SiSense: Shows Good Sense
August 6, 2008
I am gathering information about Google’s slow but steady progress in the enterprise software sector. My research indicates that the tasty Gummy Bear that lures people to Googzilla is maps, satellite imagery, and the nifty overlays that a licensee can plop on a Google map. You may want to look at what SiSense–a business intelligence start up–is doing with the oft-reviled Google Spreadsheets. SiSense is in the business intelligence software business. A SiSense customer can navigate to http://www.sisense.com, learn about the tight integration between the SiSense software and Google spreadsheets as a data source, and download a software widget.
SiSense has concluded that some of its customers use Google spreadsheets to hold data which can then be crunched using SiSense’s business intelligence routines. One application is for a distributor with seven sales reps who use Google spreadsheets to hold various data. The SiSense licensee can such data from these spreadsheets, roll it up, and crunch away. SiSense hit may radar because it uses the Amazon S3 service as well.
Prices are not available. SiSense is gearing up. My hunch is that if Amazon introduces a spreadsheet, SiSense may jump from Google to Amazon. Conversely, if Google makes public its remarkable data management ecosystem, SiSense may say “Sayonara” to Amazon’s pretty darned exciting Web services.
Here’s my take on how Google is attacking the enterprise. In the hospital where my mother is recovering from a heart attack, there’s a sign in the elevator to the cardiology unit. It says, “Don’t stack boxes on the floor. In case of fire, the box may continue to burn. Water will also damage the contents of the cartons.”
Google is entering into deals that work like the fire in a carton. Once the base has been penetrated, top down efforts might not extinguish Google. Once the little Google flame starts to burn the entire box is at risk. IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle are quite happy with their big fire hoses. These hoses can put out any annoying Google fires, or so the assumption goes. I am not so sure. One part of Google’s enterprise strategy is to set a bunch of small boxes on fire with the excitement of Google functionality. Google can then sit back and wait for the heat to build and then cook some goose–hopefully not this Web log’s logo.
Stephen Arnold, August 6, 2008
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6 Responses to “SiSense: Shows Good Sense”
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Thank you Stephen for a wonderful insight.
I actually started using SiSense application after reading this. and I’m impressed of the work this guys did there.
And i was also surprised to see there price, under 1000$ a year for a small work group which is much less then any other solution around.
Kenny
Kenny,
Thanks for taking the time to write. Tell your pals about “Beyond Search”. Maybe I will grow beyond two or three readers.
Stephen Arnold, August 7, 2008
I think you may be underestimating yourself just a tad!
Anyhow, I’ve been following SiSense since they released their beta (on my own time) just because their product was useful to me.
I find it amazing that this new company is mentioned in one breath with companies like QlikTech and Tableau after barely a year of being out.
The 451 Group published a report about SiSense today. Unfortunately it is only available for subscribers – http://the451group.com/report_view/report_view.php?entity_id=54810
Robert,
I always underestimate myself and I am still shooting high of my low level of competence. That why my logo is an addled goose, flapping endlessly and making zero progress.
Stephen Arnold, September 9, 2008
[…] Back in August, Beyond Search wrote about Sisense, a business intelligence start up dealing in software solutions. They’ve been working on software that taps Google spreadsheets holding customer data, runs the information through pre-defined intelligence schemes, and crunches away. You can review the basics here. […]
SiSense Closes $4M Series A Financing – Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SiSense-Closes-4M-Series-A-prnews-2683198243.html?x=0