact for SaaS Vendors

  • Customer trust: Enterprise clients demand proof of data residency. Multi‑Geo provides the assurance they need.
  • Competitive advantage: Vendors offering Multi‑Geo can win deals where strict compliance is mandatory.
  • Risk mitigation: Avoid contractual breaches, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage.
  • Scalability: As you expand globally, Multi‑Geo ensures you can serve customers in multiple jurisdictions without creating separate tenants.

Practical Considerations

  • Licensing requirements: Microsoft enforces a minimum 5% rule — SaaS vendors must license at least 5% of their eligible users with Multi‑Geo add‑ons.
  • Capacity provisioning: Fabric F SKUs and Power BI Embedded capacities must be provisioned in the satellite regions where customers want their data.
  • Governance: Careful assignment of workspaces and users is required to ensure workloads are placed in the correct geo.

Conclusion

For SaaS vendors leveraging Power BI Online + Embedded and Microsoft Fabric, Multi‑Geo is not optional — it’s essential. Without it, you can only guarantee compute locality, not storage residency. With it, you can confidently commit to customers that their data and metadata are stored in the region they select, meeting compliance requirements and building trust.

👉 In short: Multi‑Geo is the compliance shield that turns risk into trust for SaaS providers.