From Data to Insight Activation: Key Takeaways from Data Summit 2025

Every year, Data Summit attracts data professionals to Boston for three days to exchange ideas and innovation. In 2025, the event was dedicated to data management trends, Big Data, business intelligence (BI), analytics, as well as emerging innovation in AI and machine learning.

At the Data Summit, Sami Akbay, insightsoftware’s Head of Data Analytics Projects, hosted a session on the evolution of BI, the rise of generative AI, and the shift toward insight-driven workflows. You can explore key takeaways from Akbay’s panel.

The Past, Present, and Future of BI Technology

In 1979, synthpop band The Buggles wrote their hit song “Video Killed the Radio Star.” And in 2025, Akbay asked AI assistant Claude whether AI killed traditional BI. With proverbial skin in the game, Claude said yes. But in the future, Akbay argued, BI still has an important role to play in analytics.

“I’ve been in data for close to 30 years. For the first 20, data was pretty boring,” Akbay said. In the early days, it wasn’t unusual to find information within an organization being static and siloed. That’s only natural when your data is stored on paper documents in filing cabinets. Recent developments in technology, from the internet boom to the rise of Big Data, BI, and analytics, have changed how organizations store, analyze, and exchange data between networks and locations.

“We’re witnessing the evolution of BI into something more powerful because people are becoming more data-driven,” Akbay added. “New technologies are making it very easy for everyone in an organization to interact with data. Now, we’re moving from static dashboards to more dynamic, conversational, insight driven, data analytics.”

Data volumes are constantly growing. Whereas data was once unstructured, now we have access to structured information and streaming data. The result is interactive data that, ideally, everyone in an organization can access and derive value from without needing to consult IT.

“Now, we actually have self-service capabilities for practically all skill levels,” Akbay explained. “As we move forward, we're moving from being reactive in analysis to being proactive in intelligence.”

This led to even more complex and better-distributed data environments as well as access to real-time data. This more-timely data has become increasingly important as the data landscape evolves because data doesn’t age well.

“The solution is taking analytics to where the data is, processing the data as close to where it’s generated as possible,” Akbay said.

Enter Generative AI

In 2022, OpenAI introduced a workable demo of ChatGPT, its generative AI model. Since then, generative AI has exploded into the tech mainstream. In the years that followed, other generative AI models such as Jasper and Claude have been added to the mix. But what does this mean for BI as we know it?

Is Claude right in saying BI is dead? Akbay strongly believes that Claude, with its uncanny ability to learn but not to imagine, was wrong.

“As much as Claude may have said BI is dead, it's not,” Akbay explained. “Generative AI is the evolution of BI. It's not the replacement. The fundamentals of good BI remain unchanged. We still have to manage our data. We need to do good housekeeping.”

The future, Akbay argued, includes the best of both worlds—the innovation of AI with the human element. With BI and the analytics that data processionals can derive from it, you can find your organization’s unique story.

“Focus on your storytelling, not just the visualization, not just representing the data,” he said. “What story is the data trying to tell you? Then, you can develop hybrid AI and human analytical approaches. This way, you keep a human in the loop.”

Data professionals are becoming more proactive about analytics, Akbay noted. “We're moving from asking our machines and AI analytics frameworks to show us the data to having conversations about what that data means.”

Why Embedded Analytics Matters

Although the future of BI remains bright, it isn’t without its shortcomings. One major challenge with traditional BI tools is that they require constant context-switching. Embedding analytics directly into operational workflows improves efficiency and reduces silos.

By building intelligence into familiar applications, users are no longer forced to switch between tools to get the insights they’re looking for. The result of embedded analytics is seamless delivery within existing workflows and applications. Users appreciate the ability to get new features and outputs while using a familiar application.

“You need to meet users where they are,” Akbay said, hammering home the importance of giving customers a familiar starting point while they adopt new tools and capabilities.

Data analysis expectations have changed drastically in the past three decades. While users embrace recent innovations in generative AI technologies, BI is still just as important. On its own, BI can pose a variety of challenges, but BI doesn’t have to work alone.

To get the best of BI, you can use embedded analytics in harmony with existing applications to gain new insights. That way, you can get the data you need, understand what that data means, and get fresh analyses without an intimidating learning curve.

Logi Symphony offers powerful business intelligence and an embedded analytics tool that empowers independent software vendors and application teams to embed analytical capabilities and data visualizations into existing SaaS applications. Logi Symphony provides developers with the capabilities they seek in a comprehensive embedded analytics solution, from data preparation to tailored dashboards, with customization that satisfies builders' specific needs.

Logi Symphony is:

• Built to be embedded, made to be implemented easily with the flexibility to fuse analytics components with your app, rather than sticking a dashboard in an iframe.

• Designed as a complete embedded analytics solution that helps your organization comply with an ever-shifting global regulatory environment.

• Ready to deliver a cut above standard interactive reports, providing managed dashboards, pixel-perfect reports, and visual data discovery to meet any analytical need.

Ready to learn more? Read our research on how embedded analytics drives ROI for application teams.