ThoughtSpot Expands Analytics Platform With Data Preparation Capabilities

The new Analyst Studio makes it possible for data analysts to prepare and transform data for artificial intelligence and analytical processes.

Analytics technology developer ThoughtSpot is expanding the data preparation capabilities of its cloud-based analytics platform, making it easier for business analysts to collect, cache and transform data for AI and data analysis tasks.

The new Analyst Studio will accelerate and streamline AI and data analysis processes, making it possible to generate analytical insights more quickly, and help businesses and organizations manage the costs traditionally associated with multi-step, multi-tool data preparation and analytic systems.

“We believe that there is no BI [business intelligence] without AI, and there is no AI without data. And Analyst Studio is about creating AI-ready data,” said Sumeet Arora, ThoughtSpot chief development officer, in an interview with CRN.

[Related: ThoughtSpot’s New CEO: AI Is The New BI]

Analyst Studio is designed for data teams, including analysts and data scientists, and is now available as an option for ThoughtSpot Cloud customers using either ThoughtSpot Analytics or ThoughtSpot Embedded.

Pulling together data from widely dispersed sources and preparing and transforming data for analytics tasks has always been a costly, time-consuming process, hindering the ability of businesses to leverage data assets to generate insights that can lead to improved business outcomes and competitive advantages.

Analyst Studio uses its Datasets data extraction software, data visualization and profiling tools, and built-in connectors to help analysts collect, join and mash up data from multiple sources, such as databases and cloud data warehouses, and different file types such as Google Sheets. Analysts can perform data transformation and preparation tasks using the integrated SQL IDE (integrated development environment) with AI Assist for writing SQL queries using natural language commands to assemble datasets for analytical and AI tasks, according to the company.

Data scientists and analysts can explore data and perform advanced analytics using a cloud-native SQL editor or using Python or R notebooks. Analyst Studio is integrated with leading cloud data platforms including Snowflake, Google BigQuery and Databricks platforms.

ThoughtSpot said that by providing a fully integrated suite of data management and analytical tools, Analyst Studio ensures data consistency and eliminates the inefficiencies of using separate, disconnected tools. Data teams can develop and execute complex data workflows that plug into their data ecosystems such as Snowflake’s Snowpark.

The addition of Analyst Studio expands the ThoughtSpot platform into a more complete, end-to-end analytics workflow system, said Mike Leone, principal analyst and practice director at Enterprise Strategy Group, in a statement. Data analysts can independently prepare and explore data, data scientists can produce and distribute models throughout an organization, and business users can make use of analytical insights using natural language.

In November ThoughtSpot expanded its portfolio with the debut of ThoughtSpot Spotter, an agentic AI analyst tool that brings the analytical and reasoning skills of a data analyst to business users.

Arora, in the CRN interview, said Analyst Studio takes the role of data analyst beyond “dashboard drudgery” – building reports and data dashboards – by giving them the tools to create AI-ready data and produce deeper analytical results and insights that have a greater business impact.

“We are now a complete intelligence platform that has leadership in natural language, conversational [and] enterprise grade analytics for business users and analysts, and also the Analyst Studio, which allows analysts, analytics engineers and data scientists to be the creators of that AI-ready data that we need,” Arora said.

With Analyst Studio ThoughtSpot’s channel partners can offer their clients a more comprehensive data intelligence platform that more quickly provides analytical results and which solution providers don’t have to cobble together using products from multiple vendors, Arora said.

“In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, it’s not enough to have data, you need to be able to quickly prepare and analyze it to fuel intelligent action,” said Ketan Karkhanis, ThoughtSpot CEO, in a statement. “Analyst Studio empowers modern data teams to turbocharge data readiness with enhanced workflows and dramatically improve performance. This means faster insights, and ultimately, real ROI from your AI and cloud data investments.”