Annie Lowrey of Slate did a great job describing the causes leading to Borders’ failure. Ms. Lowrey correctly points out that “the Internet” wasn’t to blame; instead it was a number of large missteps by this former big-box retailer.

I could go into details, but this article is so good I recommend you just read the article on Slate.com.

But as much buzz as BI generates, I don’t see a lot of ready-made solutions for market research and virtually nothing for one-off research. One key problem for market research is the generation of quality reports with a minimum of customization, and that’s precisely where today’s BI offerings miss the mark.

It’s hard to believe the opportunity isn’t there – countless firms conduct market research and create custom reports as one-offs, and firms like Tableau come close in providing a tool that’s easy to use for spot analysis.

Perhaps this is the best indication of where the BI market really stands. If BI requires multiple servers and building reports by hand, you can bet this industry niche is nowhere near maturity.

P.S. – if somehow I’ve missed something, let me know!

We’ve been doing a fair bit of work on dashboard reporting for sales and market intelligence of late, and we’ve found both these to be good resources. Enjoy!