What We Learned About Trying Visier for Free: A Q&A With Platform VP Ike Bennion

To celebrate the launch of the free trial of Alpine by Visier, the people analytics platform that Visier People® is built on, we sat down with Ike Bennion, vice president of platform and platform marketing at Visier, to learn more about how the Alpine platform will help users adapt and extend their people analytics to drive even more business impact.  

Visier: Hi, Ike! Give us some background on why you are so excited about opening up Visier to free trial users.

Ike: So, imagine a world where every team member, including the CEO, can instantly find answers to their data queries as effortlessly as typing a message. Envision always-on insights, even with constant migrations, system transitions, or organizational changes. And then imagine if, within less than a year of deploying your data and analytics platform, you could gain access to over 4,000 calculated metrics and a comprehensive content library? And all distributed securely with a pre-built security and governance model?

Visier: I’m imagining and I suspect you’re describing our flagship product?

Ike: Yep, it’s Visier People, our flagship product used today by global enterprises like Panasonic, CommonSpirit Health, and Experian. We built and designed it for the end-to-end deployment of people analytics to modern enterprises to make better decisions across the employee lifecycle and to show the attributes of teams that are the most successful in driving profit. And we’re continuing to build to give people analytics functions more flexibility, autonomy, and power to drive towards the unique objectives of their organizations. 

Visier: How does Alpine by Visier fit into this? How does it expand on the mission of demonstrating the power that people have in “driving business impact,” as we like to say?

Ike: Well, to truly achieve that mission we know we can’t go it alone. We’ve taken a platform orientation to allow for easier building both on top of our applications and also with the technical components we’ve honed and refined over 14 years. Our hope is organizations can start to weave their business data in with their people insights to show a clearer and more detailed picture of how to best empower people to drive growth.

Visier: And, in order to “weave” business or operational data in with people insights, users need to be able to build on what we’ve started—is that right? 

Ike: Exactly. People analytics is open to builders who can leverage the technologies we’ve built to drive people analytics in our platform, Alpine by Visier. There are already organizations that are driving deeply differentiated analytics like Paycor, Insperity, Betterworks, and Degreed. 

Visier: You just mentioned some very important customers who are leveraging the Visier platform within their own products. Is Alpine by Visier available to enterprise customers as well?  

Ike: Yes. It’s open to any builder. That’s why we wanted to offer a free trial so that technical users can try it out to see the possibilities. 

Visier: So, what are the possibilities? What makes our platform unique? 

Ike: Our platform is designed to navigate the complexities of data management with unparalleled ease. It adeptly handles data inconsistencies, varying granularity levels, and unpredictable upload schedules without missing a beat. Its proficiency in event detection and logical data organization is unmatched, ensuring data integrity and usability at all times.

Visier: Sounds quite robust. I think most people who are familiar with Visier associate our products with analytics primarily. Is this different?

Ike: It’s actually just an extension of what we’ve always been doing. Alpine by Visier and the solutions that have been built on top of it like Visier People are not just another analytics tool. They are a comprehensive, end-to-end solution, crafted over 14 years, to serve the needs of both expansive enterprises and nimble startups. 

Visier: So, what’s “in the box,” so to speak? 

Ike: A lot! Alpine by Visier is an all-in-one, seamlessly integrated data and analytics stack. It comes pre-equipped with advanced security and governance frameworks and boasts a native generative AI, Vee, that adapts to data changes without needing constant retraining—even in scenarios as complex as GDPR compliance.

Visier: I’ve heard you mention a “people data mart” when talking about the platform. Can you explain what that means? 

Ike: Sure. The platform stands out by offering a dedicated location where analytics teams can access precalculated, reliable people metrics, underlying data and more to use in their projects, Departments like Marketing, Finance, and Operations can immediately incorporate people data directly through popular tools like PowerBI and Tableau.

Visier: What would you say to those who may be skeptical of what you’re describing?

Ike: I’d say, “You’re right to question.” Every savvy technology evaluator does—and they should. We understand that actions speak louder than words. That’s why we’re offering an exclusive opportunity to explore our people analytics technologies firsthand, at no cost, so they can dive into a guided, interactive trial designed to showcase our platform’s capabilities and ease of use. 

Visier: How does the free trial work? 

Ike: Users will have 30 days to experience firsthand how Visier People lets them build, extend, and scale their people analytics with unparalleled flexibility in their own secure sandbox environment. 

Visier: Can they use their own data during the trial?

Ike: To make it easy we’ve provided sample data that’s typical for an HRIS export, but they can use other datasets.

Visier: Are users on their own, or are we offering any support during the 30-day trial? 

Ike: No, they’re not on their own. In fact, they’ll have full access to Visier documentation, our community, and even email support. 

Visier. Sounds like a no-brainer. How do people sign up for the free trial, Ike?

Ike: Go to Visier.com/sandbox/ and sign up and for FAQs to go deeper into what to expect. 

Visier: Thanks, Ike!