This blog breaks down why go-to-market teams often outgrow traditional enterprise search tools like Glean—and how Tenali AI gives sales reps, enablement, and RevOps what they actually need: real-time answers, not links. We compare both tools across setup, integrations, data freshness, and on-call performance—with real examples from live sales scenarios.
You deployed Glean to bring order to chaos. And for a while, it helped—your docs got indexed, Slack got searchable, and your team stopped asking, “Where’s that deck?”
But here's the thing:
Your sales reps are still saying, “I’ll get back to you.”
Your enablement content is still collecting dust.
Your SEs are still getting pulled into basic calls.
If you're nodding quietly, you're not alone.
Glean is a horizontal enterprise search platform. It’s great at surfacing content. But for go-to-market teams, search alone isn’t enough. You need answers. You need context. You need confidence on the call, not just after it.
That’s where Tenali comes in.
From Search to Sales Readiness
Tenali isn’t built to organize your intranet. It’s built to help reps win deals.
While Glean is great at finding documents, Tenali is designed to answer questions—exactly the way a seasoned sales engineer would. Let’s break that down.
🔁 Real Questions, Real Differences
Here’s what happens when reps ask the same question—once with Glean, once with Tenali.
Q: Do you integrate with Varicent?
- Glean Answer: No
- Impact: The rep says that, the deal dies.
- Tenali Answer: We don’t integrate directly with Varicent, but our SAP sync is so seamless that your Varicent commissions can be pulled up in near real-time.
- Impact: Same fact. Framed like a solution engineer. The deal moves forward.
Q: What’s your SLA for support?
- Glean Answer: Returns a 12-page legal document.
- Impact: The rep says “I’ll follow up.”
- Tenali Answer: Our SLA is <2 hours for critical issues. Enterprise customers can request custom SLAs.
- Impact: The buyer gets a crisp, confident reply. No follow-up needed.
Q: How do you compare to Gong?
- Glean Answer: Pulls a 2022 internal blog post or battlecard.
- Impact: The rep fumbles through an outdated explanation.
- Tenali Answer: Gong helps you analyze calls after the call, but by then, the moment’s gone. Tenali equips your reps during the call with real-time answers, reducing follow-ups, accelerating sales cycles, and increasing conversion rates without waiting for a sales engineer. Some teams use both.
- Impact: Clear differentiation in seconds. Gong is about review; Tenali is about performance.
Q: Can I use this in Salesforce?
- Glean Answer: No mention. Requires tab switching.
- Tenali Answer: Yes—we embed directly into Salesforce. You can search, summarize, and follow up without ever leaving the page.
- Impact: Fewer tabs, more selling.
These aren’t just answers. They’re sales moments—and Tenali makes sure you win them.
🔍 Glean vs. Tenali: In the Moment
When a prospect asks about SOC 2 compliance…
- Glean: Surfaces a dense legal document.
- Tenali: Responds: “Yes, we’re SOC 2 Type II certified through Jan 2026. Applies to EU clients. Here’s the full report.”
→ Tenali speaks like a teammate, not a search engine.
When your AE needs to prep for a QBR…
- Glean: Finds last quarter’s notes. That’s it.
- Tenali: Summarizes key risks, decisions, open tasks, and wins—no digging required.
→ AE walks in prepared, not piecing things together.
When Sales Engineers are overloaded…
- Glean: Doesn’t help.
- Tenali: Answers technical, pricing, and competitive questions live on calls.
→ SEs step in when needed—not for every “what’s our SLA” moment.
When Enablement drops a new battlecard…
- Glean: Needs tagging, onboarding, manual search visibility.
- Tenali: It’s live in the system within an hour—auto-indexed, instantly searchable.
→ Content actually gets used.
What GTM Teams Are Saying
“Glean helped us organize. But Tenali helps us close. Our reps now show up with answers, not excuses.”
— Chief Revenue Officer, Fortune 50 Enterprise IT company
“We thought knowledge management was the problem. Turns out, it was sales readiness. Tenali solved both.”
— Director of Sales Enablement, Series B SaaS company
⚠️ Signs You’ve Outgrown Glean
- Your reps still say “I’ll get back to you.”
- Sales Engineers are on every discovery call.
- Enablement content isn’t being used live.
- You’ve indexed everything, but answers still aren’t obvious.
- Your win rate hasn’t improved.
💡 What Makes Tenali Different?
Focus:
- Glean: Built for general enterprise knowledge workers—HR, IT, legal, support, engineering.
- Tenali: Purpose-built for go-to-market teams. Sales reps, SEs, Enablement, RevOps—your world, your answers.
Integrations:
- Glean: 100+ broad integrations—great on paper, not tailored to GTM workflows.
- Tenali: Connects with the GTM stack that matters—Salesforce, Zoom, Notion, Slack, Gong, Fireflies, Google Drive.
Setup & Maintenance:
- Glean: Requires IT help, admin privileges, and some schema mapping.
- Tenali: Self-serve setup. Connect and go live in under a day. No IT tickets. No tags.
How It Answers:
- Glean: Surfaces documents. You read, interpret, decide.
- Tenali: Summarizes, answers, cites, and suggests next steps—like a great SE would.
Live Sales Calls:
- Glean: Not available during calls.
- Tenali: Sits in every Zoom/Meet, ready to whisper real-time answers the moment they’re needed.
Final Word: Your Reps Don’t Need a Smarter Search Bar—They Need a Smarter Partner
Glean got you organized. That’s step one.
But if you’re leading a revenue team, you know that deals are won in the moment—when a customer asks a tough question, and your rep doesn’t flinch.
Tenali is built for that moment.
On every call. In every channel. With every rep.
Don’t just find knowledge—turn it into action.
👉 Book a demo and see how Tenali compares—for real: https://calendly.com/aniket-tenali/30min
