BI as a Service: 4 Reasons Smart Agencies Grow Faster with Business Intelligence

Based on a sample of data from ~1,000 agencies and 14,000 clients, we estimate that agencies lose about 38% of their clients every year.  

Based on my 1,000s of conversations with agencies over the years, I think I know one of the big reasons why. 

Most agencies have been stuck in the same pattern for years: Do good work, report on it, wait for feedback, hope for renewal. They start strong—engaged with the client’s leadership, aligned on strategy and goals, excited to build. 

But over time, they lose momentum. Agencies get delegated to lower level employees, pigeonholded into an execution role; simply augmenting their client’s internal team. The conversations shift from strategic planning to “Can you send me that report again?” or “Can we get that done by Friday?” The agency starts being treated less like a partner and more like a vendor. 

And not long after, the retainer would be cut – or canceled entirely.

This isn’t because the agency lacked talent. It’s because they lacked a structured way to stay tied to business outcomes and key company strategy decisions—the stuff executives actually care about.

That’s why I believe business intelligence as a service is one of the clearest opportunities agencies have to evolve and thrive today. It’s not a buzzword. It’s a fundamentally smarter way to package what modern clients need to make smarter decisions. 

This doesn’t mean every agency needs to reinvent itself overnight. But it does mean that the firms that will continue to grow are the ones that evolve how they work and what they offer. 

Here’s why I believe now is the time to make the shift.

1. Executives Are Drowning in Data and Gasping for Insight

Most businesses today have more data than they know what to do with. CRM tools, ad platforms, web analytics, billing systems – every function has its own set of tools and its own version of the truth.

What they don’t have is visibility or clarity.

Executives want to know how they’re performing, what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next. But pulling together that story is still incredibly hard for most companies. It’s even harder to make it visible to the whole team so that everyone can be clear about what actions will drive results

Agencies that offer BI performance services help bridge that gap. They organize the chaos. They connect data to goals. They make performance visible, and they make insights actionable.

This goes far beyond delivering reports. It’s about owning the conversation around outcomes—and positioning your agency as a key player in your client’s decision-making processes.

2. “Self-Service BI” Hasn’t Delivered for Most Teams

Despite all the “self-service” tools on the market, most clients still can’t – or don’t – use their data effectively. Internal teams don’t have the time, the know-how, or the structure to translate dashboards into strategy. That’s why those tools often sit underutilized.

This is a gap agencies are perfectly positioned to fill. Agencies already do the hard work of pulling performance data, interpreting it, and determining next steps.. The difference with BI services is formalizing that value into a defined offering—with repeatable workflows and outcomes that justify longer-term retainers and higher fees. And expanding beyond the tracking of marketing to other parts of the organization. 

With Databox, we’ve built the software and training specifically to help agencies cross these gaps—without needing to rebuild their business.

3. Outcome-Based BI Performance Services Are the Path Forward

Over the past few years, I’ve watched agencies get squeezed on pricing and scope. Clients want to do a test project before committing to a retainer. Clients want to renegotiate as they bring work in-house. It’s happening everywhere – especially to those that still charge for activities instead of results.

Clients are getting smarter. They want to know how agency work is impacting the business, not just the campaign.

BI services make that conversation possible. They give you a way to tie everything back to revenue, customer health, or operational efficiency. They help you spot issues early and communicate progress clearly. They show your value.

And in doing that, they turn what you do from “nice to have” to “critical to planning and performance management.”

4. Delivering BI Services Is More Accessible Than Ever

The idea of offering BI as a service used to be intimidating. You needed engineers, analysts, expensive tools, and custom infrastructure.

That’s no longer the case.

With Databox, agencies can launch BI performance services in weeks. You can start with dashboards tied to KPIs, offer strategic insights in monthly reviews, and layer in benchmarking, goal tracking, and forecast modeling as your clients mature.

Agencies can also build custom integrations, custom dashboards and custom reports that are re-useable across clients in seconds—codifying their knowledge of different tools and business processes into a quickly deployable system. 

Many agencies are already moving in this direction.

Devin Littlefield, CEO of Market Vantage, I spoke with recently, put it better than I could. He realized that for years, his agency had been including reporting in its retainers but not capturing the real value they were delivering. 

After switching to Databox and learning what was possible, he started building a true business intelligence service offering—with clear tiers, strategic insights, and a path to go beyond marketing to sales, CS, and the executive team. And he’s not alone.

There’s a whole wave of agency leaders that we’re working with who are rethinking how they position their analytics expertise. They’re not doing it because it’s trendy. They’re doing it because their clients need it, and they’re tired of being left out of the strategic conversations. 

They’re tired of being relegated to execution and cancelled contracts when the wind blows in the other direction. 

Related read: How To Offer Analytics as a Service When Your Prospect Isn’t A Good Fit For a Marketing Retainer

Final Thought

I’ve spent years building programs that help agencies grow—first at HubSpot, and now here at Databox. And what I’m seeing now is a very clear signal: the agencies that will grow in the next era aren’t the ones who just execute  tactics. They’re the ones helping clients make better decisions.

That shift—from “we did this” to “here’s what’s working and what to do next”—is what BI as a Service enables.

Offering Business Intelligence as a Service gives you leverage. It helps you climb the org chart inside your client’s company. It gets you involved in strategic planning conversations. And most importantly for your own success, it keeps you in the room when the “what should we do next?” (aka budget) conversations happen.

This isn’t just about dashboards. It’s about helping your clients run their business better—and charging accordingly.

Ready to learn more about offering BI Services? Get our step-by-step playbook for RevOps agencies, marketing agencies, and consultants ready to move from “service provider” to “strategic partner.”