Fear is a large part of the reason that BI is not adopted in Associations. Two other reasons are cost lack of awareness of what BI can do.

Some AMS systems do have BI built in and others do not or it is very weak. For the latter a separate application is typically required for BI, analytics and dashboards (to present in an effective manner) and the cost of a good BI package with configuration and training can be costly. Usually worth it and can be justified thru a good ROI. That being said few organizations really grasp how valuable these tools (whether 3rd party or native) are. It goes back to the old adage ‘you cant manage what you don’t measure’.

We have found that education and awareness are key to adoption. When an association professional understands what BI brings to the table he or she can justify the cost and the fear factor lessens.

Your point on being close on an LTV calculation is better than no LTV calculation is right on. I have seen where an organization tries to use BI as an exception report whereas BI must be thought of a tool to analyze trends and help the organization made better decisions.

-Sig