11.17.17
TimeXtender, a recognized global software company enabling self-service BI and analytics, has announced a new upgrade to its Discovery Hub technology platform. The release includes shared semantic layer and further details about subscription pricing.
SHARED SEMANTIC LAYER
With the addition of the shared semantic layer, businesses can use the same language across their entire organization for every front-end fed through Discovery Hub. It also provides different perspectives—grouping together related data for area-specific purposes, for example, finance, sales, marketing, or cross-business analytics. Governed data models in the shared semantic layer are defined once and automatically used to deliver data in the right form and context to any supported data discovery tool, format, or front-end including Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik. Users can have the same data delivered to these three front-ends simultaneously, which translates to significant cost and time savings and helps remove barriers to achieving self-service analytics and data discovery.
For this purpose, TimeXtender has established long-term technology partnerships with Microsoft, Qlik, and recently became a technology partner with Tableau. The semantic layer enables business users to view data based on a “single version of the truth” where everyone works with the same definition, values and figures – helping users to seek and transform data in a governed and compliant manner. This is of great importance for companies given the pending GDPR requirement due on May 25, 2018.
The models can be designed without scripting a single line. It is accomplished with an easy-to-use drag and drop function. Once the model is setup, users can choose an end-point that connects the model to the selected front-end tool.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICING
As part of this upgrade, TimeXtender is also sharing further information about its recent pricing change for Discovery Hub from a perpetual license model with a yearly maintenance fee to a monthly subscription, which can be billed either monthly or yearly.
This pricing applies for any option chosen by a customer for the setup of Discovery Hub, including in the cloud, on-premises or in a hybrid model. Further, the subscription-based pricing model also complies with the need to support growth and maturation, and to be in-line with other cloud offerings and similar subscription-based offerings. Customers can take advantage of this pricing in several ways.
For a monthly subscription fee starting at $1,800 USD, companies can start using Discovery Hub software to create an integrated platform by leveraging automation to provide agile access to well-governed and securely stored data, so that business users can get actionable insights, simplify their compliance journey and make faster decisions. Pre-paid subscription discounts are also available: 30% discount with a 5-year commitment; 20% discount for 3-year commitment, and 10% discount for a 1-year pre-paid subscription.
The monthly subscription pricing has many advantages for customers:
• Low up-front cost. No significant commitment through a high license price is required. This allows customers the ability to book the cost as an ordinary expense.
• Fast start. The subscription model removes the need for Proof of Concepts (POC). Customers can now get started quickly, easily, and in a cost-effective manner. Decisions can be made inside a corporate department without the need to address it with C-level management or to make budget rounds or apply for funding. This expedience is critical for companies, as GDPR is fast approaching, and there’s little time for budget rounds.
• No maintenance fees. Customers will now pay a monthly fee to use the software, with upgrades and new releases of Discovery Hub included.
• Flexibility. Having a lower price point has a smaller effect on cash flow as additional licenses are needed as a company grows.
“TimeXtender provides an entire platform that supports end-to-end, from source through load, data prep and storing (ODX), transformation, data modeling, modern data warehouse (MDW), and shared semantic layer up to any type of front-end,” said Heine Krog Iversen, chief innovation and strategy officer at TimeXtender. “We accomplish this by automating the script writing and maintenance beneath the data warehouse. With Discovery Hub®, we also support security and documentation and can help companies become GDPR compliant within their respective BI, reporting and analytics solution. In addition, our subscription pricing plan is another measure we’re taking to help customers.”
