“It’s not a spa. It’s accounting. But not for money — for decisions.”
All the signs that it’s time for BI therapy
If every meeting turns into a presentation battle, each department has its own version of the truth, and your managers look like they’ve just survived Burning Man (without the fun) — congratulations. You’re ready. Not spiritually, but for the BI Maturity Framework.
And yes, you’re not alone. SaaS companies with $3M+ ARR, airlines drowning in operational mayhem with pilots, weather, and routes, and manufacturing firms juggling 10 warehouses and 27 Excel sheets per logistics manager — all go through this. Just not at the same time. Which is a shame.
Now, let’s get this straight: BI is not rocket science. It’s an IKEA sofa.
You’ve got a box. Inside: parts. Weirdly shaped bolts, two clumsy tools, and a suspiciously thick instruction booklet. Terrifying? A little. But if you follow the steps, the sofa assembles. Not by itself, but close.
Business Intelligence works the same way. It’s a set of blocks:
centralized reporting,
a single system of metrics,
signal → insight → action pipeline,
automation,
and a decision-making model.
All you need is the manual. Or a partner who’s memorized it and assembles these sofas three times a week.
Book a free Data Maturity Audit call
Why are you suffering? Because you’ve lost the manual
A marketing manager spends 6 hours pulling lead data from HubSpot, ad spend from Google Ads, and funnel info from Salesforce. He shows up to a 1:1 with eyes of a caffeine-addicted raccoon. All to say: “I think we overspent.”
BI is not for reports. It’s so you don’t go insane.
The 5 Levels of BI Maturity (a.k.a. how long will you keep suffering?)
Wild West (disconnected reports):
1. Excel from Pete, Looker Studio from Masha, Airtable from HR.
2. Every meeting feels like a trial: whoever has the best-looking slides wins.Centralization:
1. All data in one place. But manual. Analyst lives on aspirin.
2. Example: $5M ARR SaaS firm, weekly: CSVs → Google Sheets → decks.Data Storytelling:
1. Automation, unified metrics, deviations highlighted.
2. Example: Airline with live dashboards on flight delays, utilization. Execs see where things go wrong and why.Insight Layer:
1. BI tells you the “why.” Signal: sales down. Insight: new region, key account manager left, leads untouched.Insight-to-Action Layer:
1. BI offers: want to fix this? Here are three options. Here are the consequences. Choose.
2. Manufacturing case: line output drops. BI says: adjust shift schedules, add maintenance time. Saves $25K/month.
Get your tailored roadmap from “chaos” to “clarity”
Why do companies ignore this? Because they think BI is a luxury
Let’s be honest. Most companies treat BI like an in-office massage therapist. Or employee mindfulness coaching. Nice to have, but hardly essential.
Wrong. Fatally wrong. BI is accounting. But for decisions. Want to know where your money, customers, and staff went? Set up a system.
Not when investors knock. Not when servers crash. Not when your CEO rage-slacks you. Set up BI before the explosion.
Why don’t managers value BI?
Because they’re doing the wrong job. Nobody taught them how to make decisions. So instead, they:
gather data,
clean dashboards,
debate in meetings,
find scapegoats.
But they shouldn’t. Managers = decision architects. They should:
interpret signals,
define goals,
find non-obvious solutions,
and forecast outcomes.
BI is their magnifying glass, GPS, and steering wheel.
Check your BI maturity — free 1:1 session
So where do you start?
Super simple:
Identify your current state: no data? disconnected? overwhelmed with signals?
Name your level honestly.
Follow the plan.
Follow the manual. It’s not painful. It’s freeing.
Because BI isn’t about dashboards. It’s about a sane, structured, grown-up way to work.
P.S. We don’t sell sofas. Yet.