DataRPM, the business intelligence and analytics platform based in Fairfax, Va., recently unveiled a new product called Instant Answers. The new product combines the simplicity of a Google search box and a spoken query, similar to Apple's Siri, to answer data questions that used to rely on a user mapping those questions into software.
According to Ruban Phukan, co-founder and chief product officer for DataRPM, speaking at a media event, "Users don't need to know the field or the visualization. They just ask the question."
Sundeep Sanghavi, co-founder and CEO of the company, explained the reason behind the search-based business intelligence tool. "Google has indexed a trillion URLs," he stated. "What if we challenge that mindset? Why only content? We wanted to make the data that's behind the firewall searchable."
Phukan explained that DataRPM itself "removed the data warehouse and SQL completely," allowing users to point directly to the data source. "But the software still got in the way."
Enter Instant Answers. While pointed at a company's data source, an employee can type "revenue" into the search box and the annual revenue for that company appears. A small microphone located to the right of the box allows the same employee to query "revenue by location" verbally, and a bar graph is generated.
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partnership with McLean-based
Avectra, which makes software that helps groups manage their membership databases, is well underway. Don Prodehl, vice president of research and development for Avectra, said at the event that after trying three or four times to create a large transactional database on his own or through other vendors, his company has been happy with the results from DataRPM.
"The tool is incredibly affordable for customers," Prodehl said.
DataRPM won Hottest Showcasing Startup at Tech Cocktail in D.C. in August 2012. The company is currently hiring an operations manager and a marketing and communications manager.