An overview of the different sets of functionality of Tableau solution suite, and how it can address the many facets of a comprehensive data mining solution.

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

2. 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.
ABOUT
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.
source:
tableau.com

3. Products & Services
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.

4. Desktop Capabilities
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

5. Desktop Features
Tableau’s desktop features are robust,
intuitive and dominate by industry
standards.
! 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.

6. Tableau Server
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.

7. Server Features
! 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.

8. Tableau Online
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.

9. 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

10. 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).

11. TABLEAU TECH SPECS
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

12. TABLEAU TECH FEATURES
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.

13. 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.

14. Tableau 2014 – Third Quarter Results
! 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.
In the News
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.

15. Respondent Reviews
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

16. 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).

17. 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).

18. 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.”
“In
the
area
of
Clinical
Data
tracking,
SpoQire
is
an
easy-­‐to-­‐learn,
visually
appealing
and
powerful
repor8ng
tool.”
“Birst
is
excellent
for
visualizing
data,
but
not
for
data
interac8on.
If
data
input
is
required,
Birst
is
not
recommended.”
“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)

19. 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).

20. 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