By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data Analytics instagram stories
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
    15 Min Read
    analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
    What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
    6 Min Read
    AI analytics
    AI-Based Analytics Are Changing the Future of Credit Cards
    6 Min Read
    data overload showing data analytics
    How Does Next-Gen SIEM Prevent Data Overload For Security Analysts?
    8 Min Read
    hire a marketing agency with a background in data analytics
    5 Reasons to Hire a Marketing Agency that Knows Data Analytics
    7 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Bad economics are difficult to shake off
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Business Intelligence > Bad economics are difficult to shake off
Business Intelligence

Bad economics are difficult to shake off

RomanStanek
Last updated: 2009/09/24 at 6:50 PM
RomanStanek
5 Min Read
SHARE

Terry Pratchett once wrote that “Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off.” We could make a similar comment about the financials of SaaS BI companies. As much as startups in this field would like to shake off their bad economics, reality always catches up. We’re seeing one after another SaaS BI startup to go out of business. Back in June it was LucidEra and earlier this week Blink Logic ceased operations. But anybody who only briefly looked at Blink Logic’s finances (it was a public company) shouldn’t be surprised by this event.

Why do so many of the attempts to marry BI and SaaS fail? The problem is that Saas BI sounds simple … simple enough to take an existing BI asset (integration engine, open source analytical engine, columnar database, dashboarding, even domain expertise and consulting) and just host it! All it takes is VMware or an AWS account, web server and Flash or JavaScript. Some people call this a paradigm shift, I call it window dressing. LucidEra was essentially restarted Broadbase, BlinkLogic was once called DataJungle, PivotLink recently changed their name from SeaTab, Cloud9 Analytics has a secret history as Certive, Success Metrics morphed into Birst. I …



Terry Pratchett once wrote that “Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off.” We could make a similar comment about the financials of SaaS BI companies. As much as startups in this field would like to shake off their bad economics, reality always catches up. We’re seeing one after another SaaS BI startup to go out of business. Back in June it was LucidEra and earlier this week Blink Logic ceased operations. But anybody who only briefly looked at Blink Logic’s finances (it was a public company) shouldn’t be surprised by this event.

More Read

Yellowfin’s Year in Review: Top 9 Business Intelligence developments of 2011

Lessons from LucidEra on BI for the mid-market
End of a LucidEra?
Dashboards should do more than raise your blood pressure

Why do so many of the attempts to marry BI and SaaS fail? The problem is that Saas BI sounds simple … simple enough to take an existing BI asset (integration engine, open source analytical engine, columnar database, dashboarding, even domain expertise and consulting) and just host it! All it takes is VMware or an AWS account, web server and Flash or JavaScript. Some people call this a paradigm shift, I call it window dressing. LucidEra was essentially restarted Broadbase, BlinkLogic was once called DataJungle, PivotLink recently changed their name from SeaTab, Cloud9 Analytics has a secret history as Certive, Success Metrics morphed into Birst. I could go on…

Why do SaaS BI companies have bad economics? It’s an attractive market – one of the last few open spaces in software. BI requires dealing with lots of data, lots of compute power and many users. SaaS + BI seems obvious. But truthfully, it’s such a difficult opportunity that it requires a new approach, yet everybody is taking shortcuts. SaaS BI isn’t just hosted BI just as email is not just better faxing, wikis are not just simplified Microsoft Word. Some time ago I wrote a case study on how my former company, NetBeans, was able to successfully compete against giants like Symantec, Borland or IBM, this case study is very relevant to our SaaS BI discussion.

The SaaS BI paradigm shift needs to be truly transformational in order to be successful – something that will get BI above the 9% adoption flatline it’s been at for years. Not everybody gets this. One of the best analysts in this space Boris Evelson wrote a blog post earlier this week where he focuses on differentiation of SaaS BI startups. His first question is: VC backing. Is the firm backed by a VC with good track record in information management space? But LucidEra was very well funded by leading VCs. The correct question that Boris should have asked is: Are the backers of the company funding innovation? Do they understand that it takes three years to become an overnight success?

At the end of the day, it’s about economics. At Good Data, our economics are simple – cloud computing, multitenancy and adherence to customer development. We’ve spent two years investing in innovation. That is what I tell my investors every day. And that is how we are going to avoid the startup death spiral.

Tagged: BI, economics, innovation, SaaS
Link to original post

TAGGED: lucidera, saas bi companies
RomanStanek September 24, 2009
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai low code frameworks
AI Can Help Accelerate Development with Low-Code Frameworks
Artificial Intelligence
data Analytics instagram stories
Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
Analytics
data breaches
How Hospital Security Breaches Devastate Local Communities
Policy and Governance
analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

Yellowfin’s Year in Review: Top 9 Business Intelligence developments of 2011

26 Min Read

Lessons from LucidEra on BI for the mid-market

5 Min Read

End of a LucidEra?

8 Min Read

Dashboards should do more than raise your blood pressure

5 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?