Most of us are familiar with claims made by vendors of business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools that some disappointingly low percentage—often 10% or less—of businesspeople are actually using data in their decision making. The solution proposed is, unsurprisingly, to be found in product X, and more generally in the adoption of self-service BI. The more experienced (read “older”) of us recall that BI vendors have been using the same argument and figures for some thirty years.

Why has the problem persisted? New analytic techniques and improved BI tools haven’t really helped. The problem, I believe, lies between the data and the people. Very few people can truly digest data and extract valid, nutritious information from it. Many examples exist, but use of data in the Coronavirus pandemic illustrates the problem well.

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