AI is the New BI: Ketan Karkhanis Leads ThoughtSpot’s Transformation

Congratulations on your new role as the CEO of ThoughtSpot. How has the transition been, and could you share your vision for the company under your leadership?

Thank you very much. It has been an exciting journey so far. We’ve just had an incredible year, with our SaaS and cloud products experiencing 40% year-over-year growth. That momentum stems from our commitment to actionable insights. Traditional BI, with its dashboards, is becoming obsolete. Customers want answers and outcomes where they work, not more charts.

At ThoughtSpot, we make it possible to have a conversation with your data, empowering business users to get insights seamlessly. We often say, “AI is the new BI.” That philosophy has resonated with customers, making us a leader in the next generation of analytics.

India plays a pivotal role in this vision. It’s not just a development hub; it’s our second global headquarters. We have over 450 team members across Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Thiruvananthapuram, doubling and even tripling our presence in recent years. India is also our AI innovation hub, contributing to core R&D, finance, HR, marketing, and more.

Are there specific industries or market segments where you see the most growth potential, especially in the Indian market?

Globally, 25 of the Fortune 100 companies are our customers, and we’ve established a strong foothold in the enterprise segment. However, we’re also seeing rapid growth in the commercial segment, thanks to products like ThoughtSpot Everywhere. This embedded analytics solution allows businesses to integrate data applications into their workflows seamlessly.

In India, enterprises and commercial businesses alike are leveraging our AI-driven analytics for actionable insights. Our upcoming AI agent, Spotter, launching on November 13, is a game-changer. It’s built to provide personalized, autonomous insights for businesses globally, including here in India.

What were the key hurdles ThoughtSpot faced, and how did your leadership team address them?

Growth challenges are inevitable, but they’re what I like to call “good problems.” A key focus has been hiring top talent. India’s innovation powerhouse is critical to our success. We’re continuously scaling our ecosystem to support customers and drive value creation.

Another area of focus has been eliminating inefficiencies for our customers. For instance, many organizations face dashboard sprawl, maintaining thousands of dashboards they don’t need. ThoughtSpot helps reduce that clutter by enabling users to drill down into data intuitively, eliminating reliance on static dashboards.

Given the competition in the BI space, how does ThoughtSpot differentiate itself from legacy players like Tableau and Power BI?

Traditional BI tools focus on dashboards, which are becoming irrelevant in today’s fast-paced environment. ThoughtSpot is built for the future: conversational data analytics, AI-driven insights, and enterprise-grade trust and security.

What sets us apart is our focus on outcomes, not just data. Our platform integrates seamlessly into workflows—for example, embedding insights within Salesforce to prioritize deals and customers. We’re transforming analytics from being a tool to a business enabler, directly tied to ROI.

How does ThoughtSpot ensure that its AI implementations deliver tangible business value and avoid becoming mere experiments?

At ThoughtSpot, every AI conversation is an ROI conversation. We help customers reduce dashboard-related costs, speed up decision-making, and embed insights directly into workflows. For example, our AI agent Spotter can highlight key deals for sales teams or uncover opportunities faster. This direct alignment with business outcomes ensures AI isn’t just a science project—it’s a business accelerator.

With India being a strategic hub, what are your hiring goals and focus areas?

India is central to our growth. We already have more than 450 team members here, and we’re hiring across all functions—engineering, professional services, customer support, finance, HR, and sales operations. Currently, we have over 70 open positions, and we’re committed to nurturing top talent.

ThoughtSpot announced a $150 million investment in India in 2022. Could you share an update on how that investment has impacted operations here?

That investment has fueled significant growth. We’ve doubled or tripled our team size, particularly in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Thiruvananthapuram. The results have been phenomenal, with innovations like Spotter—our AI agent for analytics—entirely built in Bangalore.

Data privacy and security are critical concerns, especially with generative AI. How does ThoughtSpot address these for enterprise customers?

Trust is foundational to our architecture. Our ThoughtSpot Trust Layer ensures compliance, explainability, and security. For example, we’ve implemented “use and forget” policies with large language models (LLMs) to ensure data is not stored or retained. Features like token verification, audit trails, and robust security protocols further build customer confidence.

Spotter sounds groundbreaking. Could you share more about its capabilities and the impact you envision it having?

Spotter represents a significant leap forward in analytics. It provides personalized, autonomous insights through a conversational interface, allowing users to ask questions and get actionable answers instantly. Features like BARQ, our unique reasoning layer, ensure precision and prevent hallucinations. We’ve also designed Spotter to integrate seamlessly with tools like Salesforce and ServiceNow, making insights readily available within existing workflows.

Finally, any customer success stories or case studies you’d like to share?

We’ve helped customers reduce dashboard sprawl significantly—for example, consolidating 1,800 dashboards into a single dynamic interface. This not only saves costs but empowers business users to get answers instantly without waiting for analysts. Priyanka will share detailed case studies with you.