Straight Talk Review: Pros and Cons of Logi Analytics

Logi Analytics, formerly known as LogiXML until 2013, was founded in 2000 and made a name for itself as one of the first white label/OEM embedded analytics providers for small-to-medium sized businesses. Since 2000, Logi Analytics has raised $48 million in funding. The company was listed in the magic quadrant of the 2016 Gartner BI & Analytics Platform Report and was named a visionary within the quadrant.

{{Update Oct 2017:  Logi Analytics was Acquired by a Private Equity Firm, we nailed this prediction below in our Cons section.  The acquisition raises a lot of additional questions above the support of multiple products lines going foward as cost savings and reduction expenses are driven by the new owner.}}

LogiXML’s rebrand to Logi Analytics was due to a shift in service offerings as the company expanded its services further into the analytics and BI space for businesses, beyond OEM dashboards. Logi Analytics has three core products, which are Logi Info, Logi Vision, and Logi DataHub. Logi Info is Logi Analytics’ legacy product, which provides embedded OEM analytics. Logi Vision is the company’s dashboard and ad hoc analysis product, which provides data insights to business users. Logi DataHub is Logic Analytics’ newest product, which is its extract transform load (ETL) and caching solution that integrates both the Logi Info and Logi Vision products with each other.

The Pros of Logi Analytics

As one of the most established brands in the BI space, Logi Analytics has developed great products over the past 16 years. Below are the major pros of Logi Analytics:

• Embedded Analytics: The major strength of Logi Analytics is its embedded solution, Logi Info. Logi Info has consistently been ranked in the top five for embedded analytics and dashboards and has use cases that allow companies to add reporting capabilities to portals and mobile applications. Logi Info has robust API capabilities and customization options, great security, and it supports a variety of operating systems, including Linux and mobile.
• Data Connectors: Logi Info has the ability to connect to almost any data source, from OLTP sources such as Microsoft SQL and Oracle, to newer data sources such as Hadoop, NoSQL, and SaaS and API-based data sources that live in the cloud. Logi Analytics’ data connectors not only provide read-only connections but write-back connections, which allow users to code and update data.
• Security: Logi Info has excellent data-level and user-specific data security, similar to Yurbi’s multi-level security. The primary difference between Yurbi and Logi Info’s security is Logi Info’s security requires writing of SQL code. Logi Info’s security also has strong support for multiple authentication and single sign-on methods.
• Pricing: We don’t know the exact pricing model for Logi Analytics, but Logi pitches server-based pricing versus user-based pricing. For SaaS vendors searching for OEM analytics solutions, server-based pricing is advantageous for large companies with tons of users because it can be cost prohibitive to pay a per-user cost.

The Cons of Logi Analytics

Though Logi Analytics offers great products, its products certainly have a few areas for improvement. Below are the major cons of Logi Analytics:

• SQL Code Expertise Needed: The biggest con of Logi Analytics’ products is that each product requires a lot of SQL code. Logi Analytics is a developer’s BI platform, versus a business user’s platform. To use its suite of products, Logi Analytics users must have a strong knowledge of SQL programming, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. If you need a highly customizable BI solution and have a strong developer team that loves SQL code, this isn’t necessarily a con. However, if you do not have a large developer team and want to reduce the complexity of your BI, Logi Analytics’ products will be difficult to use.
• Integration of Solutions: Logi Analytics has three separate products, but these products do not integrate into one, seamless platform. Each product has different version numbers and is not housed under one metadata layer, like Yurbi’s Yurbi App. Having multiple lines of products creates challenges for a medium-sized business like Logi Analytics to maintain, grow, and develop each product because the company simply doesn’t have enough resources. This is concerning because users may get stuck with a product that isn’t being improved upon, which is what we have heard from some users.
• Outdated User Interface: Logi Analytics’ product features are very robust, but the look and feel of the user interface is very outdated. This indicates a lack of resources to put toward UI development that would make the user’s experience better.
• Logi Seems to Be Searching for a Change: Logi Analytics’ last round of funding was in 2013, and the company currently has around 200 employees and 1,500 customers. Owler estimates annual revenue of around $20 million. Estimating a burn rate for that many employees would seem to indicate the 2013 funding is running low. Additionally, Logi Analytics’ software development seems to be slowing and customer satisfaction reducing. Based upon our experience, all of these factors indicate that Logi Analytics is either searching for another round of funding or is preparing to be acquired. The recent change in CEO could be a sign of more upcoming changes. When prospects are searching for a BI solution to invest in, especially one that will become an integral part of their environment, these items should be a red flag.

The Bottom Line

When we run into customer scenarios where Yurbi isn’t a good fit, we often recommend other vendors. Logi Analytics is one that we recommend frequently to independent software vendors that need a highly customizable and SQL code friendly environment, especially because Logi Analytics’ products are better when compared other developer platforms such as Business Objects and Crystal Reports. However, when we find customers who want to get away from SQL code and development-heavy BI environments, Logi Analytics is not one that we recommend.

Generally, Logi Analytics is great if you are searching for a developer environment for customizable embedded analytics. However, we’re hearing within the market that Logi Vision and Logi Datahub are not gaining much traction. Though Logi Analytics’ embedded reports are still excellent, Logi Analytics is not be the best option for dashboards and ad hoc reporting because there are much better solutions in the market.

This wraps up our review of Logi Analytics’ pros and cons. If you’re interested in learning about additional BI options, we encourage you to read more straight talk reviews.

Have you used Logi Analytics? What are your thoughts about the pros and cons of Logi Analytics as we’ve outlined them above? We look forward to hearing your take on the potential advantages and drawbacks of Logi Analytics.