Tableau Software products are simple to use and buy
As an organisation, Tableau Software have built simplicity into every aspect of their products and their approach to doing business.
Their software is amazingly simple to use – reports and analysis can be completed in Tableau desktop by anyone. As evidence of this, at The Information Lab we run Tableau’s official training courses, and the typical delegates on these courses are not people with deep technical experience. They are business users such as marketing staff, sales managers, product specialists – people from every level in every industry are achieving great results with Tableau.
The simplicity of use results in extremely high levels of productivity. Many types of analysis are drag and drop or single click operations – in fact it is possible to build an interactive dashboard involving maps, charts and tables without touching the keyboard at all. Users report increases in productivity of 10-100 times over other reporting and analytics solutions.
Tableau also offer a simple pricing model. There are only two software products available which attract a license fee (these are Desktop and Server, Reader and Public are license free). The prices for these are very transparent and include all modules and functionality that is available. Tableau do not have a modular approach to pricing, so you can be sure you will not be paying later for modules you did not initially expect to need.
Tableau users feel empowered and enjoy their work
A quick search of social media sites such as twitter or linked in will reveal many Tableau users who enjoy working with Tableau software. The underlying reason for this enjoyment come from the empowering feeling of being able to answer your own business questions, without reliance on others. Tableau call this self-reliant business intelligence.
A Tableau user is typically very close to the data. They connect to data sources and answer their first set of questions quickly. This process naturally leads to a secondary set of questions, for which the user often reaches out to a second or third data source to answer. It is rare for the Tableau user to need help from others in this process.
Tableau users spend more time doing high value tasks. Tasks such as investigative data mining and clearly presenting data for communication are of high value to businesses, whilst managing vast arrays of spreadsheets and learning complicated reporting techniques are not.
Using Tableau is fun. Tableau was initially conceived by the lead software engineer from Pixar (Pat Hanrahan) – Pat’s background has ensured that the leadership of Tableau are focussed on creating a great user experience – the individual that created Toy Story was unlikely to create software that was anything other than focussed on the end user, and fun to use.
There is a wealth of learning and support resources available
Successful business intelligence projects rest on more than just choosing the best software, long term success is ensured through access to great training resources and a vibrant support community.
Tableau provide an extensive library of online training. The training resources cover a wide variety of subjects, and are available free of charge and on demand. Tableau partners (such as The Information Lab) supplement this content with extensive content on their own websites.
Beyond training content provided by Tableau, there is an extremely active community of Tableau users. Through platforms such as Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and the Tableau community pages, thousands of Tableau users provide support to those with questions.
It’s possible that the single biggest differentiator for Tableau is Tableau Public. This platform is provided free of charge by Tableau and is has ~20 Million registered users. This community is creating high quality content which represents a fantastic learning opportunity for new Tableau users.
The Information Lab is a Gold Partner of Tableau Software. We resell Tableau Software products and provide consulting and training services to help our clients get value from their investments.