Ankit Anand

Maintainer, SigNoz

About TableFlow

TableFlow is a SaaS platform backed by YCombinator that automates the import of CSV and PDF files for customer onboarding, turning unstructured documents into structured data seamlessly. As a company focused on delivering a smooth user experience, TableFlow needed a robust observability solution to ensure the stability and reliability of its services.

The Challenge - CloudWatch’s lack of user-friendly log management

When TableFlow was building its infrastructure, it quickly became apparent that traditional logging tools like CloudWatch weren’t meeting their needs. CloudWatch’s lack of user-friendly log management made it difficult to diagnose and resolve issues efficiently. As Eric, Co-Founder of TableFlow, explains:

"Monitoring and observability have always been crucial for us, especially when it comes to knowing what went wrong and being able to quickly find and resolve issues. Before SigNoz, CloudWatch was difficult to use for log management, and it wasn’t giving us the insights we needed.”

Additionally, Tableflow wanted a cost-effective solution that would work as it scaled to more users. Tools like DataDog become prohibitively expensive with scale.

Why is Observability important to Tableflow?

Observability is crucial to TableFlow because it ensures platform stability, enabling the team to quickly identify and resolve issues before they impact users. Given that TableFlow handles critical data processing during customer onboarding, any downtime or errors can significantly disrupt user experience.

Why did you choose SigNoz?

"SigNoz checked all the boxes for us: it’s open-source, feature-rich, and comes at a price point that makes sense for us. Plus, it integrates well with our existing systems, making the transition smooth."

— Eric Ciminelli, Co-Founder, TableFlow

When evaluating observability tools, TableFlow chose SigNoz for several key reasons:

1. Feature-Rich:

   SigNoz offered a comprehensive set of observability features, including detailed logging and alerting capabilities, that met all of TableFlow’s requirements for maintaining platform stability.

2. Open-Source Alignment:

   SigNoz’s open-source nature perfectly aligned with TableFlow’s tech stack, which relies heavily on open-source components, making it a seamless fit within their existing infrastructure.

3. Cost-Effectiveness:

   Compared to other solutions, SigNoz provided all the necessary observability features at a price point that was affordable for a growing company like TableFlow, allowing them to scale without incurring prohibitive costs.

Implemented SigNoz for logging and alerting

TableFlow implemented SigNoz primarily for logging and alerting. They utilized SigNoz’s ability to set up precise alerting systems based on log severity levels, which was crucial for their engineering team.

"We set up alerts based on log severity levels, which has been crucial for our engineering team. If an error log comes through, we get notified immediately, allowing us to address the issue before it impacts our users.”

— Eric

TableFlow also integrated SigNoz with their AWS infrastructure, using it alongside CloudWatch, but found SigNoz much more effective for log management.

"SigNoz has been instrumental in helping us maintain platform stability. The most significant benefit has been the ability to quickly surface the information we need from logs and alerts.”

— Eric

SigNoz improved Tableflow’s reliability with streamlined log management

Since implementing SigNoz, TableFlow has seen several improvements:

• Faster Issue Resolution:

  SigNoz’s log management tools have made it much easier to diagnose and resolve issues, ensuring minimal downtime and maintaining high levels of service reliability.

• Streamlined Log Management:

  SigNoz’s user-friendly interface allows TableFlow to quickly access and analyze logs, something that was cumbersome with CloudWatch.

• Improved Sleep Quality:

  As Eric humorously noted, SigNoz has helped him “sleep well at night” by providing peace of mind that their systems are being monitored effectively.

"SigNoz helps me sleep well at night knowing that things are working, and if something doesn’t happen to go wrong, we’re able to quickly resolve it.”

— Eric

Looking Ahead - Planning to expand usage to APM & Tracing

While TableFlow currently uses SigNoz primarily for logs and alerts, they are planning to expand its use. As the company continues to grow, they are exploring additional features like detailed performance monitoring and tracing to further enhance their observability capabilities.

"As we scale, performance monitoring and detailed tracing will become more of a priority for us, and we plan to leverage SigNoz for these as well.”

— Eric

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