Simple tool, same old resistance

I’ve rarely heard resistance to BI expressed quite so well.

A woman at an oil company said to Metrics Insights founder Marius Moscovici, “If someone wants to know something, they pick up a phone.”

The hell with easy information delivery. Make them ask for it.

I might understand what Marius witnessed if the woman were faced with any of the heavy hitters in business analytics. These things come encrusted with big promises, but big promises come with big upheaval. Data gets disturbed that some people wish would stay buried. They want to say, “Everything’s fine here. Go away.”

You can imagine why. They might fear that data quality isn’t up to snuff, or that someone’s got to govern all that stuff whether it’s “big data” or little data, or they could simply fear anything not invented back when they had nothing to lose.

It’s harder to understand when the information has already been refined and put in a box — and simply needs delivery to a doorstep.

The simple tool from Metrics Insights — the company and the tool go by the same name for now — seems to follow in big tools’ wake and fill in where they won’t. Users drag and drop tiles to assemble other tools’ output onto one screen. It’s simple self-service BI for easy focus, collaboration, and mobility.

It’s making headway with four customers that include Barnes and Noble. Looks to me like a good tool that’s just trying to bridge that last yard.