An average of 495.89 million TB a day were generated in 2025, up from 402.74 million TB in 2024, 328.77 million TB in 2023, and 265.75 million TB in 2022. With more and more data being put out there, many companies are drowning in it instead of learning how to use it to their advantage. Capturing and analyzing data to improve business intelligence, or BI, as it’s more commonly known, has never been more important for companies. Doing so creates an opportunity to improve customer satisfaction, a competitive advantage, and a method to optimize the supply chain and enhance inventory.
The main challenges businesses face in obtaining actionable data
In a survey by KPMG, 40% of CFOs and CIOs attributed the lack of actionable BI to their inability to integrate data technology into their business models and systems. 85% said they had a hard time implementing the right solutions to interpret existing data accurately. They are struggling to use the data collected and to make decisions with the data they possess.
Businesses also don’t fully understand how analysis and data can transform their operations despite knowing how crucial they are in this context.
Visual representations and interactive tools make spotting trends easy
Heatmaps, graphs, charts, and other visual representations simplify complex data sets, making spotting patterns and trends easier. The best mapping software is interactive, enabling users to dynamically explore KPIs and metrics in contrast to static Excel files and more primitive mapping tools. This way, decision-makers can access the most current and relevant data.
Dashboards can help forecast future tendencies as well as inspire inexperienced users to achieve actionable insights based on real-time data when combined with AI or machine learning technology. AI integration with mapping tools is a rapidly growing niche of software development. In 2024, 40% of global companies used AI, and 82% used or planned to integrate AI into their business processes.
Actionable BI tools pull data from different sources into a central hub and present it in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner. You can drill down to a detail level that shows what needs to happen next with a product, business, customer, sales team, or region.
Other common reasons why software fails to deliver
As one proceeds to configure a newly deployed BI system, creating a series of dashboards and KPIs just because it’s possible is tempting. Instead, one should look for ways to measure the criteria based on which the business defines success. Overpopulating dashboards with ambiguous performance indicators that confuse or overwhelm staff is counterproductive.
BI is a strategic asset that businesses can use to guide decisions and drive innovation, and it’s more important than ever for senior executives to support BI initiatives. Successful software selection starts with engaged executives. A lack of support from an organization’s leaders can explain why even the most promising product falls short of expectations.
Lack of engagement from the team is another common reason. Completing a BI project involves a series of steps and measures. The first step is setting requirements and specifying functional and technical features, and that’s only one of many. Regardless of whether the company operates in retail, logistics, marketing, or another industry, the team’s enthusiasm may start waning after a while. It might seem like there is an infinite period between planning software deployment and delivering intelligence on which the business can act.
The team is likelier to grow weary if the company approaches the implementation in clear-cut stages, with the next stage only commencing when the previous one is complete. Instead, it’s better to divide the project into smaller phases to keep the team engaged.
Recap
- Some businesses are unable to integrate data technology into their systems
- Leaders struggle to make decisions with the data they possess
- Visual representations and interactive tools make spotting trends easy
- Software fails when people create too many dashboards and KPIs with it
- Lack of support from executives and disengaged teams spell disaster for BI
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