In the past, technology conferences just happened.
Before 2019, these events were run as a normal part of our year, then in 2020 many were canceled for obvious pandemic -related reasons, then… some re -opened, then some became virtual/ in-person hybrid throughout 2021, then… in the beginning of 2022 with variants and spikes and more, some became virtual-only again, which will almost take us to the spring of 2022.
In this part of the spacetime envelope where we are all, the In Real Life (IRL) technology conference returns.
Among the first enterprise technology vendors to present a ‘real’ event was ThoughtSpotbut before we get to the company, let’s quickly remember Health and Safety guidelines presented herewhich seems comprehensive.
In the past, IT event web pages ran using basic links at the top of the page like this:
Registration – Speaker – Agenda – Sponsorship – Venue – Hotel – Party
That has now changed and ThoughtSpot Beyond 2022 reflects the trend:
Registration – Speakers – Sponsorship – Health and Safety
So at ThoughtSpot back then, we saw TechTarget covering a variety of stories such as the firm’s cloud focus and the broader development of company analytics capabilitiesbut what exactly does ThoughtSpot do?
As a company, ThoughtSpot wants to call himself a modern analytics cloud specialist. It has core capabilities in delivering natural language search and AI to perform data analytics and enable customers to automate the entire business process.
“The rise of the modern data stack, powered and connected by the cloud, has companies rethinking their data strategies. The goal? Empower their employees, regardless of their technical chops, to make data-driven decisions every day.We built the Modern Analytics Cloud to bring a consumer-grade analytics experience to any user so they can find their own insights, and most importantly, take action on them , ”Said Ajeet Singh, the company’s co-founder and executive chairman.
So it’s like Google for analytics ie simple in the frontend … and a big number-crunching machine in the backend.
“At ThoughtSpot Everywhere, we give customers the ability to build this same analytics experience right into their own products and services. All of this is part of advancing our mission to create a more fact -based world as we enter the defining decade of data, ”Singh explained.
Delivered as a suite of cloud-based web and mobile applications, ThoughtSpot is said to be both developer-friendly (see below for more) and capable of delivering Live Analytics (CAPS intended, this is a branded service ), which allows companies to provide a live, interactive experience both in the frontend via search and AI … and in the backend with live connectivity to the company’s cloud data platforms such as Snowflake, Google BigQuery or Databricks.
In terms of consumption, the company offers two ways for companies to take advantage of ThoughtSpot.
“With the basic application, customers can go to ThoughtSpot to ask questions about their company’s data to find insights and drive actions. Sa ThoughtSpot Everywhereour developer -friendly platform, product developers can add ThoughtSpot directly to their application or product, ”ThoughtSpot said, in a technical statement.
#BeyondData22
With all the ‘data democracy’ messaging that clearly forms a part of ThoughtSpot DNA, it’s probably not surprising to find the company named its annual user convention Beyond, which it means (and let’s use the event hashtag ) #BeyondData22 ie putting intuitive analytics in the hands of all employees so they can think about the data as a business decision point, rather than being a mass of binary or digital information.
Presented in Las Vegas at the Wynn resort from May 9-12 2022, ThoughtSpot Beyond will be an opportunity for the Computer Weekly Developer Network (CWDN) team to attend not only keynotes, plenaries and pleasantries, but also to get some developer- centric thoughts recorded by the company.
This is (perhaps) particularly interesting, given the fact that we are now witnessing the rise of the so-called ‘data developer’ as a kind of hybrid engineering role that combines basic programmer skills with architect skills. of data.
Further reading is included here The article by Cindi Howson on the rise of the analytics engineer – and so is Eric Avidon’s story in ThoughtSpot’s Data Workspace here.
Specifically in the data developer arena then, ThoughtSpot Modeling Language (TML) was a way to model data, build applications and move from development to production.
Based on YAML, TML is developed using open standards.
“Unlike other modeling languages, TML is capable of handling even the most complex data, such as multi-fact table aggregation such as gaps and fan traps, giving analysts and developers the simple but powerful modeling layer to bring Live Analytics to their business counterparts, ”the company notes, in a technical statement.
Singh of ThoughtSpot clearly wanted to use the event to talk about the big picture, but also (as an engineer himself) no doubt he will also make reference to platform advances.
Modern Analytics Cloud vision
In one of his recent statements, Singh said the modern data stack presents an opportunity for analysts and developers to build new data experiences for their business.
“Cloud data platforms today have the ability to deliver dynamic analytical capabilities which is not possible in traditional data warehouses and data lakes, ”Singh said.
Historically, he says, this has meant that many people have been limited to building static dashboards and performing ETL jobs.
“With ThoughtSpot, they [analysts & developers] they can increase their business impact with our ThoughtSpot Data Workspace, TML, ThoughtSpot Sync and ThoughtSpot Everywhere, ”added Singh.
The company is likely to detail new ones SpotApps, ThoughtSpot’s pre -made solutions for popular use cases. SaaS offerings such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, HubSpot and Snowflake.
This software is a set of integrated applications that allow analysts and developers to launch analytics projects for the most common SaaS applications, such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, HubSpot and Snowflake, with (e.g. they say marketing land) just a few clicks.
SpotApps is powered by ThoughtSpot Blocks, pre-packaged pieces of code.
So there will be a lot of digging and the CWDN is ready and willing to learn more.
The hand sanitiser is packed, the facemask is washed and the fist and elbow-bumps are well-practiced. Only one question remains – why is the company called ThoughtSpot?
Maybe it means data analytics insight presented in an accessible and digestible way comparable to simply getting a place for lunch or tea … or maybe it means throwing away the clunky old BI dashboard and get pinpoint analytics easier … or maybe the founders are like thinking and dog called Spot… Either way, let’s go.
