Yellowfin’s Commitment Expands from Embedded BI to BI Applications
Yellowfin’s goal is to be the best choice for building business intelligence (BI) and analytics modules for custom applications. In this blog, GM Dev Tools for Idera and Yellowfin, Atanas Popov shares the company's ambitious vision for 2022 and beyond.
Whether businesses are developing hosted or Software-as-a Service (SaaS) solutions, Yellowfin is a comprehensive analytics solution that matches diverse technology, functionality, and business model requirements.
Thousands of applications around the world support sophisticated analytics use cases using Yellowfin’s technology. With a seamlessly integrated user interface (UI), customers are frequently unaware they are using Yellowfin tools, and this is just how we like it.
We empower you to have the most successful business applications possible. Our vast IP and technology help you generate outstanding ROI by getting to market faster and capturing more value. We built an incredible foundation in the embedded BI and analytics market that is matched by few, which helps us and our partners to grow faster.
The rise of the augmented analytics consumer
A new and growing trend in BI is making us very excited: Companies are starting to realize that generic BI and analytics platforms present significant limitations.
Organizations are complex and even within a single company, analytics use cases can vary dramatically. Yet data and analytics continue to be “horizontal.” While user experience (UX) has improved, many users frequently complain that the benefit from the old “Excel paradigms” is primarily in form.
Successful companies today are defined by their use of data and analytics. To enable their teams to make the right decisions and make them efficient, they need more sophisticated BI applications that address their specific needs. UX does not need to be complex, but it needs to be right. We see companies turning to technologies like Yellowfin to build a whole new class of BI applications. In many ways, these are not different from embedded use cases, but the BI module is more central to the application itself. Customers want to use Yellowfin as the core of their application, not just the BI and reporting module.
This trend has a parallel in the broader low code space, where new technologies are allowing the augmentation or even replacement of legacy technologies such as large-scale ERPs with new applications with more optimized structure and UX. Interestingly, the explosion of these new applications also increases the opportunity for Yellowfin, as these new applications also need BI and reporting modules that are far too complicated to build from scratch.
A simple diagram illustrates this idea. In the embedded paradigm, Yellowfin becomes another module in an application that addresses reporting and analytics requirements combining insights from special reporting repositories and transactional data. In a BI application, Yellowfin becomes the core module of the application. For example, Yellowfin can be the core technology used to build a franchisee portal, perhaps augmented by a workflow module. Similarly, an Investment organization can create a knowledge hub for customers almost exclusively with Yellowfin.
Yellowfin is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for BI and analytics applications due to a unique combination of technology, functionality, and business model. We highlight some of these differentiators in the section below.
Technology
Yellowfin is one of the most advanced solutions for building analytics and reporting modules in today’s applications. The core Yellowfin technology is scalable and delivers unmatched performance both in hosted and SaaS environments. The multi-tenanted and multi-tiered architecture allows the use of various databases and accelerators to give customers full control over their BI and Analytics infrastructure. Yellowfin’s treatment of data sources is flexible and easily configurable. You can access detailed technical information in our Evaluation Guide.
- Scalable technology
- Flexibility to use any database
- Multiple configuration options
Functionality
As a Visionary in Gartner’s BI and Analytics Magic Quadrant report for three years in a row, Yellowfin is consistently at the forefront of functional innovation. From traditional reporting to highly customizable dashboards to cutting-edge NLQ and collaboration, Yellowfin provides proven capabilities integrated into a single platform. Product management surveys indicate that core reporting capabilities still comprise 70%+ of what customers want, yet many new BI vendors have completely abandoned reporting and pushed only advanced functionality that is yet to be proven for wider audiences. We ensure that customers get both robust operational reporting and advanced features for future proofing applications. Watch this short video below fora detailed overview of key Yellowfin features.
- Powerful Reporting with Advanced Distribution and Alerts
- Customizable High-Quality Dashboards
- Cutting-Edge BI Capabilities (e.g. NLQ, Collaboration)
Business model
In the past several years, Yellowfin has embraced a highly innovative commercial model that aims to align how we price our technology with your business goals and objectives. The model provides flexible royalty options that make Yellowfin affordable, and we share in your future success. From start-ups to larger companies this model helps us to work with you together for long-term growth, not one-off software sales.
We aim to make Yellowfin-based solutions affordable not only in how we price Yellowfin, but how we address related infrastructure costs. Managing BI and analytics infrastructure costs, especially in the Cloud is becoming a major concern. While customers love the easy pre-packaged solutions, most lack the flexibility to address future growth and changes economically. Clouds make scaling a lot easier but you can find your bill skyrocket, yet your ability to manage cost may be very limited. While understanding how infrastructure configuration may be daunting, especially for start-ups, we recommend that companies at least ensure an approach that will provide flexibility down the road. To address this concern, we provide more managed service options through our partners that can be finely tuned to your exact needs.
- Pricing models aligned with customer growth
- Improved control over your entire technology stack
- More transparent management of cost
We love building applications. The thrill of working with customers and partners knowing that they will get better results, faster, is rewarding to the whole Yellowfin ecosystem. Regardless of your functional requirements, if you are serious about delivering outstanding BI and analytics solutions to your customers, Yellowfin is the right partner.
