What’s Broken in BI? We Asked 500 Data Professionals

For a long time, business intelligence didn’t change much. Same dashboards, same tools, same limitations. But over the last few years, that’s shifted—fast. AI is evolving. Business users want more. Executives are asking harder questions. And suddenly, BI teams are left rethinking everything.

That’s why we launched the State of BI 2025 report.

We surveyed more than 500 people who work with BI every day—data professionals, business users, and leaders across industries and company sizes. The goal was to stop guessing and actually quantify what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.

The results were… blunt.

87% of companies said their data volumes increased last year. 71% said their BI tools aren’t keeping up. That tracks. You’ve got more data, more demand, and the same old dashboards trying to hold it all together. And it’s not just a tooling problem—though there are plenty of those—it’s also a talent gap. 78% of companies said they don’t have the people they need to actually put their data to work.

87% of companies said their data volumes increased last year. 71% said their BI tools aren’t keeping up.

That’s a huge signal. We’re investing in data but falling short on the people, platforms, and processes to make it useful.

And all of this is happening while 89% of companies say they’re actively adopting GenAI. The disconnect there is real—AI is pushing things forward, but most teams don’t have the foundation to take advantage of it yet.

One stat I keep coming back to: 37% of execs want their BI tool to build custom data apps. That’s not an edge case. That’s a shift. Business users don’t want static dashboards anymore—they want interactive, embedded tools that live inside their workflows. And they want them fast.

Business users don’t want static dashboards anymore—they want interactive, embedded tools that live inside their workflows. And they want them fast.

What I like most about this report is that it puts real numbers behind what a lot of us already know. You don’t have to rely on a few flashy case studies or vendor slides anymore. You can look at where the industry actually is—and make decisions based on that.

So ask yourself:

• Are we building for speed and scale, or just patching things together?
  
  
• Can people get answers without filing a ticket?
  
  
• Are we AI-ready—or just hoping to be?

If you’ve ever felt like your team is working twice as hard just to keep up, yeah—you’re not alone. And you’re not imagining it. This report just puts numbers to what most of us already know: BI needs to change. Fast.

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