How we built secure, conversational BI (and why)
At 5X, we rely on executive dashboards and operating metrics to keep a pulse on our business. But we also recognized that certain critical questions require deeper, more nuanced insights—insights that dashboards alone can't easily provide.
That's why we built conversational BI, powered by our semantic layer on 5X. This tool complements our dashboards, giving us the power to dive deeper into data, answer complex questions instantly, and securely leverage business semantics through natural language.
This is the second story in our 5X on 5X series, showcasing real-world tools we've built internally to enhance data-driven decision-making across the organization.
The problem
Dashboards excel at summarizing operating metrics and executive KPIs. However, deeper questions about leads, pipeline dynamics, or sales productivity often demanded manual SQL queries or extensive analyst support:
We needed an intuitive, natural-language solution to quickly explore deeper questions without compromising security or accuracy.
Why off-the-shelf BI tools didn’t cut it
We evaluated conversational BI products, but most didn't integrate fully with our semantic layer, lacked nuanced business understanding, and often posed security concerns.
We required:
- Full semantic context and precise business logic
- Integration with our existing dashboards and analytics stack
- Robust security with data fully inside our controlled environment
The clear answer was to build it ourselves on 5X.
Questions we now answer instantly
Here are just a few examples of real business questions we're answering instantly with our conversational BI tool:
Each of these answers can be explored further, with follow-up questions and proactive recommendations based on our business context.
Built on 5X: Leveraging our semantic layer
Our conversational BI is deeply integrated with 5X’s semantic layer, ensuring every query accurately reflects our business context:
- Queries dynamically generated from natural language
- Real-time visualizations specific to user questions
- Seamless multi-channel access (web, Slack, Teams)
- Advanced security and data governance built-in
Key features
Why build it on 5X?
Our conversational BI is deeply integrated with 5X’s semantic layer, ensuring every query accurately reflects our business context:
- Queries dynamically generated from natural language
- Real-time visualizations specific to user questions
- Seamless multi-channel access (web, Slack, Teams)
- Advanced security and data governance built-in
Our favorite feature: data security
We embedded advanced data access control directly into the conversational interface:
Every query checks against existing RBAC and security rules
Data remains secure, compliant, and fully within our infrastructure at all times
This isn’t possible with off-the-shelf BI chatbots or analytics tools.
What’s next: a lighter, smarter HR stack
Conversational BI is already transforming how we interact with data internally. But we're just getting started.
Next in our 5X on 5X series, we're exploring:
- Customer intelligence solutions
- Advanced sales forecasting
- Real-time operational insights
- Deeper product analytics
Each built securely, rapidly, and specifically tailored to our workflows—exactly how we like it.
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