Why visibility and precision matter

The cutting edge of computing technology has always been used to make sense of large amounts of information, but it moves pretty fast.  Data entry used to involve punching cards; modern databases can collect millions of pieces of information in the blink of an eye.  Yet we still often find that our questions about data seem tough to answer.  Numbers sit in front of our eyes, but it’s not clear what the next step is or should be.

It’s a pretty universal problem; you probably face this when you buy a ticket to an event online or when you pay your cable bill.  Why is the bill greater than the face value of the ticket?  Can I reduce my “regulatory recovery fee” by canceling a premium channel or two, or is it time to cancel cable TV altogether?  Did technology help us, or did it make these bills more confusing?  But as frustrating as those questions can be, they pale in comparison to the questions rising from a glance at your cloud services invoices.

Caliper helps you navigate the complexity of your cloud spending.  We leverage the power of visual analytics to provide a simple, easy-to-understand user interface.  Our graphs and charts aren’t just pretty pictures; if you see something interesting, chances are you can double-click on it to drill in deeper.  We adjust our interface based on the product you are analyzing and show only the relevant information.  And if you make a mistake, or if you’re ready to look at something new, Caliper makes it trivial to make adjustments or go back a step.

We may show a lot of charts, but that’s not really the core of what our product is; we know most people just want to ask questions about their data.  Caliper uses graphics to make surprising results stand out, not to force you to think about which axis is X and which one is Y.  The focus is on the numbers and how they break down, how they change, how they compare to each other.

Of course, Caliper isn’t just visual analytics.  It’s purpose-built analytics.  We’ve spent time understanding the details of the products you use most, and we’ll keep at it.  We know when you’re asking questions about compute spending and how to break that down.  When the topic shifts to cloud storage, we know the model is different and we’re ready.  And when new products start to become a bigger part of your questions, we’ll be working hard to understand them too.

— Michael Arvold, CTO and Co-Founder at Millworks Analytics