Self-service analytics has empowered teams and now drives faster data-driven decisions
What is our primary use case?
My name is Peter Chemo, a Financial Analyst at Nesto.
One of the major challenges that ThoughtSpot solves is reducing the dependency on data teams for reports and insights. ThoughtSpot also integrates well with modern data cloud platforms like Snowflake. This platform enables the creation of dynamic, interactive dashboards and visualization which helps track KPIs and provide insights into business performance. We are able to make data-driven decisions, know how our business is doing, and understand where to put more effort and where our clients are very happy about our business. ThoughtSpot empowers non-technical users to perform ad hoc data analysis. Users can use a Google-like search interface to query data and generate insights in real-time without relying on the data team.
We are able to gather data insights from different data sources and make our own data-driven decisions easily without even involving the data team. ThoughtSpot delivers performance at scale, ensuring that even the largest organization can quickly analyze and visualize data without needing a data team. I love the ability to seamlessly share live dashboards, foster collaboration, and ensure everyone in the organization is working from the same data source and aligned in decision-making.
ThoughtSpot allows us to create live boards that process quickly when it comes to large datasets. We are able to do a live data connection that gives us scalability to find insights that ultimately guide us in the strategic management of our data, whether it is engineering, marketing, product, or any department. Our teams are able to make their own data-driven decisions easily. This serves a wide array of use cases when the strategy is focused on product.
We gather data from different departments through ThoughtSpot, which enables us to collaborate and make data-driven decisions together.
What is most valuable?
I have an experience of four years using ThoughtSpot.
ThoughtSpot is very easy to use. Even non-technical users find it very easy to use and user-friendly.
Some of the best features ThoughtSpot offers are innovation, ease of use, and data analytics. Reporting development is also pretty easy, making complex formulas slightly easier. Additionally, dashboarding for non-technical people, easy search of data, ease of getting insights, AI-driven analytics, and the ability to easily build charts are highlights. ThoughtSpot also offers data connection with live data sources.
ThoughtSpot's scalability is impressive; it can handle large data easily, and performance has been powerful and reliable. The AI-driven analytics capabilities in ThoughtSpot help to predict future outcomes and are very helpful in tracking data, and performance is great.
What needs improvement?
The customizability of the visualization live boards should be improved. Additional support for more data warehouse systems is needed, as data does not always match sometimes. Sophisticated data modeling features like AFC should be included.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
ThoughtSpot is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
ThoughtSpot's scalability is impressive; it can handle large data easily, and performance has been powerful and reliable.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for ThoughtSpot is very proactive and supportive, available 24/7.
It was very easy for my team to learn and adopt ThoughtSpot since it has a very user-friendly interface. The customer support is proactive 24/7, so they are able to support both technical and non-technical users.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We switched from Looker and Sisense before using ThoughtSpot.
I did not previously use a different solution before ThoughtSpot.
How was the initial setup?
The integration process with our existing data sources and tools is very seamless.
The performance of ThoughtSpot has been very fast, reliable, and consistent, even when handling huge amounts of data. I have not seen any crashes.
What was our ROI?
This tool has really improved our decision-making by 70 to 80% because we are able to rely on insights from different data sources from different departments. We can make data-driven decisions easily. ThoughtSpot is a very good tool because it does not usually take much time from the data team. We make our own decisions without even involving the data team, allowing them to save time and focus on more strategic projects.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for ThoughtSpot are competitive, and it is a very user-friendly tool compared to its competitors. Setting it up was easy and straightforward.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing ThoughtSpot, I evaluated the Microsoft BI tool.
What other advice do I have?
If others want to be reliant on themselves and not on the data team, they should consider using ThoughtSpot. ThoughtSpot gathers insights from different data sources and allows for making their own data-driven decisions.
It is easy to make data-driven decisions with ThoughtSpot. Consequently, we are able to gather insights from different data sources, improving data security. Tracking and progress reports are simple to generate, and the speed of execution is commendable.
ThoughtSpot is very easy to use, cost-effective, and a very secure tool. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Steep Learning Curve, But Powerful
What do you like best about the product?
I find ThoughtSpot to be a great tool once you get used to using it. It helps me put data together in ways that make it easy for me to tell a story. I use it to gather and compare performance data.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think it's very difficult to learn how to use ThoughtSpot. It takes a long time to really learn it, and I'm still not even close to where I want to be proficiency-wise. The initial setup was confusing, though manageable.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use ThoughtSpot to gather and compare performance data, which allows me to easily put data together to tell a story.
Great for Search-Driven Analysts with Interactive Dashboards
What do you like best about the product?
It is good for search driven analysts,interactive dashboard,
What do you dislike about the product?
Expensive,limited customisation less control over visual design
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
More people can find insight without deep technical skills
ThoughtSpot: Easy to Use, Clear Documentation, and Seamless AI Integration
What do you like best about the product?
What I like most about ThoughtSpot is its ease of use, the ability to build relationships within the data model, and its very clear documentation. It also offers a seamless integration of AI capabilities and a well-designed user interface that aligns closely with market needs.
What do you dislike about the product?
“ThoughtSpot is highly accessible to end users, so once the models are built correctly within the platform, the responsibility for operating reports and visualizations lies with the end users. You don’t need to be a BI developer to manage the system. This has saved the data and engineering teams significant time, allowing them to focus on deeper business analysis rather than report maintenance.”What I like less at the moment is that while the platform is very AI-focused, their agent isn’t as powerful as I would expect. It doesn’t fully learn user behavior as anticipated, even though it leverages the OpenAI engine.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
ThoughtSpot is highly accessible to end users, so once the models are built correctly within the platform, the responsibility for operating reports and visualizations lies with the end users. You don’t need to be a BI developer to manage the system. This has saved the data and engineering teams significant time, allowing them to focus on deeper business analysis rather than report maintenance.
ThoughtSpot Redefines Self-Service BI at Enterprise Scale
What do you like best about the product?
Natural Language Search allows users to query data using plain English, significantly reducing analysis times from hours to minutes. This makes self-service analytics accessible to non-technical stakeholders.
Real-Time Queries are possible through a live connection to the Redshift warehouse on AWS, providing almost instant results even when working with hundreds of billions of rows.
Security and Governance are enhanced with Role-Based Access (RBA) and Row-Level Security (RLS), giving Thoughtspot a compliance advantage and reducing the complexity often found in other BI solutions.
Scalability for Enterprise Loads is another strength, as the system is designed to manage massive and complex datasets from numerous data sources. Its cloud-native architecture helps avoid the performance issues that can occur with legacy BI tools.
The Unified Workflow Ecosystem is also notable. Analyst Studio brings together SQL, Python, R, and visualizations in a single environment, which greatly boosts productivity and supports end-to-end analysis without losing context.
What do you dislike about the product?
High and Opaque Pricing Policy: ThoughtSpot’s custom-quoted pricing model can be a shock to BI budgets, particularly for those looking to embed or scale the platform, with costs exceeding $500K annually for large-scale deployments. In contrast to Power BI’s affordable per-user tiers or Tableau’s transparent licensing, ThoughtSpot’s pricing can feel unpredictable and may pose a significant barrier for smaller startups and SMBs.
Limited Visualization and Customization Options: The dashboards lack the refinement and variety found in Tableau’s or Power BI’s advanced charting capabilities. ThoughtSpot’s auto-generated visuals often appear basic and can feel sluggish during in-depth analysis. The user interface can be tedious, making it less suitable for presentation-ready reports when compared to the pixel-perfect designs offered by competitors.
AI and NLP Limitations in Real-World Scenarios: The natural language search feature may struggle with complex or nuanced queries unless there is substantial upfront modeling. It lags behind tools like Sigma, which offer spreadsheet-like intuitiveness, or newer options like Zenlytic for genuine ad-hoc exploration. Achieving true self-service still requires a dedicated data professional team to ensure complete output accuracy, unlike Power BI Copilot’s broader capabilities.
Performance Glitches and Stability Issues: While ThoughtSpot is fast for live queries and individual answers, liveboards (dashboards) can become laggy or unresponsive when handling massive datasets and numerous visualizations during exploratory work. This stands in contrast to Tableau’s reliable rendering or Looker’s efficient query handling.
There are also several feature gaps and occasional bugs, which can make ThoughtSpot less dependable for high-stakes, real-time enterprise use compared to other well-established alternatives.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
ThoughtSpot is addressing the 'last-mile' challenge in business intelligence. Previously, our business users often had to wait days or even weeks to get the answers they needed. With the introduction of natural language search, they can now simply ask questions in plain English or use a point-and-click interface to receive answers within seconds, even when working with hundreds of billions of rows. Since deploying ThoughtSpot, the number of analysis requests has dropped by 800%, now averaging just 10 to 15 requests per month. This shift has enabled us to reclaim 70-75% of our business intelligence engineering team's time for more valuable work.
ThoughtSpot: Powerful Analytics, Real-Time Insights, and Effortless Collaboration
What do you like best about the product?
We use ThoughtSpot for analytics and it has been awesome. It makes good use of business data to detects patterns and trends and it helps in decision making.
It offers great AI features as well as real-time analytics to ensure efficiency and speed.
I like the data accuracy and the collaboration aspects where everyone has a centralized point to access business data.
Beside simplifying complex business data, then tool also makes visualization and diagramming easy.
What do you dislike about the product?
ThoughtSpot is the best I have used. No complaints.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We use the product to run analytics on our business data no not only understand data deeper but also get helpful and actionable insights.
Has supported seamless dashboard collaboration and large data handling while offering room to lower certification costs
What is our primary use case?
I had some experience with ThoughtSpot. It was a very limited use case, as I was just a part of a POC, so I cannot really comment.
What is most valuable?
Different BI tools have their strengths and weaknesses. If you take Tableau, it has very adjustability. You can make any kinds of dashboards in Tableau, and you can do many things. If you take Power BI, it has a good background of Microsoft helping it with its Microsoft services. So, different tools have different plus points. The point which I found to be a strength point for Domo was collaboration while building dashboards and pipelines, and the volume of data it used to handle. Domo has its own place in the market, but I would suggest the certification costs and the pricing for clients needs to be reduced a little. Otherwise, it's a good tool.
It's very consumer-friendly, and it adopted the GenAI features very quickly. I would measure Domo and ThoughtSpot on a similar scale, so there's a limited difference.
When researching new data, you need some machine which helps us scout through the entire data and give us basic insights. It takes very little time for us to gauge the kind of data it is, its nature, quality, and makes quality check and governance easy. Testing becomes easy, and if I have some questions for ad-hoc analysis, that becomes easy on ThoughtSpot, so that is very handy in those areas. It's not actually developed for developers; it is developed more for a middle to senior level, considering the conversational AI features.
I have used that feature, and that was very handy, but in an actual case scenario, you would not use that too much because you don't know the kind of formulas which have been used in the background. There are chances that it might hallucinate or build some different formulas than what you are expecting as a developer. Although it's a very nice feature to have, I don't think that is something which can survive alone.
What needs improvement?
There should be a free version of it for people to learn easily so that they get adapted easily and get used to supporting the Domo community, which is something very important.
The certification costs and the pricing for clients needs to be reduced a little.
You need to have someone working on the back end.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in this field for close to four and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I'm not sure about its scalability; I have no real-time experience on that.
How are customer service and support?
I did not actually reach out much to the Domo support, but a few seniors of mine who reached out found it satisfactory.
They had a good experience with Domo.
We can rate them 9 or 10 for their support, and we never had any complaints.
ThoughtSpot customer service is slightly slower than what I expected. I had reached out to them for some reason, and there was a slight delay. I got a response from them maybe two weeks later, but they resolved my issue the moment they got back to it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This was just a POC, and I never sold or tried selling ThoughtSpot to anyone, although I tried selling Domo.
How was the initial setup?
It's straightforward. I did my architect certification in ThoughtSpot, and it's straightforward to set up and work on it.
I have done my certification, so I know that there is an on-prem version of it. I did the cloud one, the cloud architect one, so it is pretty straightforward, and it's basically plug-and-play.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Different BI tools have their strengths and weaknesses. If you take Tableau, it has very adjustability. You can make any kinds of dashboards in Tableau, and you can do many things. If you take Power BI, it has a good background of Microsoft helping it with its Microsoft services. So, different tools have different plus points.
What other advice do I have?
It's okay to use the company name GoodRx.
I recently moved into data engineering, but prior to this, I was a senior analyst at blend360.com.
I did not do a real-time case on predictive analysis on ThoughtSpot, so I cannot give you a right answer.
Domo features I have not really been exposed to, so I cannot comment on Domo. ThoughtSpot is good for scouting and learning, but that cannot be used as a base for production items. So, I cannot really compare on that scale.
It's not the best for ThoughtSpot.
I rate ThoughtSpot a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
User-friendly interface empowers non-technical users with interactive visualizations and smart data discovery
What is our primary use case?
ThoughtSpot is an AI-powered analytics platform that enables users to search, analyze, and visualize data easily. Here are some primary use cases for ThoughtSpot:
Primary Use Cases
1. *Self-Service Analytics*: ThoughtSpot allows business users to ask questions and get answers from data without relying on IT or data scientists.
2. *Ad-hoc Analysis*: Users can perform ad-hoc analysis on data to answer specific business questions.
3. *Data Exploration*: ThoughtSpot enables users to explore data, identify trends, and gain insights.
4. *Data Visualization*: Users can create interactive dashboards and reports to visualize data and share insights with others.
Environment
ThoughtSpot is typically used in environments where data-driven decision-making is critical, such as:
1. *Business Intelligence*: ThoughtSpot is used in business intelligence to provide users with easy access to data insights.
2. *Data Analytics*: ThoughtSpot is used in data analytics to enable users to analyze and visualize data.
3. *Enterprise Data Warehousing*: ThoughtSpot can be integrated with enterprise data warehouses to provide users with access to large datasets.
Overall, ThoughtSpot is a powerful analytics platform that enables users to gain insights from data and make informed decisions.
How has it helped my organization?
ThoughtSpot has significantly improved various organizations by providing self-service analytics, enabling employees to independently explore data and generate insights. Here are some key benefits:
- *Increased Efficiency*: ThoughtSpot reduces report requests and saves time for data analysts, allowing them to focus on high-level strategic tasks. For instance, Matillion reduced report requests by 80% and saved over £75,000 annually.
- *Data-Driven Decision Making*: ThoughtSpot empowers businesses to make informed decisions by providing real-time data insights. Austin Capital Bank implemented ThoughtSpot to enable fast, self-service analytics using natural language queries, cutting data turnaround times to under 24 hours.
- *Improved Productivity*: ThoughtSpot's platform allows users to ask questions, analyze data, and build reports in seconds, without requiring extensive training or technical knowledge. This leads to improved productivity, enabling data analysts and developers to complete projects faster.
- *Enhanced Collaboration*: ThoughtSpot facilitates collaboration by providing a centralized analytics hub for clients, employees, vendors, and partners. Its seamless integration with modern data stacks ensures that businesses can efficiently analyze and derive insights from their data.
- *Cost Savings*: ThoughtSpot's automation capabilities and reduced reliance on IT teams lead to cost savings. For example, Odido estimated saving around €1 million annually by freeing up data analyst time and reducing outsourced IT costs
.
What is most valuable?
The features I find best about ThoughtSpot include the ability to explore and comprehend data through smart data discovery. When dealing with answers in ThoughtSpot, it provided a smart function to search, as well as accessing interactive data visualizations and developing bespoke data applications to address unique needs.
I also use the natural language processing feature in ThoughtSpot, which helps reduce bottlenecks, improves decision-making, and elevates different digital experiences. I have used NLP during data analysis in ThoughtSpot and when interacting with chatbots and virtual assistants.
The support team of ThoughtSpot is excellent. When I dealt with issues regarding the creation of answers in Liveboards, I used the ThoughtSpot chatbot, which provided solutions for additional calculations and TML for Liveboards.
What needs improvement?
One of the challenges I faced with ThoughtSpot is that when the team provides the TML language of every object, such as when I was creating a worksheet, it was not giving full information about which area to debug for the TML side. It also has a steep learning curve along with some UI complexities.
Regarding ThoughtSpot's pricing, I didn't have to pay anything since the public version provided all necessary features for me. However, I think when considering the user-based plan, which is around $1000 per month, it is a bit costly and could be cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using ThoughtSpot for the last three years.
What other advice do I have?
I am a user of ThoughtSpot and I'm using ThoughtSpot in my current project.
After using ThoughtSpot, I find it very good compared to Tableau. I rate ThoughtSpot nine out of ten.
I would definitely recommend ThoughtSpot to others if there's a requirement for using this tool.
Empowers efficient report generation and quick data processing while reducing developer dependency
What is our primary use case?
I am currently simultaneously working with Power BI, ThoughtSpot, Snowflake, and Postgres as the products and solutions. ThoughtSpot is deployed on AWS.
It was implemented as a POC model because we previously used Oracle-based business intelligence, such as OAC. Due to cost considerations, we moved to Power BI, which is working fine currently. Because of recent advancements, ThoughtSpot is excellent at processing huge amounts of data. Where Power BI lacks processing compute power, we conducted a POC to check the accuracy and design capabilities of the dashboards. We worked on ThoughtSpot, tried to replicate existing reports, reconcile them, and then implemented it for one project.
What is most valuable?
The best feature is usability from the customer and client perspective. Usually, we would need a dedicated developer for creating reports in Power BI. However, ThoughtSpot is really easy to work with. The connectivity is easy with other databases, and the amount of data it consumes and the generation power is impressive. In Power BI, refreshing the same amount of data takes almost half an hour, while in ThoughtSpot it takes approximately 10-15 seconds.
Once all the datasets and configurations are set up, the usability in ThoughtSpot is excellent. Users can utilize NLQ and get quality results. The entire dashboard functionality is superior compared to Power BI's Q&A and recently introduced Co-pilot, as ThoughtSpot understands the data better.
We have seen areas where improvements are needed for predictions with natural language search. While we can derive normal Gaussian curve predictions, there are additional aspects that could be enhanced.
What needs improvement?
AI-driven insights in ThoughtSpot have not been implemented yet as our organization has not approved releasing the data to AI. This process is still pending approval.
The prediction model needs improvement. While NLQ is working perfectly fine and the data understanding capabilities of ThoughtSpot are good, there is room for improvement. Compared to Oracle's DV or Microsoft Power BI, it is more advanced. However, when implementing it for finance, general ledger, profit and loss, and balance sheet applications, we faced some challenges as these areas require very accurate data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using ThoughtSpot for approximately six months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
There were no challenges with the initial setup of ThoughtSpot. It was straightforward.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not experienced any glitches or downtimes with ThoughtSpot. After delivery, we haven't received any negative feedback from our brokers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't attempted to scale it up because it's being used by a small group. Scaling might be necessary when we implement it for bigger projects.
How are customer service and support?
We have not yet required technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The initial setup of ThoughtSpot was straightforward. It would be beneficial if ThoughtSpot had an integration tool for migration purposes. For example, when moving from Oracle-based analytics to ThoughtSpot or from Power BI to ThoughtSpot, a tool that could pull in all connections, understand the design in Power BI, and replicate it in ThoughtSpot would be valuable. This would eliminate most migration challenges, make the process smoother, and require less manpower.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of ThoughtSpot was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the deployment myself and purchased ThoughtSpot from the vendor.
What was our ROI?
Compared to Power BI, ThoughtSpot is more expensive. This is why we haven't implemented it for most projects currently. Based on our implementation in one project, we are trying to raise more funding to expand its use.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The main difference is the heavy reliance on developers for visualization development and data modeling in other technologies compared to ThoughtSpot. Additionally, the in-memory computation power is significantly lower in competitor products. Oracle DV has recently gained attention due to its predictive model capability and flexible design options.
What other advice do I have?
ThoughtSpot is quite intuitive. We haven't used it for workflows yet as most workflows and pipelines are developed in Snowflake using Snowpipe and PL/SQLs. The main benefit is the reduced dependency for generating reports.
Two major benefits are the reduced reliance on developers to get accurate data and the impressive data processing capabilities.
The organization-level setup is straightforward, and the integration with AD server is seamless. The SSO configurations work smoothly.
It would be beneficial to have more variety of visuals included in ThoughtSpot, though the current offerings perform adequately.
The in-memory computing and NLQ capabilities are significant advantages compared to other technologies in the market.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate ThoughtSpot an 8.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Data to insights
What do you like best about the product?
Empower users to gain insights from data
What do you dislike about the product?
Data setup upfront in order to gain insights
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Empower marketer to insights without analyst
