MK: Which companies do you consider heavyweights in the data visualization space?

TZ: There are definitely the large vendors to consider but in light of the recent consolidations and acquisitions, companies like Visual Mining have the opportunity to innovate and for example work across a stack instead of being tied to a particular data source.

KS: We consider the fact that we're not tied to a particular data source to be a real differentiator compared to some of the "heavyweights" in the industry who tend to offer their solutions as a complete stack. For instance, to make full use of Business Objects' BI features there's a need to commit to their architecture and universe - in other words commit to a lot of infrastructure. Tristan's point is that Visual Mining is largely free of that; we can connect to any relational system, including Excel, and create performance dashboards from virtually any proprietary source.

For example if you're having trouble getting the performance dashboards you need from say, a JD Edwards, Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server or Great Plains data source, you can generate a report from that, dump it into Excel and let Visual Mining build a performance dashboard.

MK: How does VM distinguish itself from the other heavyweights in the data visualization space?

TZ: One of the clear distinguishing factors is the speed of implementation, where with our intuitive four-step process for accessing data and creating dashboards, after installation you can be up and running in a day. And all this can be done with no heavy IT involvement. Considering the current recession and the obligatory cost cutting associated with it, the big BI price tag out there is not something that many companies can look at honestly when there are cost-effective solutions like NetCharts that can provide the insight they need into their data.

MK: With the current slowdown in the economy, where companies are trying to do more with less, what role do you see Visual Mining playing?

TZ: The importance of BI during the current economy cannot be overemphasized. During an economic downturn, BI plays a powerful and significant role. There's an increased need to look at the business critically and be able to identify and mitigate risks. People think that BI has to be expensive and as I mentioned before, it doesn't have to be. Through NetCharts Performance Dashboards™, Visual Mining offers an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution to look into your business and understand the data that is driving it.

MK: With the wave of recent acquisitions and consolidations in the BI space, where do you see the BI industry heading?

TZ: I sort of view the wave of acquisitions as being similar to a forest fire. With a forest fire, a fire rages through an area, causing loss of life and destruction yet in a couple of weeks, sprouts begin to shoot out of the ground and start to grow. In the same way, we at Visual Mining have seen opportunity amidst the wave of acquisitions and consolidations. A number of solutions have been bundled together, following the acquisitions which is something that mid-size customers don't particularly want or need.

We, on the other hand have used this as an opportunity to be lightweight, small and nimble - offering a specialized solution to a specific problem at a very reasonable price. In other words, we feel that the recent acquisitions and consolidations have left quite a bit of white space for players like us.

MK: How do you help your sales force when it comes to marketing your solutions?

TZ: We use a number of marketing resources such as a public relations firm, an in-house marketing team which focuses a great deal on search engine optimization among other things. In addition we provide our sales force with the right messaging and appropriate tools so that they can respond to some of the tougher questions users may have.

One of the other things that we do is offer a "proof of concept." In other words, if the users or prospective customers are doubtful or skeptical about our messaging, we offer a cost-free proof of concept to prove our claims. We can either use the prospective customer's data or do a demo for them.

MK: Thank you very much for your time, Tristan and Kevin. It was a pleasure speaking to both of you.

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