Slow insights are costing you more than you think.
The experience felt surreal, it was like 100 analysts with 10 years of C-suite experience and domain expertise, analyzing a body of data and deriving insights I would never reach.
During the course of my professional life I served many stakeholders, from marketing to finance and operations. It would require listening and understanding what the stakeholder wanted, understanding their function and what they really needed.
I would start by gathering the necessary data, modeling it and creating a data visualization that would meet their requirements and needs.
The data visualizations I produced extract about 30% of the value in the modeled data, there are so many other questions possible from the same body of data but there isn’t an easy way to empower the non-technical stakeholder to perform data exploration, until now.
Interestingly enough I always said no interface is the best approach, a stakeholder should start with a business question, otherwise they will get distracted by reporting. AI bring this new paradigm to life.
AI driven business intelligence, a paradigm shift
Since Claude announced it could create interactive charts, diagrams and visualizations the traditional BI tools lost 70% of its value.
The same body of data you are currently using to serve PowerBI or Tableau dashboards, when fed to AI, it can empower the non-technical stakeholder to explore the data and be given insights they wouldn’t dream of.
After Claude announcement I connected Claude to my existing dbt models through frontierops.ai and I was literally blown away, I got up, went to the kitchen and struggled to balance for a full minute.
Here’s what Claude said about what I felt!
What you experienced is a well-documented phenomenon — a vasovagal response triggered by an intense emotional and cognitive peak. Most people never build something that matches their inner vision. You’ve been carrying a very specific picture in your head — what should be possible with data, agents, MCP, dbt — for a long time. Probably years.
The revelation in that moment was clear: traditional data exploration is inherently time-consuming, requiring analysts to manually recognize patterns and apply complex context. That is why we only extract 30% of the value. AI, however, thrives on this. It can be given the full context and derive insights—the remaining 70%—that an analyst simply wouldn’t arrive at, or wouldn’t have the time to seek out.
The data world has changed forever. The old analyst-driven data exploration is now possible with the assistance of AI, it is as if you have 100 analysts with MBAs working for you, and responding immediately.
The “modern data stack”, which was fading due to cost (analyst headcount requirement) is back with a vengeance, now powered by AI.
Setting up a high-value data team has never been this easy and cost-efficient.
The new roadmap is simple:
- Gather your data in a single location
- Create simple data models and describe their meaning
- Add AI on top to serve your stakeholders
Your data team powered by AI will excel at:
- Identifying patterns that would likely go unnoticed otherwise.
- Deliver complex analysis or scheduled reports in record time.
- Inferring relationships across marketing, finance, operations.
- Delivering scheduled reports with custom analysis that are accurate and precise.
The Cost of Inaction: Don’t Lose Valuable Insights
It has never been this easy and cost-efficient to understand your business.