This morning, the Ottawa Business Journal (OBJ) published an article about Klipfolio, "We're not building a company to be acquired". In it, Allan Wille offers his thoughts on the last 10 years in business and where Klipfolio is going in the next 10 years. As you can tell from the headline, Klipfolio is here to stay.

The cool thing is that there is a nice backstory to this article. When Allan, Peter, and James were first founding Serence, the OBJ published a 12 part series that captured the start-up's early successes and failure. The series wrapped up in 2002 leaving the reader wondering (hoping) if this small start-up would succeed. The story of the company continued with many new chapters being written along the way: the big Staples win, entry into operational business intelligence, or the rebranding of Serence to Klipfolio. This article picks up where the original series left off and captures the defining moments of the past 10 years.

Thanks to Courtney Symons for putting the article together, and Mark Holleron for the snazzy photo of Allan Wille. Great job!

Check it out here: "We're not building a company to be acquired."

When, in 2007, the team was considering a transition into operational business intelligence (BI), their decision crystalized with the aid of an early win: Lufthansa, Europe's largest airline, adopted Klipfolio's KPI dashboard organization wide. That big win, however, was followed in late 2007 with the increasing certainty of a new global recession. Big and small companies alike were tightening their belts and looking to do more with less. The economic outlook had the team nervous heading into 2008.

Before we look at how the team dealt with the recession, let's take a step back and understand what business intelligence is and why the team decided to move into that market.

Operational business intelligence is often summed up as providing the right information to the right people at the right time. This simple definition alludes to the three major components of a business intelligence strategy. First, you need to gather information about your organization's performance and frame that information in a way that is actionable. More often than not, the result of this step is to formulate KPIs (key performance indicators) to guide strategic and tactical decisions. Second, you need to determine who will benefit the most from having that knowledge. Third, you need to provide those people with access to that knowledge in a clear and trusted manner so that actions can follow. As you may have guessed, the third component - a KPI dashboard that is easy to use and pervasively accessible - is what Allan, Peter, and James were most excited about.

The team recognized the opportunity as early as 2001, and as they gained experience and expertise over the years, they became more confident that Klipfolio Dashboard could handle the real time data, scalability, and features demanded of enterprise-class customers. From the outset, the Klipfolio platform was about managing frequently changing data that came from multiple, disparate sources. At the center of this platform is the Klip, a unique reporting device that consolidates and presents data and can be organized with other Klips on a dashboard. The question facing the team in early 2007 was whether Klips could be used by developers to display a KPI just as easily as it could a news feed. As it turns out, Klipfolio Dashboard was more than up to the challenge.

With Lufthansa as their first KPI dashboard customer - and a big one at that - the team decided to enter the operational BI market, and exit the branded desktop application space, despite that market being at its peak in 2007. However, in late 2007, as the uncertainty of the global economy wrecked havoc on small and large businesses alike, the team prepared for lean times. On one hand, they knew that KPI dashboards had a potentially huge ROI (Return on Investment) and could have a measureable impact on the operational performance of any organization. On the other hand, the ROI of dashboards is largely intangible and for businesses shoring up expenses, the question of whether to invest capital into a KPI dashboard could be a deal breaker.

As it turned out, business intelligence vendors fared well throughout the recession. The lean years convinced organizations that they needed to do more with less and they turned to BI and dashboards as a solution to this problem. The team followed up their success with Lufthansa in 2007 with more big wins, adding EMC, Baxter Healthcare, and IBM to their list of globally recognized customers. "When the recession hit, we were more than a little nervous," recalls Allan Wille. "Our concerns proved to be unfounded as enterprises started turning to KPI dashboards as a way to stay competitive even as they tightened their belts."

A fact that has been glossed over a bit in this history is that from 2001 to 2008 the company went by the name of Serence. The name "Klipfolio" was initially reserved for the dashboard products, but with the success and visibility of the KPI dashboard, the distinction between the two names proved to be a distraction. Following much internal debate, and a legal name change, the full rebranding of the company from Serence to Klipfolio took off in December 2008. The decision to change the company's name was symbolic of the team's maturation and officially signaled Klipfolio's exclusive focus on the enterprise BI space. The rebranding was a huge success, and the team tracked an immediate increase in leads, inquiries, and customer wins.

While Klipfolio continued to enjoy success in the desktop KPI dashboard market, behind the scenes the team was itching to tackle a new opportunity. One of the core principles of the company is that data should be easily accessible to everyone. This had led to experiments with mobile consumer dashboards in 2004, and those ideas resurfaced in 2009. While the earlier foray into the mobile market had been focused on consumers, the team's attention was now firmly set on mobile BI. In 2009, the research and development team began developing a mobile BI dashboard using the BlackBerry OS. Although the team ultimately decided against building a client for an operating system, they were convinced that mobile dashboards were the future of business intelligence.

Business intelligence analysts unanimously agree that mobile BI is the next big thing, and the team whole-heartedly agreed with this sentiment. "Unlike analytical BI, operational or real-time business data is broadly applicable," says Allan Wille. "For us, mobile BI is an opportunity to truly achieve our goal of pervasive access to data, organization wide." In the rush to deliver mobile BI solutions many vendors fell into the trap of simply porting their existing products to mobile devices. The result was a cramped mobile dashboard with confusing and inappropriate functionality. This was something that the team wanted to avoid, even if it meant delaying entry into mobile BI.

In 2010, their mobile BI went from research into full-fledged development, rallying around HTML5 and a cloud-based infrastructure. This way, the mobile dashboard would be platform and device independent and accessible via any smartphone, tablet, or Internet browser. Klipfolio's mobile BI wouldn't just be accessible - it would also be fully functional and even capable of being a stand-alone business intelligence solution for small-to-medium sized organizations.

On June 22, 2011, Klipfolio announced the Beta for their new cloud dashboard. The development of Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile involved some of the world's largest brands and most security conscious organizations. Throughout the Alpha and Beta testing in 2010/2011, Klipfolio worked closely with these customers to ensure that the mobile dashboard would not only live up to expectations, but exceed them.

On September 27, 2011, almost exactly 10 years after the company was founded by Allan Wille, Peter Matthews, and James Scott, Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile was released. This news was quickly followed up by a string of new customers, including Aviva, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Emrill. Klipfolio gained important new global partners increasing the visibility of both the desktop and mobile BI products. The launch of Klipfolio Dashboard for web and mobile was a huge success and capped off 10 years of hard-work.

And, as if to signal Klipfolio's emergence as a leading dashboard vendor, 2011 closed as being the most successful year in the company's history. Not only did the team boast new world-class clients, new strategic partners, and the successful release of a new product, but the company recorded a doubling of YoY sales in 2011. Even more remarkable was the fact that it was the second straight year that the team had doubled Klipfolio Dashboard revenues.

In 2001, when Allan, Peter, and James founded the company, they did so with the goal of making data visible and accessible. That objective is not just a mission statement, but the guiding principle shared by everyone at Klipfolio. The product has matured and evolved from a consumer dashboard to branded applications and at last as a KPI dashboard. While the way the product has been applied has changed over the years, the team remains dedicated to bringing data visibility to the next level.

Even as we wrap up this history, a new chapter is being written for the story of Klipfolio. Surely, that chapter will include the evolution of Klipfolio's line of products, but more importantly it will be about the maturation of the company as a whole. Guided by Allan Wille, Peter Matthews, and James Scott, and backed by an innovative and energetic team, it already appears that that next chapter will be as interesting and intriguing as the ones that preceded it.

Just in case you missed it (or want to listen to it again), Klipfolio's Allan Wille was on DM Radio to discuss "User Experience and the Evolution of Mobile Apps" along with panelists from the industry. The topic centered on mobile business intelligence (BI) and how user expectations impact the products put forth by vendors. After all, business users accessing their mobile BI on an iPhone expect the same ease-of-use as checking their Facebook, Twitter, or playing some Angry Birds.

I thought Allan made a really good point in his segment when he pointed out that despite the hype around big data, mobile users might not really be interested in analytical data on-the-go. Rather, Allan points out, checking operational or "small" data on your mobile device is more practical and relevant to the use-case of a remote worker. Host Eric Kavanagh agreed and made this Tweet:

The show is now available at DM Radio Broadcast Central.

Time is running out for the Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study! Help Klipfolio get recognized in the business intelligence and share your experience using our products. This study is important to the community and to us, so fill out your copy of the survey before April 2nd 2012.

Here's some important information about the survey from Dresner Advisory Services:

Make your voice heard!

Participate in the 2012 Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study and get a complimentary copy of the study findings.

Dresner Advisory Services is inviting all BI users to participate in its annual examination of the state of the BI marketplace focusing on BI usage, deployment trends, and products.

The 2012 report will build on previous year's research and will expand to include questions on the latest and emerging trends such as collaborative BI and BI in the cloud. It will also rank vendors and products, providing an important tool for organizations seeking to invest in BI solutions.

BI users in all roles and throughout all industries are invited to contribute their insight, which should take approximately 15 minutes. The final report is scheduled to be out in late Spring.

Click here to start the survey today!

When we left off, the founding trio had released version 1.0 of Klipfolio Dashboard to a warm reception by the consumer market. At its peak, the consumer product received more than 1000 downloads per day. But their success was tempered by the fact that they had yet to land a significant paying customer.

That would all change in 2004 when Klipfolio was approached to build a branded desktop dashboard or a RIA (rich internet application) for Staples. This opportunity meant that the team could test their expertise with a top tier customer and that the new resources would allow them to invest in their underlying intellectual property. Generally speaking, a branded dashboard is an application that allows consumer brands to set up a two-way communications channel with their customers. These dashboards came with a variety of features, including secure access to the user accounts, streamlined product ordering processes, and data alerts and notifications. In short, branded dashboards were a valuable application that increased customer loyalty.

Klipfolio's branded dashboards, and the success of the Staples Easy Button desktop application, attracted more big-name customers including American Express, Intel, and H&R Block. Although based on the same platform, each branded desktop application they built was custom made to address each company's unique specifications. Beautiful and unique in their appearance, one application would present credit card balances, and access to members only events; others would entice users with today's jackpot and the latest bingo winners. "We learned a tremendous amount working on the branded applications," recalls Allan Wille. "The opportunity to work with enterprise level clients facilitated one of the largest growing periods in our company's history."

This period served as a growth spurt for the team. To begin with, they moved their offices from Carleton University to its current location in downtown Ottawa. Next, the team expanded and drew in new talent to work on product development, marketing, sales, and established a support and QA role as well. And technically, the team was having its product tested by some of the world's largest brands. At the time, smartphones, and a way to reach customers on their phones was of increasing interest - with operating systems like Symbian and Windows Mobile dominating the market. Intrigued by the potential of mobile dashboards, Klipfolio made its first foray into the mobile space in 2004. While Klipfolio wouldn't go mobile until 2011 (and with a different focus), these developments were symbolic of the investment Klipfolio was able to make in its intellectual assets. The end result of this growth spurt was to prepare Klipfolio for its biggest move yet.

The branded desktop applications served as a proving ground for the team, having successfully grown revenues and increased the visibility of the company. However, the success, the market, and the customers were not to last. Selling into the branded desktop space was lucrative, but strategically not a market in which Klipfolio could exponentially grow revenues - it was, after all, mostly services revenue that accounted for the current growth.

At the same time, their work in the branded space had exposed the team to the problems of data visibility at the enterprise-level. The Klipfolio platform, right from the onset, had been a data delivery and presentation tool - for consumers in the early years, for B2C brands, and now possibly for internal enterprise use. Was the tool flexible enough that developers could just as easily use a Klip to display a key performance indicator (KPI) as they could a news feed? As the team discussed the enterprise landscape and the opportunities and challenges of selling into the business intelligence market, the question was really about how to leverage the platform and build a licensing based business model.

In 2007, at the height of the hype of branded dashboards, Klipfolio shifted its focus to operational business intelligence (OBI) and started talking about KPI dashboards. Just as consumers wanted to see data that came in via the web, enterprise customers wanted a consolidated and simplified view of their KPIs that would help drive business decisions. A dashboard that displays KPIs in a way that promotes positive action is a valuable asset to any organization. As with the consumer dashboard, Klipfolio continued to believe that real-time data should be accessible to everyone.

The move was a calculated risk and it paid off early when Klipfolio announced their first big KPI dashboard deployment by Europe's largest airline, Lufthansa. The early win was pivotal in the company's history, acting as a catalyst to accelerate entry into the enterprise market. But in December 2007 the team faced a new reality when news broke that a financial crisis was shaking up the world economy, toppling small and large businesses alike. "The immediate effect of the recession was that enterprises needed to do more with less," says Allan Wille. The question on everyone's mind was whether money conscious enterprises were going to save a spot in their budget for a KPI dashboard.

In the third and final part of the history of Klipfolio, the team will emerge from the recession with new enterprise customers, and prepares to debut its long-awaited mobile BI dashboard.

Read Part 1 of the history here.

Check out the Visual History of Klipfolio.

The story of Klipfolio begins in early 2001 when Allan Wille and Peter Matthews recognized an opportunity for simplifying how people accessed information on the web. As Peter told the Ottawa Business Journal in 2002, "I kept catching myself wasting time online, checking out a ton of different sites each time I browsed the web." Like Peter, they knew that people were constantly checking multiple websites to retrieve one or two tidbits of data. Immediately, they recognized the potential for a tool that could set up the automatic retrieval of that data and then consolidate that data onto a single view. Their goal from the outset was to dramatically simplify how people monitored the information that mattered to them.

Allan and Peter knew that before they could bring their idea to life, they needed to bring on a CTO who would share their vision. Enter James Scott, a hot-shot software developer based in Ottawa whose talent and energy would help guide the technical development of Klipfolio Dashboard. With James Scott on board, Serence Inc (later renamed Klipfolio) was officially founded on August 2, 2001. With the trio assembled, work began on getting what would become version 1 of Klipfolio Dashboard into the market.

That's not to say that everything went smoothly for the trio. In fact, they all had to tighten their belts quite a bit and endure the trials of being a small start-up with a big idea. Not only did each of the founders agree to pitch in some cash for start-up capital, but they also agreed to not to take salaries for the first few months. Peter Matthews, avowed car enthusiast, even had to sell his beloved ride to generate some extra capital. Despite the lean times ahead, the trio stuck to their guns and set up shop in Allan Wille's basement.

By December 2001, the trio started beta testing for version 1 and the initial response was already very positive. This early version of Klipfolio Dashboard leveraged RSS and XML to allow users to organize multiple data feeds to populate a dashboard. The lynch-pin of these dashboards was an individual reporting device called a Klip. Each Klip presented a single tidbit of data, such as an RSS feed, and could be organized together with other, unique Klips on your dashboard. This idea still serves as the foundation for Klipfolio Dashboard.

Klipfolio Dashboard version 1 was released to the public on April 8th, 2002. Publicizing the event across multiple news outlets across Canada, the US, and the UK, the founding trio nearly became victims of their own success. They had projected Klipfolio Dashboard would have 4,000 downloads in its first month: they hit this target in 4 days. By May 6th, version 1 had already attracted 13,500 downloads! Intuitively, this may seem like extraordinary news (and it was), but the team was also worried about maintaining a high-standard of service. They wanted to make sure they were engaging with their customers and maintaining a lively public forum. In the end, the team was able to deal with this challenge and the forums became a bee-hive of activity.

Throughout 2002 and into 2003, Klipfolio Dashboard continued to evolve. One major addition to the application was the inclusion of a JavaScript-based semantic markup language that created relationships among disparate bits of data. These relationships allowed developers, for the first time, to create and modify Klips according to their own tastes. Rather than offering a prepackaged data source and visualization (like a widget), Klipfolio Dashboard became a development platform that let users and developers control everything about their Klips.

The early years were defined by the success of their product and by the search for paying customers. At its peak, the consumer product was receiving over 1000 downloads a day, with a forum that was a hive of activity. This success was a bit misleading, since the product hadn't generated a significant paying customer - something by the end of 2002 that the trio desperately needed. Despite the value and volume of activity the product generated, the team was forced to tighten their belts and continue work on an unfunded Klipfolio Dashboard.

In part 2 of the history of Klipfolio, we will see that financial success eventually came when the team was approached by a Fortune 1000 company (read part 2 to find out who!) to build branded dashboards. That success, however, only served to whet the team's appetite as they contemplated a bigger, bolder move.

The Visual History of Klipfolio

• Check out the Facebook Album!
• Check out the Google+ Album!

One of the most exciting and rewarding things you can do in business, I believe, is to bring an idea to life. The ups, downs, and unforgettable events that happen along the way are all part of the experience ‑ I wouldn't leave any part out.

And so it was, in late 2001, along with CXO Peter Matthews and CTO James Scott, that Serence Inc. was founded, and the wheels were set in motion.

Now, 10 years later, I have had the pleasure of watching our product and our business evolve. This experience has been as unique as it has been gratifying. I have always made a habit of scribbling down observations, and after 10 years - you can imagine - I have quite the collection. That's why I'd like to take this opportunity to share 10 of my personal and business observations captured over the past 10 years.

10. Innovate and push to improve

Everything changes and everything is always in motion. Keep this in mind, and know that change opens doors, even as it closes others. You always need to be on the lookout for new ideas, and ways to improve what you have. Create a culture of trying things; diligently measuring the results of experimentation and acting objectively based on those results. This doesn't just go for your product ‑ this goes for all aspects of your business. In a changing world, you never have just once chance.

9. Truth, trust, and benefit

Just like in life, relationships need to be fair, honest, and of benefit to both parties. It is much better to be sincere and upfront about your expectations. Make sure to extend this courtesy to your customers and employees, too! Negotiations are bound for failure unless both parties seek out and address the inequities involved. Not only does it go a long way in building mutual respect and trust (two of the most valuable currencies in business), it will help avoid a relationship going sour down the road. Additionally, maintaining trust and earning respect is about clearly stating what you are going to do, and then doing it.

8. Seek simplicity and clarity

Complexity is not impressive, it's oppressive. Simplicity must be pervasive and visible in each one of your business' actions, whether it is related to product innovation or a new business strategy. People simply don't have time to interpret intricate and hard-to-read blueprints; people want something that is straightforward, honest, and, above-all, easy-to-understand. If the target audience doesn't "get" your business or your product, you have some work to do. Simplicity requires effort up front, but it will always pay dividends over the long term.

7. The foundation for solutions

In my experience as a CEO, I've learned that finding solutions is about focusing on the problem, the challenge, and the scenario. This goes as much for developing your product as it does for working with your colleagues. Resist the temptation to present solutions yourself, as it will stifle creativity. My role is to guide decision making and assist in problem solving. I find it helpful to remember a line from George Patton: "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

6. Surround yourself with the right people

I've been incredibly fortunate to work with a truly talented group of people whom I value as friends and colleagues. It takes time to assemble the perfect team, some trial and error, and, of course, understanding what competencies and beliefs you want in your people. Hire the right people ‑ those with vision, passion, and discipline ‑ and you'll find that you will require less management in your hierarchy, have a team of ambassadors, and are able to adapt to changes quicker.

5. Choose the right customers

Just as you need to be careful about hiring the right people, it is important to choose the right customers. You need to develop an ideal customer profile, and have plans to cut those that are outside of the target, distracting you, or are not profitable. This may sound callous, but the right customer should compliment your business just as you compliment and benefit their business. It would be hard to overstress the need to build even tighter, more open relationships with your best customers. It's amazing and humbling what they will give you in return!

4. Focus on one thing, and do it really well

I can understand the temptation of some businesses to branch out and attempt to be a jack-of-all-trades. The problem with trying to do too many things at once is that you will never master any one trade. I think it is sound advice to take stock of what you know you can be really good at, then resolve to do it better than anyone else. This will make it easier for your customers, the press, analysts, and your employees to identify who you are and what you bring to the table.

3. Encourage life balance

I still remember the early days when we had first founded Serence Inc. and were working upwards of 12-16 hours a day. We kept that pace for longer than I'd like to admit, and I learned an incredibly valuable lesson from this experience: encourage life balance. You have to allow time to decompress and switch gears; you also have to encourage employees to think this way as well. When you are in the office, focus and work effectively, but don't forget to go home at the end of the day. It's alright if you don't check your work email every night!

2. The good CEO

In my role as CEO for Klipfolio, I've had the opportunity to grow and learn a lot over the last 10 years. History has shown that all too often employees will blindly follow the larger-than-life CEO - and it is your responsibility to remind them that the CEO is not a superstar. Businesses with this type of mentality, where leadership holds all the cards, will breed an environment of submission and decision paralysis.

You need to strike a fine balance in order to be a good CEO. Encourage independent, creative thinking and motivate decision-making. But you also have to be as omnipresent, connected, and available as possible. Be involved where you are needed and guide rather than direct, listen more than you communicate. Above all, when you get up in the morning you have to love your job and be honoured to work for your employees.

1. Use failure and adversity to its fullest

It's a fact of business: good times will come and go. As a business owner, you are destined to deal with a myriad of setbacks and challenges, large and small. Get used to it!

Some of the smartest and best decisions are made as a result of learning from your failures. Use them to your advantage as opposed to ignoring or sugar-coating issues. Similarly, challenges and necessities are unique in their ability to focus decision-making and help you get your priorities straight. Face your challenges head-on and transparently, and you will always be able to learn from them and come out stronger and smarter.

We are continuing to celebrate 10 years in business this week and have something really special in store for you! I can't divulge what it is quite yet, but I promise it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, why not check out the Visual History of Klipfolio, with new images added daily (check out our Facebook Album and our Google+ Album).

Last week was a super productive week, so let's take a moment to catch up with all things Klipfolio.

Sales of Klipfolio's Business Intelligence Dashboards Up 2.3X in 2011

2011 was one of the most successful in our company's history, with big wins, new global partnerships, and the release of Klipfolio's mobile BI (business intelligence) dashboard. This press release created a lot of buzz, especially on Twitter.

Read the full story here: Klipfolio Sales Up YoY 2.3X.

New Support Articles

We've added some great new support articles for Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile. Check out these resources:

• How do I use AutoMate to schedule updates of my data sources?
• How do I use Campaign Monitor as my data source?
• How do I use MailChimp as my data source?

Visual History of Klipfolio

We've uploaded a ton of great images with descriptive captions guiding you through the evolution of Klipfolio Dashboard.

• The Facebook Album
• The Google+ Album

Sneak Peak at Visual History

We've kicked off our 10 year celebrations on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+! We are leading with the visual history of Klipfolio, a collection of images showing the evolution of Klipfolio Dashboard from 2001 to present.

The evolution of Klipfolio Dashboard is intimately connected to the idea of data visibility. The impetus that drove the founders in 2001 is that there should be a way to collect disparate data sources and display them on a single view. Throughout the visual history, you will see how Klipfolio Dashboard evolved to tackle this problem first at a consumer level, and then at the enterprise level.

I will leave you for now with another preview of our visual history.

Don't forget to check out these pages for the lastest Klipfolio news!

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+
• LinkedIn

All month, we are going to celebrate Klipfolio's 10^th year in business. Okay, so technically we reached that milestone in 2011. But 2011 was perhaps the busiest year in the company's history (what with the beta and release of Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile), so we needed some time to collect our thoughts and properly celebrate this achievement. In fact, as we closed out 2011, we got a bit of good news that puts this milestone into perspective: Klipfolio had 2.3 YoY growth in 2011!

We invite you to enjoy the celebrations with us all month long. We've got some great plans in the works, including a visual history of Klipfolio that has started today on our Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn pages.

I am excited to share the visual history of Klipfolio with you, because our products have evolved so much. We've come a long ways in addressing the challenges of data visibility and the visual history demonstrates how we've addressed this challenge over the years. For the first time, we are releasing some of the orginal drawings for Klipfolio Dashboard.

I'll leave you with a sneak-peek of one of the images we'll be sharing this month. This is actually one of the original drawings for version 1 of Klipfolio Dashboard.

Don't forget to check out these pages for the lastest Klipfolio news!

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+
• LinkedIn

Hello fellow dashboard enthusiasts! I just wanted to give everyone a quick update about some changes we've made to Klipfolio.com.

We have decided to create a new Resources seciton. This was formerly a subsection of our About section, and includes much of the same information as it did before. This change is designed to streamline site navigation and make it easier to find exactly what you are looking for when you navigate to Klipfolio.com.

Here's an overview of the topics you can expect to find in each section:

Resources

• The Official KlipBlog
• Article & Best Practices
• Common Use Cases
• Top 5 reasons to deploy Klipfolio Dashboard
• Scoreboard, our monthly magazine
• Customer Profiles

About

• The Latest Klipfolio News
• Additional Services
• A list of Klipfolio's partners
• OEM Dashboard Software
• Career Opportunities

Hopefully this makes navigating Klipfolio.com a little bit easier for everyone!

Headline: Klipfolio Dashboard for web and mobile readies for general availability (Sep 14)

Headline: Klipfolio Dashboard for Web and Mobile Launches (Sep 27)

Headline: Branding is Here - Klipfolio Dashboard Gets Requested Feature and Significant Update (Dec 05)

Headline: Mobile BI Dashboard Extends Support for Facebook API (Dec 20)

No surprises here. The launch of Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile is the top news maker for 2011. As you can tell by the volume of headlines dedicated to the launch and subsequent feature-adds, this story simply has to be #1. But it isn't just the press dedicated to this event that made it so special. It was the year-long alpha and six month beta where we worked with the largest and most security conscious organizations in the world to get Klipfolio Dashboard up to the starting line. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when our launch turned out to be a huge success. (See #2. Big wins, new customers)

The sub-plot of this story has been the ongoing development of our mobile BI dashboard. We love customer feedback, and provide an awesome forum where users can submit and vote on new ideas. This feedback drives the development of new features. Among the biggest feature-adds this year is the new Facebook connector, allowing you to access your feed and insights. Expect many more great new features coming in 2012!

Extra! Extra!

Okay, so you probably already know that we really like to show off our products using video. The launch was no different, and we took the opportunity to show off what the mobile dashboard can do. If you are curious about Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile, then check out this playlist to see what Klipfolio Dashboard can do!

We like our customers big, and are very proud by the company we keep. The world's largest organizations and brands rely on Klipfolio Dashboard every day to provide a clear and accurate view of key performance indicators across their businesses.

Here is a selection I'm sure you will be familiar with: Aviva, the biggest insurance company in the UK; the world's number one silicone chip maker; the largest global restaurant company; the world's most recognized breakfast cereal brand; and Boeing, the largest aerospace manufacturer.

Extra! Extra!

Aviva's Daniel Steel agreed to talk to us so that we could take a look at how his department uses Klipfolio Dashboard. It was a fascinating glimpse into the uber-busy environment of Aviva's IT Service Desk. Want to learn how Aviva reduced data aggregation costs while increasing data visibility? Check out Aviva's customer profile to learn more.

Headline: Business Intelligence Expert Vizyx Chooses Klipfolio Dashboard for Web and Mobile (Nov 8)

Headline: MAP Teams Signs Indonesian Sales and Service Agreement with Klipfolio (Nov 14)

Headline: Brazilian Business Intelligence Expert, Arbit, Inks Partnership With Klipfolio (Dec 12)

Our partner program got off to a great start this year. Klipfolio welcomed new partners Vizyx (USA), Arbit (Brazil), and MAP Team (Indonesia) to the team - each of them sporting early wins with enterprise customers. That's not all. We've got more coming in 2012, including a global online agency and representation down-under.

These key partnerships will help to ensure the smooth deployment of Klipfolio Dashboard (web-mobile and desktop) to enterprises around the world. Allan Wille, CEO and President of Klipfolio, had this to add: "Key partners like we've gained in 2011 provide us with the global reach and the feedback we need to deliver the best KPI dashboards."

Extra! Extra!

Working with Vizyx, Arbit, and MAP Team has been a lot of fun so far. We've had the opportunity to talk to each of our partners to get their feedback on what new means to them.

Check out what they have to say:

• Bill French, Founder of Vizyx
• Sam Wiguna, CEO of MAP Team
• Eduardo Dutra, CEO of Arbit

Headline: Klipfolio Dashboard 6.0 Adds Centralized Management

Headline: Deploy KPI Dashboards Faster with Developer Edition 6.0

With all the attention that our web and mobile offering is getting, it may appear that we've forgotten about Klipfolio Dashboard for the desktop. That couldn't be more wrong. The release of desktop dashboard 6.0 marks an important step forward in the capabilities of Klipfolio Dashboard for the desktop and Klipfolio Developer Edition.

Desktop Dashboard 6.0 brought a host of new features to our customers, including more self-serve options, making it easier for organizations to manage their KPIs. On top of that, Dashboard Manager streamlines the day-to-day management of Klipfolio Dashboard. These updates made headlines this year, and you can expect more headlines for our Desktop Dashboard next year.

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Whenever we introduce new features into our dashboard we love to make a video to show you what you can expect the next time you log in. We went the extra mile in this video, so why not check it out these two videos on our YouTube channel: Klipfolio Dashboard Manager and Refine, Filter, and Find.

2011 has been an important year here at Klipfolio and we are very optimistic about the coming year. But before we take a look ahead at 2012, I thought it would be cool to look back at this past year.

If you've wandered over to our Press Room lately, then you've probably noticed this has been a year of news makers at Klipfolio. Let's take a look at Klipfolios Top 5 News Makers.

Headline: Klipfolio Announces Beta For New Cloud-Based KPI Dashboard

On June 22, 2011 Klipfolio announced the beta program for its web and mobile KPI dashboard. In the office, everyone collectively held their breath waiting to see if the beta would take off. After all, we were anxious to see if our hard work during the year long alpha would yield real results. In the end, the beta release proved to be a big success.

The development of Klipfolio Dashboard web and mobile has been a true-user driven process, involving the world's largest brands and some of the most conservative and security conscious organizations. Their input throughout the Alpha and Beta is baked into the DNA of our mobile KPI dashboard.

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The first grainy photos of Klipfolio Dashboard released on Facebook in May 2011 hinted at the upcoming Beta. Check out the Facebook Album dedicated to this News Maker.

Klipfolio CEO Allan Wille and CTO James Scott presenters at iOpener 2011 conference.

Last month, Klipfolio was represented at the iOpener 2011 conference by CEO Allan Wille and CTO James Scott. At the top of the agenda was the impact of mobility and the cloud on emergent technology. Klipfolio took the opportunity to showcase Klipfolio Dashboard for the web and mobile. By demonstrating how easy it was to set up a dashboard on mobile devices like the iPad, Klipfolio was able to demonstrate its thought leadership. Actually, Klipfolio Dashboard stole the show!

"By adopting technology that is hosted in the cloud, we are able to bring a hitherto unknown degree of mobility to the software we depend on," Klipfolio's CEO and President Allan Wille says. "Mobility and the cloud isn't just about the convenience of accessing your software and data on your iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, or Android device. It is about being able to effectively complete the same type of tasks on your mobile device as you do on your desktop."

The organizers of the event, i.c.stars (Inner City Computer Stars), are dedicated to providing opportunities for low-income young adults to break into the technology business. "This is a great program for helping motivated young people gain a foothold in the IT sector," Klipfolio's CTO James Scott says. "...one that we were proud to sponsor."

I have a well-referenced book in my library at work, Wayne Eckerson's "Performance Dashboards." Although it is now about five years old—and aging, given how quickly the BI industry is advancing—I continue to use it and discover new ideas.

If you've got his book, check out chapter 6. It classifies three types of performance dashboards: Operational, Tactical, and Strategic.

In a nutshell, Wayne defines Operational Dashboards as being focused on exception alerting, based on real-time or transactional data. It's up to the user or a script to then act upon this opportunity or issue. OK, I'm with him so far.

Tactical Dashboards display data that is not quite as real-time as operational dashboards, and are generally not evaluated against absolute conditions. Contextual information, and the ability to explore the data, tends to guide users to the decision process.

Strategic Dashboards, according to Wayne, track performance against high-level objectives. As a result, these dashboards tend to summarize performance over the past month, quarter, or year. Strategic objectives are usually also the result of many underlying metrics, and require social analysis to digest properly.

At Klipfolio, we tend to use the terms operational and tactical interchangeably. If, instead of using the naming conventions, we simply arrange these dashboards on a time continuum—real-time, daily, and monthly—this aligns better with what's actually happening. (For the sake of definition, let's ignore how frequently the data gets refreshed, because after all, each of these dashboards can accept real-time data.)

The real-time dashboard is likely to be quite volatile, its data changing frequently throughout the day, but it can be fully trusted to present an accurate snapshot of what is happening right now. This is your "speedometer." It's also one of the most easily understood dashboards, applicable to a wide range of employees for various tasks. The logic for this type of a dashboard is simple. But don't mistake simple and easy for less value. Would you want to drive without your speedometer?

The daily dashboard settles down considerably. We're now looking at an aggregated, summarized, or averaged view of data. Because this presentation tends to smooth the outliers, we can start comparing it against historical values, benchmarks, and goals without having a panic attack every time the data refreshes. This would be your "average trip fuel consumption" metric. The daily dashboard allows you to make informed decisions. Because it's usually a collection of real-time data points over time, users of this dashboard have a little bit of depth to play with, and they can ask questions of the data.

The monthly dashboard is the most difficult one to influence. It's made up of many data points, rolled up into a key business metric, a reflection of many processes and initiatives. Although this type of dashboard or scorecard is most associated with executive management, it is tremendously valuable to communicate these KPIs to the entire organization, to make sure everyone's rowing in the same direction. Because of the voluminous data that feeds these dashboards, the requirement to ask questions of the data is of utmost importance. The analysis and commentary on these values is often as important as the metric itself.

Given the persistent nature of Klipfolio Dashboard, we tend to see more of the real-time and daily dashboards (or according to Wayne's definitions, the operational and tactical dashboards). And for that matter, we find that customers consider the terms real-time, operational and tactical analogous as well. 

Wayne goes on to describe which dashboards tend to be the most popular, and which ones amass the most users. Five years ago, strategic dashboards captured the popularity vote (in the number of firms having deployed this type). However, with the growth of operational BI outpacing traditional BI, I wonder if it's still in top spot. Certainly there is no question about which dashboards capture the greatest audience ... you just need to follow the pyramid of employment to know that tactical and operational dashboards out-number strategic ones. Some of our customer deployments range in the tens of thousands.

No matter what you call them, performance dashboards are seeing incredible growth. And, as the accessibility, ease of use, self-service, and costs become more competitive, this trend is not likely to slow down.

What are your thoughts on dashboard types and naming conventions? Let us know.

Welcome to Klipfolio Inc. Over the years people like you have given us invaluable feedback on our products, market-positioning and branding. After some serious soul searching, market research, and endless meetings, we've bowed to the equity, recognition and momentum associated with the Klipfolio brand. Based on your feedback, we've retired the Serence brand and given the Klipfolio brand a makeover that exudes confidence while remaining clean, simple and professional.

This move consolidates our two core lines of business under the Klipfolio banner as Klipfolio Dashboard and Klipfolio Branded Desktop Applications. The consumer version of Klipfolio, and its vibrant community, continue as Klipfolio Personal Dashboard. This active and growing user community continues to be a great source of ideas and inspiration for us - thanks.

We're really looking forward to moving into 2009 as Klipfolio, Inc. and I'm eager to hear from you on how the new look feel comes across. Read more about this announcement in today's press release.

Cheers
Allan

Sometimes even the most exciting desktop dashboarding activity needs a shot of adrenaline to keep things interesting. To that end, the Serence development team turned the computers off for an afternoon and headed for the track. The high-speed karting track that is. Nothing helps to sort out those persistent coding or feature debates among team members like cutting one another off in the corners at 75km/h!

The crew at Top Karting have their own kind of business intelligence system to monitor race speed, lap time, and other variables. After a race you can compare your numbers with other racers. What they really need is a miniature dashboard on their karts so that you monitor those KPIs in real time and take immediate corrective action - like side-swiping the CEO on the straight stretch to slow him down some. Take that Allan!

There are about 250 folks here at the Widget Summit, a two day conference for companies that are building, syndicating, tracking, and monetizing Widgets.

I was on the the enterprise widget panel (a new addition to this year's conference) yesterday morning with Jeff Ragusa from Google Apps Solutions.

Jeff spoke about their over-arching web-based platform for search, e-mail, and portals. I focused on our real-world successes; customers who are deriving value from a desktop dashboard within the enterprise. It was great to be able to talk about our customers (Lufthansa, PNC, EMC, and IBM) and their deployment of our product.

Some of the questions we received were: "How do third party data sources help deploy widgets within the enterprise?" While Google said that enterprise is interested in adding third-party data, our experience suggests a different answer. In our experience, when the IT group deploys a dashboard, they are laser focused on getting their internal business data on the employee's desktops, and their data alone. In fact, they want a product they can completely lockdown, manage the deployment, and keep everything within the firewall.

I ended up chatting with quite a few companies afterwards about widgets in the enterprise, and the message was the same: download and try KlipFolio yourselves. It's easy to get your data into the product and, when you want to deploy it, we have a product called KlipFolio Enterprise that can help.

Here are some themes we saw at the conference:

There are companies springing up to support the widget vendors.
Last year there were just the widget vendors, this year there are companies that are springing up to service the widget vendors. Specifically, tracking widgets and managing ads in widgets.

No one seems to be making much money yet.
The business models for widgets (i.e. companies that are in the business of building widgets) are still being worked out. It's early days as developers move from stand-alone widget platforms to integrate with social networks.

Enterprise is still early days.
There was lots of interest in our panel session, but not many companies had started using widgets in the enterprise yet. Yet many of them could see the value of having a dashboard and alerting platform.

Widget providers are starting to go vertical.
The gydget platform was focused just on the entertainment space.

Facebook is making a big impact.
Over half the web-based widget providers talked about their experience creating widgets for FaceBook. Two comapnies that were seeing big update were rockyou.com and slide.com .

The success with FaceBook APIs are being replicated across the social networks
Many folks commented they are seeing (or expect to see) the other social networks open their platform.


Fred

Well, James and I got home yesterday morning (after being stranded in Washington overnight) from the first and hopefully annual Widgets Live! show in San Francisco. It was great. Weather, food, and other techies!

Some of the highlights included hearing Arlo Rose speak about the inspiration and vision behind Konfabulator (now the Yahoo Widget Engine). Arlo humbled the crowd by pointing out the old Mac OS Control Strip, which about 10 years ago was putting little widgets on the desktop (which kinda look like Klips - small, simple and efficient).

We also enjoyed hearing about what the other desktop engines were up to. Pretty much all the same direction from Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google as far as their widgets, panels and gadgets go ... graphically rich mini-applications that (for now) are desktop-only. Having said that though, it seems all of the big players are looking at making their current desktop solutions extend to additional platforms (ie: browser, mobile, tv -- yes, Yahoo! is technically Mac and PC).

It was cool also to see what Nokia (Widsets) and Opera were working on as they both presented their mobile projects. Synchronization was strangely not really touched upon by these two presenters, something we think will be pretty important as users move between their desktop and mobile devices.

And then yes, we got to reveal our goods to the crowd--announcing KlipFolio 4, as small as ever and now with the tiniest sidebar around, and the first phase of our move into mobile, showcasing a synchronized prototype of KlipFolio running on a Nokia smartphone running Symbian.

James and I also had a great time heading out to the bar with everyone after the event (at the Cliff) and then for an incredible Sushi dinner (at Blowfish Sushi).

Can't wait until next time!

Great software always has a loyal user community who become long-time users and advocates.

Great software companies also have customers who use their software in very measurable ways. For our customers, these measurable ‘corporate benefits’ usually boil down saving costs and increasing revenues.


While it’s not always visible to our users, Serence builds and licenses customized versions of KlipFolio. These adaptations, called KlipFolio Branded , makes visible our customer’s brand, content, and value on the desktop, from startup to shutdown. In-turn, their users have a stronger relationship with that company and visit their site more frequently; helping them save costs, and increase revenues.

The neat thing is, and reason we are sharing this with you, is that all of our successful customers started out being KlipFolio users first. The folks at Staples, Intel, and Comcast all started out using KlipFolio as end-users first – and then came to being customers. So, as you’ve already noticed, we’re increasing awareness of KlipFolio Branded through placing banners on klipfolio.com.


Happy users are our best advocates. If you work somewhere that could benefit from KlipFolio Branded , let us know. Click on one of the banners and find our more.

September always feels like the summer is coming to a close - even though it's a beautiful day outside and we are still a few weeks away from anything looking remotely like fall. Also, September usually brings with it a new wave of activity, and today was certainly no exception.

So, I'll give you a quick run-down:
Most importantly, we released an update to KlipFolio 3.1. Build 24 has a few niceties added and fixes a few image and tooltip related bugs. You can see the release notes here.

Then, we've been building Klips like crazy. Check out the new Gmail Klip, a new NikonCafe Photo Galleries Klip, and we helped Digital Trends and Mr.Swing launch Klips also. There are a bunch of new Klips we are finishing off for next week also, so stay tuned.

Then, on the business side of things, and because we need to pay the bills too, the phones have been off-the-hook with customers and new prospects coming back to life after the summer holidays. Not that I'm complaining, this is all good stuff.

It's a good thing we have a long weekend coming up (in Canada).

Have a great long, or short weekend.

Allan

Checking out KlipFolio.com today, it took me a few moments to realize why I thought something was different. The Google Ads at KlipFolio.com are gone!

It's a subtle change, but it makes the site cleaner and, especially on the Klip Info pages, it exposes the comments more than before (the Ads used to be just above the comments section).

It was a business decision to remove them and although I can't say for sure there will never be ads at KlipFolio.com, for now, they are gone.
  

Our R&D team is growing again. We added a developer last February, we've got another one starting next Monday, June 19th, and we now have an open req for an interface designer. Here is the job description. Know anybody?

With the added horsepower in R&D, we'll be able to focus more effort on KlipFolio, advancing features and moving through the roadmap much faster than before.

Cheers
Allan