Kymberly Perry, MS Master of Science Candidate for Business Intelligence Data Mining Full Sail University

Tableau is blazing the trails as a front-runner for independent vendors that provide business intelligence solutions. In fact, it is one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world. Its mission is the help people see and understand their data. The Seattle based, software company was founded in 2003 by Christian Chabot and two Stanford computer scientists. It completed its successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in May of 2013, raising more than $250 million dollars. Tableau Software has more than 23,000 customer accounts located in over 100 countries, and it continues to propel itself as a top contender, with an 80 percent, year-over-year growth since 2013.   Tableau touts itself as being a market defining company in the BI industry serving up five main products that offers professional software for data analysis, business intelligence and data visualization. These products include: Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online, Tableau Public and Tableau Reader. Its mantra is that you can use Tableau to analyze any type of data no matter how small or how big. Its products are known for being easy to learn, easy to use without the need for writing code, scripts and wizards.  

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Tableau continues to build momentum in the marketplace with its rich product offerings. It delivers a diverse mix of software products that will meet the need of any customer who wants to engage with their data sets, analyze them, and extrapolate meaningful, visual intelligence that allows the business users to solve immediate problems while creating beneficial value.   The growing software company began its 2003 journey in Mountain View, CA. The initial vision was to commercialize data sets, researched and conducted at Stanford University. Out of this was the birth of the Polaris project, “an interface for exploring large multi-dimensional databases that extends the well-known Pivot Table interface” (Stolte and Hanraham 2000). Out of this project was the development of the innovative core technology, VizQL (Visual Query Language).   Currently, Tableau offers four core products to users of diverse skill sets. !   Tableau Desktop - self-service analytics platform for any user with a data

set !   Tableau Server - business intelligence platform for organizations. !   Tableau Online - cloud-based, hosted version of Tableau Server. !   Tableau Public - free, cloud-based platform where any user can register

to analyze and share public data.

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Tableau’s desktop is infamous for its easy-to-use drag and drop capabilities. The VizQL™ technology is a patented software language that was the breakthrough innovation that derived from the Stanford project. It is unique in the fact that it allows its users to translate their drag and drops into an optimized database query and then displays the database’s response graphically. There are five core principles that encompasses Tableau’s VizQL™ technology:

!   Easy to use interfaces !   Easy data exploration !   Expressiveness !   Visual best practices !   Database independence

“We  believe  that  VizQL  represents  a  founda8onal  advancement  in  the  area  of  data  analysis  and  visualiza8on…”  Tableau  

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!   Code-Free Visual Analysis - allow users to filter data, run in-depth cohort analysis and split trends across differentiating categories and easily double-click geographic fields and place data on a map.

!   Data Dive - User can delve deeper into their existing data and derive new calculations

!   Translatable Metadata - diverse set of capabilities that allow users to rename fields, modify number formats, combine and re-create data subsets while providing filtering ability.

 

Tableau’s desktop features are robust, intuitive and dominate by industry standards.    

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ENTERPRISE INTELLIGENCE If business users want to empower the entire organization with advanced data capabilities, then Tableau Server is the way to go. Server is designed for diverse technical skill sets. From the most technically advanced to a novice user, Tableau Server allows users to publish dashboards via browser or mobile based. Anyone in the organization can have access to insight wherever they are.

DATA ENGINE™ Shatter data silos and unleash the limitations of existing databases with Tableau’s Data Engine. It is designed to shift the curve between big data and fast analysis. Its an in-memory solution with a purpose to instantly run very large multi-dimensional files and complex (co-occurrence) queries.

Serv

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res !   It’s Flexible - Users can leverage their

data at will, via live data connections or in-memory, serving its users with speed and adaptability.

!   It’s Scalable - users can rollout Tableau at department level or company-wide at their discretion. It comes with both the hardware and memory to support the enterprise.

!   It’s Secure - Assign individual or security permissions at any level. The multi-tenancy features provides sites to separate both users and content.

!   It’s Diverse - Once the user produces a dashboard, he can view it anywhere, on multiple devices. With the no-programming capabilities for mobile devices, it makes it seamless and easy to view and interact with data sets.

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e  TABLEAU IN THE CLOUD If the organization does not opt to support the company’s data on the enterprise level, then they can go for the cloud! The hosted version of Tableau Server enables its customers to easily access business intelligence. With the secure web platform, each subscriber can access updates, comment on dashboards and share insight from any device.

online Features !   Intelligent Connections - Connect with multiple data

sources such as Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, or organizational data. There are also capabilities to refresh Salesforce and Google Analytics. The alert features also keeps organizations in-tune with what’s going on at all times.

!   Latest Developments - With Tableau Online there is no need for users to worry about updates. Online is automatically equipped with advanced functions to run the latest technology.

!   Manageability - Streamline all of the organizational data to the cloud. Define users, connections and data sources all with a few simple clicks.

!   Top-Notch Service - Customers have overall positive customer experience, rating Tableau above average for support, sales experience and performance*. This coupled with the enterprise-class architecture provides its users with the Tableau reliability.

*Magic  Quadrant  Report  

The public version of Tableau offers a free web scale platform for its users to tell data stories. The users are able have free access to a data visualization tool to share powerful insight and discoveries. One of the key features about the tool is that other users are able to interact with and reformat the visualizations and charts and the information is publicly displayed. Users tout that the platform is easy to use and Magic Quadrant reported that “Tableau customers have above-average intentions to use Tableau in the cloud within the next 12 months.

Tableau Public supports the same files of all type as the premium services of Tableau Server and Desktop, respectively.  

“Customers  rate  Tableau  as  number  one  of  all  vendors  surveyed  for  being  selected  for  ease  of  use  for  developers  and  end-­‐users”  (Magic  Quadrant).  

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S Tableau has a broad range of support for direct query SQL and MDX data sources. Other technical features include: !   A large number of Hadoop distributions !   Columnar, in-memory data engine !   Tableau can be used as alternative to or in hybrid mode with its

direct query access. It enables fast performance on large and multi-score datasets and complex queries: !   For large multidimensional filters !   Complex co-occurrence or multi-pass queries

Source:  Magic  Quadrant  Report  

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Tableau users have the visual ability to blend and analyze large, diverse datasets and auto detects relationships from multiple data sources. Some of the other highly regarded technical features include: !   Zero programming data mash-up capability !   In-memory database !   Tableau allows users to produce a series of interactive dashboards !   The interactive analysis can be shared as a web browser supported

report !   Tableau 8 enables users to build interactive reports, even from mobile

devices.

Revenue Sources Tableau’s revenue sources are through license fees and related maintenance and service fees. License feeds include: !   Perpetual, term and subscription feeds !   Perpetual - 90 percent of the license

revenue

The maintenance and service fees include: !   Fees from maintenance services !   Support and unspecified upgrades and

enhancements !   Training from professional services

Most revenue comes from maintenance agreements: !   Typically purchased with new licenses for

one year of service. !   Opportunity to purchase maintenance

service at an annual rate, thereafter. Financial Outlook: for maintenance and service

revenues to become a larger percentage of total revenues as customer base continues to grow.    

!   Revenue was $104.5 million, up 71% year over year !   License revenue was $69.8 million, up 66% year over year !   International revenue was up 115% year over year !   Added more than 2,500 new customer accounts. !   Closed 200 sales orders greater than $100,000, up 68% year over year !   Total revenue increased 71% to $104.5 million, from $61.1 million in the third

quarter 2013. !   License revenue was up 66% to $69.8 million, from $42 million in 3Q of 2013. !   International revenue grew to $24.1 million, up 115% year over year.

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According to Tableau 2014 third quarter report news release, it reported its first-ever quarter of more than $100 million in revenue, driven by strong customer growth and product adoption with the quarter ending September 30, 2014. Below are other 3Q highlights from the article.

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In  the  2013  Gartner  Magic  Quadrant  report  for  Business  Intelligence  and  AnalyEcs  PlaGorm  it  provided  insight  into  which  BI  companies  dominated  the  market.  Below,  I  have  provided  a  summary  of  respondent  comments  based  on  the  use  of  Tableau’s  soMware.    !   Easy  Set-­‐Up  -­‐  Users  report  Tableau’s  soMware  among  the  lowest  Emes  to  implement      !   Blazing  Speed  -­‐  The  fastest  report  and  dashboard  development  Emes  across  all  levels  

of  complexity.  !   SoMware  AdopEon  -­‐  The  highest  percentage  of  business  user  authors  of  all  users  of  

any  vendor.  !   Top  Features  -­‐  Among  the  highest  business  benefit  achieved  !   Fun  to  Use  -­‐  ExcepEonal  ease  of  use  (described  as  “fun”)  !   Top  Notch  -­‐  Ability  to  conduct  sophisEcated  analysis    

Competition    In an October article published in Investor Business Daily, it cited that Tableau is facing tough rivalry with SalesForce.com and IBM respectively, with each company launching new products (Pete 2014).

IBM launched a beta version of Watson Analytics to compete in the data analytics and visualization space as “a powerful analytics solution that helps organizations aggregate, analyze and visualize massive amounts of information to expose unique insights. Watson Content Analytics helps organizations interpret and understand their enterprise information to validate what is known and reveal what is unknown” (ibm.com).

Rivalries    Sales Force launched its version of a data analytics and visualization tool called SalesForce Analytics Cloud powered by Wave. “It is a mobile first analytics platform that lets everyone explore any data. Now anyone can ask any question, from anywhere, and act” (sfdcstatic.com).

Another technology company on Tableau’s tail is Qlik Technologies. Its strengths are in the overseas business. With this being said, Tableau is preparing for future gains in new products and offshore expansions.

Tableau isn’t too concerned about noise from existing or rivals, said Francois Ajenstat, the company’s senior director of product management. “Over the last four or five years most of the large enterprise vendors, SAP, Microsoft, IBM - have all been introducing products and capabilities that are trying to mimic what Tableau has done,” he told IBD. “They are playing catch-up in this market” (Pete 2014).

Competitive intelligence  

“It  is  a  great  tool  if  you  are  looking  for  a  very  powerful  BI  product  with  a  lot  of  op8ons.  It  is  not  good  for  those  looking  for  a  simple  BI  tool  who  have  a  short  ramp-­‐up  8me.”  

“It  really  depends  on  the  use  case.  If  the  need  is  simply  to  standardize  repor8ng,  MicroStrategy  might  meet  or  even  exceed  expecta8ons  However,  if  the  need  is  to  guide  execu8ve  decision-­‐making  with  agile  ad  hoc  analy8cs,  there  are  other  tools  that  are  much  beNer  suited  to  the  task.”  

“Birst  is  excellent  for  visualizing  data,  but  not  for  data  interac8on.  If  data  input  is  required,  Birst  is  not  recommended.”  

“In  the  area  of  Clinical  Data  tracking,  SpoQire  is  an  easy-­‐to-­‐learn,  visually  appealing  and  powerful  repor8ng  tool.”  

“Key  ques8on:  who  is  the  intended  audience?  Do  you  want  your  regular,  non  technical  users  to  have  report  crea8on  capabili8es?  If  so,  then  BO  is  a  way  to  go.”  

“We  also  looked  at  Tableau  and  ul8mately  decided  to  go  with  them  instead  of  GoodData  because  their  performance  was  considerably  beNer,  we  liked  the  mapping  feature  which  GoodData  did  not  offer,  and  the  calculated  fields  were  also  easier  to  create  and  process.”  

Source: Trustradius.Com

“People  are  recognizing  that  it  is  8me  for  this  industry,"  says  Tableau  CEO  Chris8an  Chabot.  "We  welcome  the  valida8on,  but  we  didn't  really  need  it.”  (Konrad  2014)  

Conclusion Tableau is emerging past its competition to be the own the data analytics and visualization BI market. It continues facilitate rapid adoption of products. The low up front costs to acquire licenses and collaborative capabilities with other software, aligns Tableau to remain in its top position. Tableau does have significant opportunities to to expand in the international space, and is currently offering products and support and eight languages. In summary, Tableau has positioned itself to remain a market defining company in the BI industry and is truly one of the fastest growing technologies companies in the world. The software giant really does, “help people see and understand their data” (Tableau.com).

References    •  Pete,  B.  (2014,  October  3).  Can  Tableau  Beat  Salesforce.com  In  AnalyEcs?.  Investors  Business  Daily.  p.  

A14.  •  Schlegel,  K.,  et  al  (2013,  February  5).  Magic  Quadrant  for  Business  Intelligence  and  AnalyEcs  PlaGorms.  

Retrieved  November  23,  2014.  •  Stotle,  C.,  &  Hanrahan,  P.  (2000,  August  5).  Polaris:  A  System  for  Query,  Analysis  and  VisualizaEon  of  

MulE-­‐dimensional  RelaEonal  Databases.  Retrieved  November  26,  2014,  from  hep://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/polaris/  

•  Tableau  SoMware.  (n.d.).  Retrieved  November  27,  2014,  from  hep://www.tableausoMware.com/  •  Tableau  Announces  Record  Revenue  for  Third  Quarter  2014.  (2014,  November  5).  Retrieved  November  

26,  2014,  from  hep://investors.tableausoMware.com/files/doc_news/Q3Y14/Q3-­‐2014-­‐Earnings-­‐Release-­‐(Final)_v001_g95jb6.pdfTableau  Desktop  CompeEtors.  (n.d.).  Retrieved  November  26,  2014,  from  heps://www.trustradius.com/products/tableau-­‐desktop/compeEtors  

•  Watson  Content  AnalyEcs.  (n.d.).  Retrieved  November  25,  2014.hep://www2.sfdcstaEc.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/SFDC_WaveAnalyEcs__LicenseComparison.pdf?d=70130000000i2Tr  

•  Wave  AnalyEcs  Cloud  Pricing  ConfiguraEon  Sheet.  (n.d.).  Retrieved  November  25,  2014,  from  hep://www2.sfdcstaEc.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/SFDC_WaveAnalyEcs__LicenseComparison.pdf?d=70130000000i2Tr