Last Friday, we released Swivel's next generation website. This new website delivers on Swivel's promise: if you choose to make your data public, Swivel is free; if you want to keep your data private, then there is a monthly fee.
As we embark on the next phase of Swivel's business, I thought it wise to revisit Swivel's foundation. Namely, to answer the question: "what is Swivel?"
Swivel is not a data visualization tool. Swivel is not a data analysis tool. Swivel is the world's first data sharing tool.
What does that mean? Swivel makes sharing numbers easy and fun.
In Swivel, numbers are social. Visitors can interact with metrics and share insights for others to see. People can create reports to tell stories, knowing that the data behind the conclusions is a click away.
Numbers shared in Swivel are always available and extremely approachable. When you use Swivel, everybody has easy access to the latest numbers and insights. This increases visibility, keeps people on the same page, and makes your business smarter.
At Swivel, we think too many businesses run blind. Decision makers often don’t have the numbers they need to do their job. This is the result of three problems.
First, we know it’s often too hard to get the data you need: you have to get the latest report from finance, or ask for IT to pull the new customer numbers out of a database.
- Finance people can upload spreadsheets or other files.
- Sales and marketing people can use connectors to automatically pull the latest numbers out of Google Analytics and Salesforce.
- IT people can pump data directly into Swivel using the API.
That means that it’s possible for all your numbers to be found in Swivel. Instead of having to reach out to dozens of people, you simply need to pull the latest statistics from Swivel.
Second, even if you do get the data in time to make a decision, it’s hard to find what’s affecting the bottom line. You have to pull everything into Excel, and rework formulas and update ranges, even for the simple changes you make all the time.
At Swivel we know that you need to play with the numbers before you fully understand them. So we make it easy to compare and contrast different views of the data. It’s never been easier to explore.
Third, when you do discover what’s going on, you often want to share that understanding with others, to check its validity or portray a point.
When you find something interesting in Swivel, sharing is built right in. Everybody can test your assumptions by exploring the data on their own.
In fact, we've found that it's almost always the case that people understand numbers together, by testing assumptions and sharing stories. Swivel is the first tool that works with numbers the way people do.
In summary, Swivel lets people see the data, understand it,and share it, but it doesn’t end there. In fact, it’s just beginning. It’s a continuous cycle.
When you share Swivel with a colleague, he or she can, in turn, share it with even more people.
So, in conclusion, next time somebody asks "what is Swivel?," the correct answer is "a revolutionary data sharing platform." Pun most heartily intended.
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