PeerSpot user
CEO with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
It's an intuitive tool for the average user, yet provides complex and deep analytics for the advanced user. There are, however, some unnecessary redundancies for certain functions.

What is most valuable?

Data Preparation - This is a huge plus for Tableau as so many users have to spend time preparing the data before using Tableau

  • Data Interpreter
  • Splits -
  • Really helps the average user


Drag and drop analytics:

Tableau 9.0 has a new Analytics pane that provides quick and easy access to common analytic features in Tableau.

You can drag reference lines, forecasts, trend lines, and other objects into your view from the Analytics panel. It is now easy to edit, format, and remove the analytic items that you have added, so you can experiment with different techniques as you explore the insights your data has to offer.

Ad--‐hoc calculations:

Ad--‐hoc calculations make it easy to add and edit calculated fields for your analysis. Double--‐click an existing field on the Rows, Columns, Marks, or Measure Values shelf to begin editing, or

double-click an empty area on a shelf to create a new calculation. As you type, a list of auto--‐complete options appears in a dropdown list, making it easier to find and pick the right elements.

Instant analytics:

Instant analytics provides an interactive experience for comparing summary information about a subset of marks to all the marks in your view. For example, you can compare the average for a few marks to the average for all the marks. After you’ve added trend lines, reference lines, reference bands, or distribution bands to your view, select one or more marks to see the new analytical indicators appear for the selection in addition to the analytical indicators for the whole view.

Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions:

New expression syntax in the Tableau calculation language lets you quickly create calculated fields that compute at the specified levels of detail. LOD calculations help you compute at multiple levels of aggregation and make it easier to create fields for analytical comparison (such as cohort analysis and totals or Average across segments), simplifying calculations that previously took several steps.

How has it helped my organization?

It's both intuitive and complex/deep. For our organization, it's given us opportunities to provide both on-sight and on-line training. We now have an online training product that more than offsets the expense associated with days of training. With Tableau, our customers more analytical.

It even has a connection to R and SAS for advanced users.

Also, it has given us the ability to collaborate with the Tableau servers, which is robust and can handle tens of thousands of users.

Tableau Server can now scale for unlimited users Enterprise scale brings with it the need for Governance. Data sources and workbooks must be vetted before they are "out there" to see except for the intended content consumers

What needs improvement?

The basic design of Tableau has some features that could be modified.

* There is no need to have five (5) ways to add a new worksheet. Brevity is rewarded - new users have so much to learn that 2 ways would do the job

* How to render time - When performing analysis, no single issue is more important than time series data. Tableau uses visual clues in many places - When one uses the pull down option for time that could be visualized better as a continuum. those selections should be presented in green to be visually consistent. Those above in blue.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If you're making a structured, strategic purchase, make sure that you have a plan for professional training.

Buyer's Guide
Tableau
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Tableau. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,616 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What other advice do I have?

  • Go slow and methodically
  • You must consider size of the company and types of users
  • Desktop Plus server users - understand the constraints on the backend, and make sure you have enough CPU power
  • There's lots of free stuff on their website that's great for the average user.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
GaryM - PeerSpot reviewer
GaryMData Architect at World Vision
Top 5LeaderboardReal User

So tell me why I should buy Tableau (which is quite expensive) over just using free PowerBI Desktop which seems very similar and also built into and integrates with Office365? Seems Tableau made sense a year ago but no longer. Same with Qlikview.

See all 2 comments
Technical Lead at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Rich visualizations, good performance, and low development time
Pros and Cons
  • "Its performance is pretty good, and the development time is very low."
  • "Its integration with Microsoft products such as Teams should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

It is mainly used for reporting and dashboarding purposes.

We implement it for our customers. We have different customers. For some, it is on the cloud, and for some, it is on-premises. Our customers have been using Google Cloud. 

In terms of its version, we are probably using the latest minus one version.

What is most valuable?

The visualizations are quite rich. It has charts and other visualizations. 

Its performance is pretty good, and the development time is very low.

What needs improvement?

Its integration with Microsoft products such as Teams should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is quite good. The negative side would be the cost, but it is quite scalable.

For the projects we have worked on, one of the projects had about a thousand users, and one of the projects had about 200 users. I handle a development team here, and my team is not very big. It is just a four-member team.

It is used by the management, CXOs, and even the mid-level management people. It's basically for decision-making, so mainly the executive board uses these dashboards.

How are customer service and support?

We have not interacted with them. Our clients deal with that part. We don't do that.

How was the initial setup?

It is not very complicated. Deployment hardly takes a day or two.

What about the implementation team?

We do it on our own. We are a consulting company.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its cost is quite high. A corporate license costs about 150-200K per year for all the users, but there was probably some discounted amount. This cost includes everything.

What other advice do I have?

A practical piece of advice would be that if you really have a requirement to use Tableau as a tool, you can go for it. Otherwise, there are some open-source and low-cost tools. For example, Amazon QuickSight is a relatively new tool by Amazon, and it is a very good one. It is a very good competitor for Tableau. Apache Superset is another one that has recently been gaining lots of traction. So, it depends on your budget. If you want to have low costing, you can go for these low-cost and good alternatives.

Tableau is quite a mature tool. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Tableau
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Tableau. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,616 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Senior BI Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Good dashboards, analytics, and automation capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "You can create attractive dashboards that inform users using Tableau."
  • "They need a write-back; that is what is missing. If they get the write back to the database, they will be fully automated, but for the time being, they are not."

What is our primary use case?

We use Tableau to provide analytics and dashboards. We also use it to automate manual work.

What is most valuable?

You can create attractive dashboards that inform users using Tableau.

What needs improvement?

They must have a write-back solution. You must have the ability to write back into the database, otherwise, it prevents full automation.

That's one reason why people still need their own Excel sheets and other tools where they can interact with data that's already in the database. You win completely the moment you load that in, in a central way. You could say that you are completely automated.

They need a write-back; that is what is missing. If they get the write back to the database, they will be fully automated, but for the time being, they are not.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tableau for two and a half years.

We are using version 2021.3.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a fairly stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Tableau is a scalable solution.

Tableau is used by approximately 90 people in our organization.

We do not intend to increase our usage. I've asked for reports on how many users we get on a daily basis, as well as how many people use it and then don't use it for weeks. How long do they stay if they come in, and what are they looking at?

We are attempting to purchase a tool that will provide us with that information. We know which dashboards are popular, which are not, and why the popular ones are popular while the unpopular ones are not. We need to get an add-on that will tell us exactly what makes the dashboard sticky and what keeps people coming back to use it.

How are customer service and support?

We use technical support, but I don't interact with them directly. Our IT support team is the one who helps us. Our IT support team works with Tableau support to resolve issues, opening tickets and tracking them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to using Tableau, I used Power BI.

How was the initial setup?

We don't do a lot of installation. Once you have a server license, you can literally create it in the server now that you have a server license. There are no issues with installation.

The installation does not require a lot of time.

We have one or two engineers who maintain this solution.

What about the implementation team?

We have a server team to deploy this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are paying an annual licensing fee.

What other advice do I have?

I believe it is a good tool, and I would recommend it to others.

I would rate Tableau an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Manager - Customer Success at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable, flexible, but scalability needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is configurable and flexible. We can customize the dashboards and configure the interface the way that we want. The data can be manipulated and arranged in different ways, such as columns."
  • "The solution could improve the scalability, it is difficult to make changes."

What is our primary use case?

Tableau is a data visualization tool similar to Microsoft Power BI.

What is most valuable?

The solution is configurable and flexible. We can customize the dashboards and configure the interface the way that we want. The data can be manipulated and arranged in different ways, such as columns.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Tableau is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution could improve the scalability, it is difficult to make changes.

We have more than 50 people using this solution in my organization.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have evaluated Microsoft Power BI.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Tableau a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Lead Data Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Stable, easy to use, and almost everything can be done from the front end
Pros and Cons
  • "It is definitely easy to use. It is intuitive, and more or less, everything can be done from the front end. As such, there is no concept of metadata. You can just take data from a database and start building your own stuff, such as OLAP data warehouse. You don't need extensive metadata modeling like Oracle BI."
  • "It should have more integration with different tools and technologies. Its licensing cost should also be improved."

What is our primary use case?

It is mainly for reporting purposes. We have our users who are using the desktop, and I, as an admin, provide help and support the backend activities. I don't really develop the reports.

What is most valuable?

It is definitely easy to use. It is intuitive, and more or less, everything can be done from the front end. As such, there is no concept of metadata. You can just take data from a database and start building your own stuff, such as OLAP data warehouse. You don't need extensive metadata modeling like Oracle BI.

What needs improvement?

It should have more integration with different tools and technologies. Its licensing cost should also be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It does manage a good amount of enterprise data, but it is not like Oracle BI or MicroStrategy. They can handle huge volumes of enterprise data. Tableau doesn't have the same efficiency in terms of handling a large amount of enterprise data.

In terms of the number of users, I work for a client, and they have a user base of 14,000.

How are customer service and technical support?

When I get questions or doubts, I just Google them and find the answers. In my one year of experience in working with Tableau, I've not really found out any kind of difficulties. I have also not heard much about any difficulties.

How was the initial setup?

Its installation is straightforward. I have never done it, but I have seen my colleagues do it. I have worked extensively on Oracle BI or OBIEE, and I know how difficult it is. The installation of Tableau is comparatively pretty straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

In terms of the technical team for its deployment and maintenance, we don't need many people. Most of the things, users can do themselves. We only provide the required support and do the admin tasks. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its licensing cost should be improved.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. It is quite good. It is an upcoming technology, and people are using it quite widely.

I would rate Tableau a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Head of Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Beneficial trend analysis, easy installation, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "I believe one of the most valuable features of the solution is trend analysis."
  • "I would like the solution to have certain features allowing the delivery of reports to the email."

What is our primary use case?

We are using the solution to monitor data platforms. This helps us to make forecasts of the use, growth, and disk space. 

What is most valuable?

I believe one of the most valuable features of the solution is trend analysis.

What needs improvement?

I would like the solution to have certain features allowing the delivery of reports to the email. For example, publishing Pixel Perfect reports.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Since I have been using the solution it has been stable.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was simple and is easy to learn for the users.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment took a couple of weeks. Once the information for the data is ready, it only takes a couple of hours.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Tableau a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Director Consultoria at tecnoscala consulting
Real User
Impressive visualization has helped to improve our presentations
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are data discovery and fine visualizations."
  • "The SQL programming functionality needs to be improved."

How has it helped my organization?

Whereas we used to present statistics in a traditional way, we now have interactive web-based presentations. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are data discovery and fine visualizations.

What needs improvement?

The SQL programming functionality needs to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

Seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Ths scalability of this solution is good. It depends on your DW design, as opposed to limitations in Tableau. If your DW model is poor then Tableau is not miraculous.

How are customer service and technical support?

Tableau does not have good technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously worked with Qlik, but we switched to Tableau because of its visualization and simpler way of programming. Tableau is also good for data discovery.

How was the initial setup?

The setup and support are not very expensive. In that way, it is not a complex technology.

What about the implementation team?

We are a software consulting company and we have implemented tableau for more than ten clients. 

What was our ROI?

We are a consulting company and do not track the ROI information for our customers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Be careful with the Tableau Viewer's licenses, and stay with the right number of users.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this solution we evaluated Qlik, BusinessObjects, and Oracle BI.

What other advice do I have?

Be careful with tableau support. Stay in touch with the professional partners because Tableau itself does not have the right number of developers or people for support.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Tableau Partner Babylone systems
PeerSpot user
Manager Technology at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It is a stable product. It doesn't break.
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a very stable product. It doesn't break."
  • "We would like a report model, because currently there is no schema that we can create in the tool."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is more visualization for user interactivity.

What is most valuable?

  • Interactivity
  • Fast data access
  • The graphs
  • Understanding our data better based on the sublevel of data provided. 

What needs improvement?

We would like a report model, because currently there is no schema that we can create in the tool.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable product. It doesn't break.

How is customer service and technical support?

I am not using the technical support. There is a great Tableau community.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the setup.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Tableau is an expensive solution, though it comes with its advantages.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are researching for a new solution.

What other advice do I have?

Most important criteria when selecting a product:

  • Price and licensing
  • Future landscape
  • Support.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tableau Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tableau Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.