ThoughtSpot is a leader in AI-powered business intelligence, redefining how organizations access and analyze data with its intuitive analytics platform. Their platform enables users to query data in natural language, offering a self-service alternative to traditional BI dashboards. From its inception, ThoughtSpot has advocated the use of data to inform decisions across its operations, spanning sales pipelines, product analytics, and marketing strategies.
ThoughtSpot has a solid data foundation, overseen by a centralized data team comprising data engineers, data scientists, and analysts led by Ramkumar Natarajan, Senior Manager, Data Operations. This team ensures that enterprise reporting and common data requests are handled efficiently. Their mandate? To ensure that every decision, from high-level strategy to daily operations, is underpinned by accurate and timely insights, unlocking the full potential of their data assets.
The Data Landscape at ThoughtSpot
In alignment with its data strategy, Snowflake serves as the centralized, single source of truth for all data across the organization. This data is visualized and reported within ThoughtSpot, eliminating the need for source-level reporting in Salesforce, Mixpanel, or other systems.
A primary focus for the data team is the Go-to-Market (GTM) function, encompassing sales, marketing, and customer success. They closely collaborate with these teams, heavily relying on and analyzing data from various sources and CRM, particularly from Salesforce, to drive data-backed decision-making and operational excellence.
ThoughtSpot uses data for multiple analytical purposes
For monitoring Sales pipeline health throughout the quarter, analyzing its progress and performance, with calculations for ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), ASP (Average Selling Price), and ACV (Annualized Contract Value).
Product analytics to evaluate factors like regression rates and user journey.
ThoughtSpot gleans attribution data, lead lifecycles, and organic user acquisition metrics to support its product-led growth (PLG) strategy, empowering in-depth analysis and optimization of all aspects of its marketing efforts.
ThoughtSpot's Modern Data Stack Journey
Migrating from On-Prem Tech Debt to Unlocking Cloud Flexibility
As a leading provider of analytics solutions, ThoughtSpot understood the importance of having a robust and scalable data infrastructure. Initially, the company relied on legacy ETL tools like Informatica and Alteryx for its on-premise infrastructure.
However, the Data infrastructure was entirely on-premise, requiring them to manage both the data pipelines/logic and the underlying infrastructure. This on-premise approach frequently resulted in memory limitations, particularly when dealing with large datasets. They soon recognized the limitations of this approach and initiated a transformative journey to overcome them.
In 2020, ThoughtSpot transitioned to a virtualized ETL setup by adopting Snowflake as a cloud-based data warehouse (Single source of truth for Thoughtspot), complemented by Matillion for ETL within a Virtual Private Cloud. This move reduced technical debt and centralized data management.
Two years later, in 2022, the team further enhanced their tech stack by implementing dbt for transformations. However, after this dbt implementation, ThoughtSpot realized they no longer required a separate transformation engine like Matillion.
The combination of dbt (a cloud-based transformation tool) and Snowflake (their cloud data warehouse) could handle all transformations. This introduced redundancy in their tech stack’s transformation functionalities. Consolidating transformation efforts within dbt and Snowflake would optimize data workflows and unlock greater efficiencies.
Beginning in 2023, ThoughtSpot initiated the evolutionary process of moving from ETL architecture to a cloud-based ELT. With Snowflake and DBT alongside, ThoughtSpot's quest for an ideal Data Integration tool started. This shift not only reduced data infrastructure costs but also established a reliable, efficient, and scalable data stack, unlocking cloud flexibility and enhancing data usage across the organization.
The Quest for the Ideal Data Integration Tool
ThoughtSpot evaluated various data ingestion tools, including Fivetran, Rivery, and Hevo, considering factors such as user interface friendliness, learning curve, pricing, and features. As they explored options to streamline their data ingestion processes, Hevo emerged as a clear frontrunner.
ThoughtSpot found a comprehensive solution in Hevo that checked all their boxes: robust connectors, near real-time data updates, and a user-friendly interface that empowered analysts of all levels to dive into data without the need for extensive coding. Moreover, by adopting Hevo, ThoughtSpot reduced their ETL tool costs by a remarkable 50%, delivering significant cost savings while enhancing their data integration capabilities.
Hevo unlocked unmatched reliability and zero downtime for Thoughtspot, cutting infrastructure costs by 85% and ETL tools expenses by 50%. Hevo also empowered analytics users and boosted data usage by 30-35% with its user-friendly interface.
The Hevo Advantage in Action
Since integrating Hevo into its data stack, ThoughtSpot has witnessed a transformative impact:
Improved Data Management: By transitioning to Hevo, ThoughtSpot experienced an 85% reduction in data infrastructure costs while increasing data usage by 30-35%. This significant cost reduction, coupled with increased data utilization, underscores Hevo's efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Zero Downtime and Escalations: With Hevo, downtime and pipeline breakages are a thing of the past. The responsive support team, with 24/7 support and prompt issue resolution, ensures that any hurdles are swiftly addressed, keeping ThoughtSpot's data operations running smoothly around the clock.
Alerting system: One of ThoughtSpot's biggest saviors was Hevo's alerting system. It not only alerted them about pipeline breakdowns, which might occur due to the need for re-authentication or reauthorization of the user connecting to the source system but it also informed them of any new objects created in the source system. With this level of visibility, ThoughtSpot's team could promptly address any concerns, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted data operations.
Ease of use: Hevo offers a lightweight, user-friendly alternative that is easy to learn and implement. For instance, the team was able to learn Hevo in a single day through the free trial. The onboarding process was straightforward and involved a few clicks and API authentication, and within half an hour, data was flowing into Snowflake. Ease of use is a major advantage, and the Thoughtspot team was looking for it in their modern data stack tools, and Hevo was in front of it.
Since implementing Hevo, we have experienced zero data escalations or downtime. The reliability of Hevo's platform ensures uninterrupted data operations. This is a stark contrast to our previous on-premise infrastructure.
Looking Towards the Future
For ThoughtSpot, the journey with Hevo is not just about solving immediate challenges but laying the groundwork for a scalable, future-proof data infrastructure. As they continue to innovate and expand their analytical capabilities, Hevo remains a trusted partner, enabling ThoughtSpot to harness the full potential of their data assets and lead the way in AI-powered business intelligence.
Excited to see Hevo in action and understand how a modern data stack can help your business grow? Sign up for our 14-day free trial or register for a personalized demo with our product expert.
