Combine knowledge. Miro → Count

TL;DR From today Count users will be able to import their Miro whiteboards directly into Count and combine them with live data to help users reach decisions faster.

Whiteboards 2.0

Over the last few years the world of SaaS tools has seen a quiet revolution. As COVID forced teams to learn how to work remotely the usage of collaborative virtual whiteboards exploded. Teams craved flexible spaces to think, solve problems and communicate concepts quickly. Whether we’re still working remotely or have returned to the office, the way we now work has fundamentally changed and there’s no going back. More and more important decisions and workflows are being created, iterated and presented from an infinite canvas.

But there is a downside of these tools if we want to be data driven (and we all need to be). Whilst we can now structure information, iterate our ideas and reach a consensus at record speed, the data we need to inform this work is stubbornly stuck in very inflexible, very un-collaborative data tools.

Whiteboard or data tool? How about both!

Count has always been about blending these worlds of collaboration, open-minded thinking and rigorous data analysis. We believe the next generation of analysis tools needs to go beyond dashboards and focus on how to turn data into outcomes. What we call the “last mile of analytics”.

Count is a flexible, canvas-based analysis tool bringing together the best of a collaborative white-board, SQL IDE and data viz tool. We’re often called the “Miro for data” and from today we’ve made it even easier to start to bring your business and data worlds together with Miro integration. The integration allows you to import all your Miro boards directly into Count!

Blending these two worlds together has been game-changing for the teams who tested the feature for us. Suddenly all your product roadmaps, company strategy reviews and business process diagrams can now be presented alongside live data directly from your database. Ideas can be explored, validated and measured all from a single document.

Now data isn’t just an input to a business problem, it’s right at the heart of how the problem is solved!

Miro into Count? Why not Count into Miro?

A natural question you might be asking is why bring Miro boards into Count and not import Count charts into Miro? This was something we seriously considered when we first started building out the Count canvas and the answer ultimately comes down to context and the science of decision making…

Standard whiteboards are great for displaying static information. Text, shapes and images can represent complex ideas but individually they are simple “static” assets, they don’t change and don’t need further context. Data assets on the other hand are complex. Data tables are multi-dimensional. Numbers update over time, and any insight needs detailed explanation before it can be understood and trusted.

In addition, data assets need to keep pace with the speed of the workflow. As any analyst will know importing data assets into other tools is a nightmare. Key assumptions are hidden away in code, version control goes out the window and the rest of the team struggle to interpret and trust the numbers. To be effective, data assets need to be iterated and changed directly from the canvas and this can’t happen unless the canvas is built to support them.

Decision making comes from the continual discovery and contextualisation of knowledge through exploration, analysis and discussion. Count’s Miro integration is just the start of our journey as we work to fast track how team’s work with numbers and make decisions.