Zero Cost Intelligence: How AI is Transforming the Economics of Enterprise Analytics

As artificial intelligence reshapes the business landscape, a new paradigm is emerging that challenges the traditional cost structures of enterprise analytics. Uday Hegde, Co-founder and CEO of USEReady, talks about “zero-cost intelligence”—a transformation where AI makes business insights a natural byproduct of operations. In this exclusive conversation, he explains how the evolution from legacy BI systems to AI-driven platforms is not just a technological upgrade, but a strategic rethink. We explore how this shift could fundamentally alter the economics of business intelligence, creating new opportunities for organizations to optimize their analytics investments while scaling smarter.

CIO & Leader: Let’s begin with the concept of “zero-cost intelligence.” How exactly do you see this making a substantial impact in the enterprise analytics space?

Uday Hegde: To establish the concept of cost of intelligence, we need to recognize that the demand for intelligence has been increasing for decades. Intelligence here means machines that can think, operate, perform, analyze, recommend, and predict. As demand increased, businesses recognized they needed to invest in it, and money followed. As demand for intelligence increased, so did the cost of intelligence.

Two decades ago, we were paying phenomenal amounts for BI platforms like Cognos, Business Objects, and Hyperion. A rough estimate shows that the industry was willing to pay $50 to $75 per report when all costs are added up, including infrastructure, human capital, and data preparation. Businesses typically consume thousands of these reports, so basic math tells you they are spending enormous amounts on reporting infrastructure.

The next evolution introduced self-service tools like Tableau and Power BI, which significantly lowered costs (approximately 5 to 10 times lower), reducing the $50-75 per report cost to around $5-7. Now, with AI, we’re asking: Can you drive that cost to zero?

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