Business intelligence software provider ThoughtSpot Inc. is adding a new feature called SearchIQ in the latest release of its platform today.

The update provides natural language processing and search-by-voice capabilities via an intelligent layer that sits atop of ThoughtSpot’s existing relational search engine. What this means is that users can now ask questions about their data in their natural voice and get answers back in seconds.

ThoughtSpot has been attempting to disrupt a business intelligence industry dominated by incumbents such as Tableau Software Inc. and Qlik Inc. with a search-driven analytics platform that uses relational search technology to allow enterprises to analyze their data. The company claims its platform processes BI and analytics data in seconds, enabling users to cut reporting backlogs by up to 90 percent.

One of its unique capabilities is a feature called SpotIQ, which uses an in-memory calculation engine called Falcon to run thousands of queries on billions of rows of data to ferret out insights that it says a business user would find interesting but wouldn’t know to ask about. The machine learning-based engine analyzes queries from across the organization to surface these reports.

ThoughtSpot’s capabilities are useful enough that it’s been backed to the hilt by venture capitalists, which have been falling over themselves to throw money at the company. In its most recent Series D funding round in May, it grabbed $145 million from investors that included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Future Fund, General Catalyst Partners LLC and Khosla Ventures LLC. In total, the company has raised $306 million since its founding in 2012.

The addition of SearchIQ is designed to complement SpotIQ’s capabilities and make life easier for many of its users who are already embracing conversational interfaces and voice technology, the company said. With SearchIQ, users can effectively “converse” with their data, and immediately respond to any insights the platform generates, ask for clarification and more.

“Leading businesses today recognize the power of data and the importance of making key insights more available throughout their entire organization,” Sudheesh Nair, ThoughtSpot’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “But it only works when the tools to identify these insights are simple, intuitive and easy for everyone to use — from the least technical employees, all the way up to the C-suite.”

Image: ThoughtSpot