Analytics and dashboards for product, sales, and marketing organizations. Merges data from many different data sources to deliver comprehensive views of the business.
Business Intelligence Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
A very simple setup: Easy to download, install, and updates are pain free
Pros and Cons
- "Allows users to build their own solutions without as much reliance on technology staff."
- "Ability to work with very large data sources without the limitations of Excel."
- "The dashboard design interface is very intuitive and allows you to quickly and easily produce professional, innovative dashboards."
- "No issues with stability. It is a very stable solution."
- "I would like to see more development and growth for the support of Knowledge Base and Community forums."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
- Allows users to build their own solutions without as much reliance on technology staff.
- Ability to work with very large data sources without the limitations of Excel.
What is most valuable?
The dashboard design interface is very intuitive and allows you to quickly and easily produce professional, innovative dashboards.
ElastiCube Manager allows you to combine multiple data sources and add additional fields and tables with ease. It gives you the power of ETL and data modeling in one easy to use tool.
What needs improvement?
Minor improvements with formatting of data exports from dashboards. The ability for non-admin users to schedule the emailing of dashboards. I would like to see more development and growth for the support of Knowledge Base and Community forums.
Buyer's Guide
Sisense
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sisense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues with stability. It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues with scalability. I think this is a major strength of Sisense.
How are customer service and support?
Support is very responsive and clearly one of the strengths of Sisense. I have always received a fast response and the staff is very helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used many different solutions recently including Tableau, Power BI and BusinessObjects.
Sisense provides us with the best performance and the functionality that we need. Sisense provides both an on-premise and cloud solution, which meets our needs.
How was the initial setup?
A very simple setup: Easy to download, install, and updates are pain free.
What about the implementation team?
In-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager, Advancement Information Services at NC State University
The ability to share metrics with our entire organization is valuable.
What is most valuable?
- Build speed of large data sets.
- The ability to share metrics with our entire organization.
How has it helped my organization?
I was able to pull together many different types of data into one place and compare it.
What needs improvement?
Some flexibility with the labeling of visualizations would be nice.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used it for 2.5 years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
We have not encountered any deployment issues.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not encountered any stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not encountered any scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Customer service is very good and responsive.
Technical Support:Technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup was somewhat complex but mostly because our infrastructure was not in place.
What about the implementation team?
An in-house team implemented it.
What was our ROI?
ROI is very good. The amount of money spent to users served is very low.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is much cheaper than competitors.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing this product, we also evaluated Tableau, Qlik and Domo.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Sisense
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sisense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PROJECT MANAGER - Fleet production optimization & monitoring. Quarry/Mining/Construction at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has allowed me switch to visual programming as I have access to all advanced database functionalities and features but don't need to code.
Valuable Features:
It's really user friendly and fast. I can use the product during customer meetings, not only to show dashboards, but to create and process data analytics in real-time. It's perfect for consultant workshops where you can't work with static dashboards. Also, because it has an HTML5 interface, it now looks very good when compared to BI solutions that haven't evolved since Windows XP.
Improvements to My Organization:
I can finally switch to visual programming as I have access to all advanced database functionalities and features in Sisense without having to code almost anything.
Room for Improvement:
I'd like to see branding features and more layout possibilities.
Use of Solution:
We've been using Sisense for two years now.
Deployment Issues:
We've had no issues deploying it.
Stability Issues:
The product is very stable.
Scalability Issues:
The scalability for my utilization is good.
Initial Setup:
Deployment is ultra-easy. I’ve installed the product, connected to mySQL database, and created my first dashboard in a day. ElastiCube manager may require some very basic IT skills, though.
Implementation Team:
I did it myself.
Other Solutions Considered:
When I started looking, I had two main prerequisites for my BI solution. I needed to create on-the-fly dashboards for customers so I needed a fast and intuitive solution to make graphical request and look good in front of customer when we wanted to check a particular aspect of their activity. Also, I wanted a product that looks sexy for its time and not outdated, as opposed to Business Objects. I checked a few products such as SAP, BOARD, Yellowfin, Klipfolio among others. We also looked at internal development using a Javascript library such as D3.js, metricsgraphics.js, and highchart.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Product Owner of Business Intelligence at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Easy to Deploy, Easy to Manage, Easy for End-Users; Sisense represents what a BI company should be: Intuitive and scaleable for large sets of data.
What is most valuable?
Time to deployment was one of our most critical factors in choosing a BI vendor, and I am not sure you can get to deployment faster than Sisense. On day one, I was able to download it, connect two disparate data sources with multiple tables, and build meaningful dashboards.
Other features that I found very valuable:
Query Speed: Querying a data source with more than 180 million records took on average less than 5 seconds after initial load.
Speed of Development: It took less than a month to configure single- sign on, be fully embedded within our web product, and to build a comprehensive data cube that covered all of our metrics.
Ease of use for end-users: Building meaningful dashboards is no longer an IT task. Sisense has done a great job at not over complicating dashboard building
How has it helped my organization?
We are no longer in the business of report changes and making a slight change to a report for a specific customer. Sisense is already reducing our development workload since customers are building their own reports instead of waiting on us.
What needs improvement?
Users with viewer access have less capabilities than similar users in Tableau. For example, data discovery would be difficult with only a viewer license.
Sisense limits the cube building to a very visual display that can get hard to analyze when you bring in many data sources. It would be nice to have either an "advanced" view or alternate view that helps with many tables.
They do not currently have support for R, but I hear that is coming in 6.0.
For how long have I used the solution?
About 6 months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
None.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
None so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Not yet, but we did just start rolling this out
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Excellent. I am confident I will receive a response within the same day and usually much sooner than that.
Technical Support:Technical support has been superb. We had a fairly complicated security implementation, and they helped guide our developers through all the nuances.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously were on Pentaho, and we switched because we needed an easier platform to develop on. Building complex dashboards required a great deal of training and Pentaho experience.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup could not have been any easier.
What about the implementation team?
In-house
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Qlik and Tableau
What other advice do I have?
The sales process was excellent. We opted to do a proof of concept, and we were able to test all of our requested functionality prior to buying the product. They also guided us through the proof of concept, and offered a great deal of support. The sales process was one of the best sales experiences we went through.
Our customers love the product. When we demonstrate Sisense's capability against their data, they wonder how they existed without Sisense.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Vice President of Information Technology at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
The best features are the user-friendly interface and ability to deploy efficiently.
Valuable Features
The best features of Sisense are the user-friendly interface and ability to deploy efficiently.
Improvements to My Organization
We implemented the solution into an environment that had been using Excel as a business intelligence tool with data delivered on a monthly basis and we have freed our sales staff from being Excel pivot table experts.
Room for Improvement
The application lacks a control of the exporting function. It gives you the ability to export both the dashboards and the widgets in two formats each, but the format of all the exports are not completely under the control of the administrators. Most of it is select a few options and hope it comes out looking professional. A reporting engine that allows the administrators to format a template used in the exporting options would go a long way.
Use of Solution
4 months.
Deployment Issues
The deployment went fairly smooth. We were on a tight timeline and the Customer Success Manager assigned to our account worked very hard to make sure we had the resources to stay on schedule. All implementations run into some potholes, but the key is how the vendor lives up to their word in getting the proper solution in place. Sisense did an excellent job keeping us on task.
Stability Issues
Through the first 4 months, we have not had any stability issues.
Customer Service and Technical Support
We have used the Technical Support resources on 3 or 4 occasions during the implementation and the group is very professional and knowledgeable. You get to speak to a level 2 or 3 individual rather than starting at Level 1 and hoping the person knows how to handle the case. I am very satisfied with the Technical Support.
Initial Setup
The implementation of the server software and the mapping of the data tables was straight forward and non-complicated.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
The pricing was very competitive with the other solutions we evaluated. One word of advice would be to discuss the co-branding level you want and discuss how to structure a Test environment before you put your budget together. Overall, we are pleased with the pricing of our solution.
Other Solutions Considered
We evaluated Tableau, Domo, Qlik, Phocas, Dundas, and ThoughtSpot.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director of Commercial Solutions with 51-200 employees
We leveraged support from Sisense's technical folks on multiple occasions and they were always knowledgeable and helpful.
What is most valuable?
Simplicity, wide range of visualizations, managed data model layer
For how long have I used the solution?
Deep-dive evaluation for a client
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
None.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Exceptional. The pre-sales support was outstanding - the team was patient, generous, and highly responsive. An excellent partner through the evaluation process - far more so than any other vendor we dealt with.
Technical Support:Excellent. Our eval process we fairly detailed and specific. We leveraged support from Sisense's technical folks on multiple occasions and they were always knowledgeable and helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We evaluated several products for a client engagement.
How was the initial setup?
Straightforward. We had our trial up and running and were building sample cases in less than an hour.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
These tools are powerful, universally applicable, and scale to the enterprise level, so expect a substantial price point across the market. Against that backdrop, we found Sisense to be very competitively priced, and with a good range of options to match up a right-sized deployment footprint for small-to-medium size organizations.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Many, including Tableau, Qlik, InetSoft, Business Objects, LogiAnalytics, Birst, MicroStrategy, and several others.
What other advice do I have?
Sisense is an excellent tool set, hitting all of the BI sweet spots and stacking up very well against the top players in the BI market. Sisense shines especially well in the pre-sales support area. The sales and technical staff are the most supportive and responsive of any of the vendors we dealt with, hands down.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
VP of Development with 51-200 employees
Our company also evaluated Tableau and QlikView but chose Prism for excellent ability to deal with large volumes of data
On a scale from 1-5 (1=worst, 5=best), how would you rate this product overall compared to similar products?
- Hard to answer because I have little experience with other products. The ability to deal with large volumes of data is excellent, and is very valuable for us.
For how long have you used this product?
- 1.5 years.
Which features of this product are most valuable to you?
- Flexibility and ease of design of dashboards.
- Handling large data sets.
Can you give an example of how this product has improved the way your organization functions?
- SiSense has allowed us to offer a browser based business intelligence solution for our customers much faster than we could have done on our own.
What areas of this product have room for improvement?
- SiSense is lacking in richness of data analysis capabilities, particularly standard deviation, median, percentiles, and other aggregates. Mean, min, and max only take you so far.
Did you encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability?
- No significant problems.
Did you previously use a different solution and if so, why did you switch?
- No.
Before choosing this product, did you evaluate other options? If so, which ones?
- Yes. Tableau, Qlikview, Dundas
How would you rate the level of customer service and technical support?
- Excellent. Very responsive, and when necessary they go above and beyond what is typically expected. It was the responsiveness and eagerness to help us solve problems, along with the ability to handle large data sets, that led us to choose SiSense over other competitive offerings.
Was the initial setup straightforward or complex? In what ways?
- Very simple.
Did you implement through a vendor team or an in-house one? If through a vendor team, how would you rate their level of expertise?
- We do it all on our own.
What is your ROI on this product?
- Hard to fully quantify at this stage, but the SiSense tool has brought in a significant new capability and has opened a sales channel that was previously closed to us.
What was your original setup cost for this product and what is your day-to-day cost of using this product?
- Sorry, but we don't have that level of sophistication in our accounting.
What advice would you give to others looking into implementing this product?
- I'd suggest paying a visit to the team in Tel Aviv.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior IT Project Manager at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Reduced the time to complete quarterly reports to one day using the tool by creating dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "Visually displaying data."
- "The administrative side of Sisense is a little cumbersome and confusing."
What is most valuable?
- Visually displaying data
- Sorting results
- Filtering data
- Doing what-if analysis
How has it helped my organization?
Reduced time to complete paper-based quarterly reports from one month to one day using Sisense to create dashboards.
What needs improvement?
The administrative side of Sisense is a little cumbersome and confusing.
For how long have I used the solution?
Two years.
How is customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
The Sisense customer service group is fabulous. They answer all our questions and respond to our concerns in an efficient, effective manner.
Technical Support:Top notch.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented this in-house.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: October 2024
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There is a trial version available for Prism. If you try that, you will see how it gathers information effectively from huge tables and love it and is a must buy for developing organizations. This is highly recommended for medium and large sized organizations.