Let’s start with an uncomfortable truth: dashboards have become the beige carpet of SaaS. Everyone’s got them. Nobody’s excited about them. Sure, they looked snazzy at first, but after a while, they just sit there—passively collecting dust while users figure out their own way to get things done. And before anyone gets too sentimental about “classic” dashboards, just check the latest research from over 200 SaaS product, data, and executive leaders: the old dashboard isn’t working. Not for users, not for product teams, and definitely not for business growth. Forty percent of users now rate their dashboard experience a 3 out of 5 or lower. That’s not “room for improvement”. That’s a flatline. the latest research from over 200 SaaS product, data, and executive leaders Users want answers, not charts Let’s skip the hand-wringing and get honest: users aren’t logging in to admire pie charts. They want answers, direction, and a nudge toward the next right move. But 51% say they can’t interact with their data at all. Fixed views. Rigid charts. No way to drill down or get a different slice. The result? Most users bypass dashboards entirely, with a whopping 72% exporting to Excel just to make sense of their own information. This isn’t just a user problem… it’s a product crisis. The time and money poured into dashboard builds would make a CFO sweat. Forty-one percent of SaaS companies spend four months or more building dashboards… and nearly half still aren’t happy with what ships. Feature requests pile up, dashboards age in dog years, and teams lose confidence in their analytics offering—67% report low confidence, even as 61% say analytics are crucial. The personalization playbook is out. Intelligence is in. The “personalized dashboard” era is over. Don’t get me wrong—people want dashboards tailored to their context. Thirty-eight percent name customization as a top priority. But personalization, at best, only gets you to “less annoying.” It doesn’t make dashboards genuinely helpful. What’s actually changing the game? Intelligence. Not just a buzzword, but analytics that think ahead of the user. Nearly eight in ten SaaS users say AI has already changed their working life for the better. Seventy-six percent believe AI can surface insights they’d otherwise miss. If analytics aren’t anticipating needs and teeing up answers, most products are already a step behind. The “insights gap” is costing you Here’s the bit no one in SaaS wants to say out loud: people will pay more for analytics that don’t suck. Fifty-eight percent of users said they’d pay extra for insights that actually drive action. Translation: if a product delivers dashboards that just sit there, that’s money—and loyalty—left on the table. The smartest SaaS teams are moving fast. They’re killing static reporting, building analytics that adapt, and automating the grind out of data exploration. Think interactivity, think drilldowns, think recommendations popping up before users even ask. Dashboards aren’t dead, but “just a dashboard” is The writing’s on the wall: dashboards as a “feature” are old news. Today’s SaaS user expects analytics that feel like a helpful sidekick, not a stubborn filing cabinet. AI isn’t just the cherry on top; it’s fast becoming the main ingredient. Seventy percent of leaders now say AI-driven analytics will separate the winners from the rest. So, is it time to start the funeral for dashboards? Not quite. But it’s definitely time to kill the static, one-size-fits-none approach. Intelligent, user-first analytics aren’t just hype—they’re what users have been waiting for (and, frankly, what they deserve). Still building dashboards for the 2015 crowd? Might want to check if anyone’s still watching.
