As more and more line of business managers gain access to business intelligence data that was once exclusive to only the most talented data mining experts we are left to wonder, how did we get here? Simply put, the tools have gotten easier to use. As the tools got easier to use, they proliferated throughout organizations and have become useful data mining tools at the desktop of the CEO, head of finance, operations managers, and more. These tools however have always been software components of a business intelligence line of applications.
Today, as these line of business managers pull this data and manipulate it in a spreadsheet they are asking, “Why can’t I just do this in a spreadsheet?” As this article points out, like most arguments there are two sides to every story. Business Intelligence experts argue that spreadsheets are a hindrance to business intelligence adoption and users argue that they should be using tools that give them all the capability that they need, which is often spreadsheets.
What are you finding in your organization? Do your non-data mining users end up working in a spreadsheet anyway? Have they abandoned spreadsheets and only work in your selected business intelligence package? Is it even an issue?
Spotfire Blogging Team
Image Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art
