Most organizations don't wake up one day and realize their data infrastructure is broken. The cracks show up gradually. A report that takes three weeks to build, another vendor added to solve a niche problem, teams working from different versions of the truth. If you're reading this, you probably already suspect something needs to change. Here are ten warning signs that it's time to consolidate your data platform.
The 10 Warning Signs
1. You Have Multiple Tools Doing Similar Jobs
You've got a reporting tool, a separate dashboard tool, something else for ad-hoc queries, and another platform for operational reports. Each one made sense when you bought it, but now your team spends more time figuring out which tool to use than actually analyzing data.
2. Simple Reports Take Days or Weeks
When a department head asks for a straightforward report—enrollments by program, budget variance by department—it shouldn't require a project plan. If your team is constantly backlogged with "simple" requests, your platform is the bottleneck.
3. IT Becomes a Translation Layer
Your business users know what questions they need answered, but they can't get to the data themselves. Every request goes through IT to translate business logic into technical queries. IT becomes a perpetual middleman instead of a strategic partner.
4. Different Departments Report Different Numbers
Finance says enrollment is one number. Admissions says it's another. The Registrar has a third version. Everyone is technically correct based on their data source, but nobody agrees. This isn't a data problem—it's a trust problem caused by fragmented systems.
5. You're Manually Combining Data in Spreadsheets
Your team exports data from System A, exports from System B, then spends hours in Excel using VLOOKUP to merge them. This isn't analysis—it's data janitorial work. And it's error-prone.
6. Vendor Lock-In Prevents Progress
You want to add a new data source or build a new type of report, but your current vendor says it'll require custom development, extra licensing, or "isn't supported in this version." You're paying for a platform but renting limitations.
7. Data Governance Is Impossible
You can't track who has access to what data, how definitions are applied, or where reports are being used. Security and compliance feel like a game of whack-a-mole because you have no centralized control.
8. Onboarding New Users Takes Months
New analysts or department heads need extensive training across multiple systems. By the time they're productive, they're either frustrated or have learned workarounds that create more data silos.
9. You're Paying Multiple Vendors for Incomplete Solutions
Your BI budget is spread across 4-6 different vendors. None of them talk to each other well. You're paying for redundant capabilities and integration headaches but still don't have a complete solution.
10. Nobody Trusts the Data Enough to Make Big Decisions
This is the ultimate warning sign. When leadership needs to make strategic decisions, they ask for audits, manual verification, or "can you double-check this?" The data platform should build confidence, not erode it.
Self-Assessment Checklist
Before you talk to vendors (including your current one), get clear on where you actually stand:
Data Access & Usability
- Can non-technical users build their own reports without IT help?
- Do reports pull from a single source of truth?
- Can users explore data interactively without pre-built reports?
- Is your average time-to-report measured in hours, not days?
Integration & Architecture
- Can you connect to all your critical data sources without custom coding?
- Do your systems share consistent definitions and business rules?
- Can you add new data sources without a vendor engagement?
- Do you have a clear data lineage for audit purposes?
Team Productivity
- Does your BI team spend more time building new insights than maintaining existing reports?
- Can departments answer their own questions without waiting in a queue?
- Do you have time to focus on predictive analytics, not just historical reporting?
Cost & Value
- Do you know your total cost of BI across all tools and vendors?
- Are you getting measurable ROI from your BI investments?
- Can you scale without proportional cost increases?
Governance & Security
- Can you control data access at a granular level?
- Do you have audit trails for compliance requirements?
- Are business definitions documented and consistently applied?
If you checked fewer than 75% of these boxes, you're likely dealing with a fragmented data environment that's holding your organization back.
Questions to Ask Your Current BI Vendor
Whether you're evaluating a new platform or assessing your current one, these questions cut through the sales pitch:
Architecture & Integration
- How many of our data sources can you connect to natively, without custom development?
- What happens when we need to add a new data source you don't currently support?
- Do we need separate products for reporting, dashboards, and data prep—or is it unified?
- Can business users create their own data models, or does everything go through IT?
Usability
- How long does it typically take to train a non-technical user to be self-sufficient?
- Can users drill down into data and ask follow-up questions without building new reports?
- What does your mobile experience look like for on-the-go access?
Total Cost
- What's our all-in cost including licensing, maintenance, training, and required infrastructure?
- Are there hidden costs for things like additional connectors, user seats, or data volume
- How do costs scale as we add users or data sources?
Vendor Relationship
- What does your support model look like? Do we get a dedicated contact or a ticket queue?
- How often do you release updates, and what's the upgrade process?
- Can we see your product roadmap? How much influence do customers have?
- What's your typical customer retention rate?
Security & Compliance
- How do you handle row-level and column-level security?
- What compliance certifications do you maintain (SOC 2, FERPA, HIPAA, etc.)?
- Can we keep data on-premises if required, or are we forced into the cloud?
Proof Points
- Can you show us a reference customer similar to our institution who's had success?
- What's your average time-to-value for implementations?
- What's the #1 reason customers leave your platform? Pay attention not just to what they answer, but how they answer. Vague responses, deflection to "that's on the roadmap," or "we can custom-build that" are red flags.
Why Organizations Choose Informer
We're not going to tell you that Informer is the only data platform that works. But if the signs and questions above resonated with you, here's why Informer might be worth a conversation.
Built for Real Users, Not Just Data Teams
Informer was designed around a simple idea: the people who understand the business best should be able to answer their own questions. No SQL required. No waiting for IT. Business users can explore data, build reports, and create dashboards without becoming data engineers.
One Platform, Complete Capability
You're not buying separate products for data prep, reporting, dashboards, and analytics. Informer is a unified platform that handles everything from data integration to visualization. One vendor. One licensing model. One place for your team to master.
Connect to Everything
Whether your data lives in a modern SaaS platform, a legacy system, a database, or a spreadsheet, Informer connects to it. And when you need to add a new source, you're not waiting for the next release cycle or paying for custom development.
Governed by Default
Data security, user permissions, and audit trails aren't add-ons—they're built into the core Informer platform. You define business rules and definitions once, and they're consistently applied everywhere. Different departments can work independently while still operating from the same source of truth.
Built for Your World
Entrinsik, the company behind Informer, has spent years working with complex organizations in higher education, healthcare, insurance, local government, and nonprofits. We understand compliance requirements, budget constraints, and the reality of working with legacy systems that can't just be ripped out.
Access Anywhere You Work
Whether you're at your desk, in a meeting, or traveling between campuses, Informer delivers consistent functionality across all your devices. Our responsive web platform automatically adapts to your screen size, providing full functionality on laptops, tablets, and smartphones. We're also developing enhanced mobile and desktop applications that will bring even more powerful on-the-go capabilities—because we believe mobile access shouldn't mean compromised functionality.
You're Not Just a License Number
When you work with Informer, you get dedicated support, regular training, and access to a community of users facing similar challenges. We improve the platform based on real feedback from customers like you, not just what sounds good in a boardroom.
What Happens Next?
If you recognized your institution in these warning signs, the path forward is straightforward:
- Run the self-assessment with your team to document your current state
- Calculate your true cost of your current BI environment (include vendor costs, IT hours, opportunity cost)
- Ask your current vendor the hard questions—their answers will tell you what you need to know
- Talk to alternatives like Informer to understand what's possible
Your data platform should be an accelerator, not an anchor. The right unified platform pays for itself quickly, not just in reduced vendor costs, but in faster decisions, better insights, and teams that spend their time solving problems instead of fighting with tools.
If you want to see how Informer handles your specific use cases, let's talk. No pressure, no sales pitch, just a real conversation about whether we're the right fit for your institution.
Ready to explore what a unified data platform could do for your organization?
