"We Don't Just Provide Technology - We Create Change"

What do the NASDAQ stock exchange, the online trading platform in New York, and Air Canada have in common? What do they have in common with Seismic, a company providing a sales and marketing platform? All three understood that "data is the new oil" and are using an advanced business intelligence (BI) platform for embedded analytics, enabling them to make data-driven business decisions.

The innovative platform was developed by Israeli company, Sisense, which helps more than 1,300 global organizations across various vertical markets, such as cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare, aviation, telecom, and more extract operational and business insights from the ocean of organizational and external information.

The platform enables NASDAQ to provide advanced analytics to investors and traders, improving the trading experience and helping make better-informed investment decisions. It is based on analyzing massive amounts of financial data in real time. Air Canada uses the Sisense platform to analyze flight data, passenger feedback, and operational metrics. This allows it to streamline operations, improve flight performance accuracy, and provide a better service experience to passengers. Seismic, by contrast, uses artificial intelligence and analytics by Sisense to help teams better prepare for customer interactions. The platform enables the company to build all the documents and content at the basis of the conversation script for the human salesperson, aiming to customize the service for each customer.

"We're currently leading a revolution in analytics," says Ariel Katz, Sisense CEO. "We've created a new category in the market of Embedded Analytics under the name AnPaaS (Analytics as a Service) with an innovative platform that brings data-driven insights directly into applications used by organizations worldwide. Our solution changes the rules of the game by taking analytics out of its traditional approach—static dashboards that are difficult to build and extract insights from at the right time—and integrating it directly into applications where users already operate. This means data and insights are always available in real time, as an integral part of the workflow. Thus, decisions are made quickly, accurately, and without the need to stop work or switch between different tools."

- In other words, good analytics isn't just dashboards but primarily insights?
"Correct. Let me give you an example. When I wake up in the morning, I don't want to see maps and traffic jam colors. Instead, I want to receive a notification on my phone alerting me that it's time to leave because Waze already knows my schedule and my location, analyzes conditions in real time, and can suggest the fastest route to my next destination. This is exactly how we see analytics—not just displaying data but connecting it to the right context, at the right time, and offering insights that drive precise, data-based action. In other words, I believe the future of business intelligence isn't siloed dashboards that you work with to get insights and then return to the application. Everything will be in one place that is accessible to you as a customer. From our perspective, it's time to move to a modern
paradigm."

Turning data into a competitive advantage
Sisense was founded in 2004 by five entrepreneurs, aiming to make BI capabilities accessible to organizations: collecting data from multiple organizational sources like CRM, human resources, Excel files, and more, connecting them together, enabling querying, and ultimately producing a dashboard that integrates the collected data and presents meaningful insights for the benefit of the organization. In those days, the Internet was less developed, PCs were limited in storage capacity and performance—these were pre-cloud days—and the process was slow and expensive. Over time and with the transition to the cloud, the company refined its capabilities, and its value proposition became more sophisticated, with excellent performance allowing organizations to better utilize all available data for informed decision making. In recent years, Sisense focused on developing an embedded analytics platform, enabling organizations to integrate advanced business insights directly into their applications and solutions. "Our goal is to enable every organization and developer to easily and efficiently integrate analytics and data-driven insights while creating unique user experiences that enhance decision making and directly affect their business success," explains Katz.

Currently, the company employs 400 people, 100 of them in Israel, primarily focused on R&D but also involved in sales. Sales are targeted mainly at the US and Europe, where the company has about 1,300 medium-sized and larger customers across all sectors, enjoying an excellent reputation that helps increase the number of customers annually. In recent years, this reputation has been spreading in Israel, where Sisense currently serves about 40 customers, including large tech companies like Wix and Bioforum the Data Masters.

"Although the company operates mainly in international markets, Israel, with its abundance of data-driven startups in fields like cybersecurity, fintech, and digital health, offers a unique opportunity to create new and competitive value for customers through data. Sisense is ideally positioned to provide a platform that enables extracting significant business insights and embedding them directly in processes and products. We already see significant growth in local activity, attesting to the need and the value our solutions bring to the Israeli market," notes Katz.

- If you had to define the benefits to customers in one sentence, what would it be?
"Our platform enables developers and creators to easily integrate advanced analytics into their products and applications, create insight-rich user experiences, and focus on creating business value with significant savings of time and resources."

Making analytics accessible to all
Ariel Katz joined Sisense about two years ago as CPTO and manager of the company in Israel. Nine months later, he was appointed CEO of the global company, aiming to accelerate its growth and lead innovation in embedded analytics. Before joining Sisense, he spent 21 years at Microsoft, during which the company changed dramatically and grew to an enormous size. Among his achievements is the development of Microsoft Defender, the first free anti-virus solution that reached billions of computers worldwide and made Windows a more secure platform. Later, he led Power BI, one of the first and most successful SaaS services by Microsoft, which changed how businesses analyze data and make decisions. There Katz was first exposed to business analytics and was captivated by it. Subsequently, he headed Dynamics 365 Sales, where he led a significant transformation that turned a traditional CRM system into a smart cloud solution, integrating artificial intelligence to streamline business processes, improve performance, and enhance organizational decision making.

- What did you learn at Microsoft and bring with you to Sisense?
"The experience I gained at Microsoft in building platforms serving millions of users taught me how to design technology that can be adjusted and function on a global scale while maintaining simplicity, efficiency, and accessibility. At Sisense, I'm implementing this approach with a vision to make analytics an accessible, practical, and efficient tool that enables organizations to make better decisions and grow in any field and at any scale."

- AnPaaS is registered under Sisense. What is the next stage in the company's evolution?
"We're currently focusing on the developers, aiming to give them the tools to implement analytics at the development stage and create a direct connection between insight and action. In my assessment, this is the next game-changer in the analytics world. We're building platforms that allow application developers to implement analytics without requiring deep understanding in this field, democratizing analytics so that small and medium-sized companies can benefit from it too. Additionally, our developments are based on API-first and AI approaches, giving developers the flexibility to build customized add-ons and provide unique solutions for their customers' needs. This way, users can act quickly and precisely, improve decision-making processes, and maximize their business performance."

- Do you target all types of developers?
"Yes, we provide APIs and tools for all types of developers, from no-code developers to experts, together with a rich array of data capabilities and artificial intelligence that enable turning data into actionable insights. Our focus is on providing a platform that empowers developers with tools like Compose SDK, allowing easy and intuitive integration of data insights without requiring deep expertise in data science."

- What is the vision?
"Ultimately, we're not just providing technology, we're changing how businesses and application developers think, act, and drive innovation. When analytics becomes an integral part of every application, it changes how people make decisions, develop products, and lead organizations forward. This is our essence: turning data into a force that drives innovation and growth. We constantly work to develop breakthrough advantages and create added value for our customers and users.

"I always asked myself: Why should analytics be a separate tool? Why can't it be an intuitive, available, and built-in part that appears exactly where and when you need it? This vision drives us today; to change how the world thinks about and uses analytics.

"But beyond technology and business vision, there's also the value aspect. Let me give you an example. Our platform is used by a company providing mental health support services, including stations on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, a location prone to suicides. When people in distress call 911, instead of relying only on human intuition, our technology analyzes successful call scripts from the past, presents critical insights to operators, and helps save lives. This is an example of combining advanced technology with human compassion, changing the world for the better, even if only a little."

"We play a critical role in preserving high-tech as a growth engine of Israel"
Katz admits that it is not easy to manage global companies from Israel. "In addition to global challenges like a turbulent economy, high interest rates, and geo-political instability, in Israel we're also dealing with local challenges like time zone differences, the war, reserve duty, and the political complexity that adds to the uncertainty," he notes.

– Yet, you choose to stay here.
"I believe this is the role of people like me: to lead, contribute, and strengthen the Israeli high-tech industry. I want my children to grow up in a country that embraces the values of innovation, mutual responsibility, and pursuit of excellence. We've worked too hard, as a country, to reach where we are today, and I feel a deep sense of belonging to this place, to the people, and to the values that make Israel what it is."

– What do you say to your colleagues in high-tech?
"I call on my fellow CEOs, people like me who bring a lot of money into this country, to maintain optimism and stand up to the challenges. This is our place, and we have a critical role in preserving high-tech as Israel's growth engine. Giving up is the easiest thing. Let's stay here and let's make it succeed. Only by joining forces can we continue to build the country. Only by joining forces can we continue to build a better future for all of us. Israeli high-tech has proven, time and again, that it can turn challenges into opportunities. Our industry, propelled by difficulties, succeeds in standing out in innovation and creative solutions that provide real value to customers worldwide."

"I believe the key to success lies in people, therefore we must support our employees and communities, create a sense of partnership and meaning, and nurture the next generation of talent. This is the time to lead collaborations, innovate, and establish Israel's position as a global center for technological innovation."

Katz believes that despite the difficulties, the current crisis presents an enormous opportunity. "Companies that can streamline, innovate, and create real value for their customers will emerge stronger. I'm confident that Israeli high-tech will continue to lead and show the world how to deal with challenges; not just to survive, but to expand and thrive."

In collaboration with Sisense

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