9 Advantages Of Using Tableau

Having data is one thing, but being able to utilise it to drive positive change is another. After all, data is simply a raw material. Turning it into actionable insights requires the right tools, processes, and expertise.

Get this right, and your business will have a significant competitive advantage over those that don’t. Data-driven businesses are: 

• 23x more likely to acquire new customers
• 6x more likely to retain those customers
• 19x more likely to be profitable

Data visualisation tools play a central role in the process of becoming more data-driven. By presenting the results of data analysis in a way that is clear, graphical, and actionable, they enable anyone to understand and act on data insights.

In this article, we’ll look at one of the most popular data visualisation tools on the market — Tableau — and how it could benefit your business.

What Is Tableau?

Tableau is a data visualisation tool that helps organisations maximise the potential of their data and better inform in their decision-making.

Launched in 2003, Tableau is the market leader in the data visualisation space, with a market share of around 18%, putting it just ahead of competitor Microsoft Power BI. The company behind the tool, Tableau Software, was acquired by SaaS giant Salesforce in 2019 for over $15 billion.

So, what are the benefits of using Tableau? Let’s dive right in.

#1 Data Visualisation

As the name suggests, data visualisation is the process of presenting data insights visually, allowing users to spot patterns, see trends, and understand and unpack insights.

Data visualisation is incredibly powerful because it allows us to process information faster. It’s far easier to understand graphs and charts than raw data and spreadsheets. As a result, anyone can leverage the power of data analytics to make better decisions — whether they’re a data expert or not.

Tableau brings together data from multiple sources and transforms it into easy-to-understand, customisable visualisations that empower teams to make better decisions.

#2 Interactive Visualisations

Interactive visualisations allow users to explore and analyse data directly via customisable, responsive dashboards. This empowers users to drill down into the data and uncover new insights. This is particularly helpful for numerous teams using the same dashboard, as it enables them to drill down into the data as much or as little as they need.

With Tableau, visualisations are built through simple drag-and-drop functions to create dashboards and reports. Users can then interact with these visualisations through filtering and selection options.

This makes the process of data analysis more intuitive and inclusive, to those creating the visualisation to those viewing it, making it much easier to understand at a glance, compared to a messy and overwhelming Excel sheet.

#3 Easy Implementation

Unlike tools such as SAP BusinessObjects and Domo, or programming languages such as Python or R, you don’t need to be able to code to use Tableau. Nor do you need to be a data expert or data scientist.

Instead, Tableau offers an intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes it relatively simple to use. This empowers teams from across an organisation to become more data-driven and data-literate, instead of having to rely on internal data teams to spoon-feed them insights. But ease-of-use doesn’t mean limited functionality, power of flexibility: users can go beyond this, drawing more out of the data with coding and more sophisticated techniques.

Tableau is also simple to set up, meaning you can start making data-driven decisions faster.

#4 Data Source Compatibility

Businesses today collect data across multiple sources — everything from files, spreadsheets, and databases to cloud-based applications. Tableau allows you to connect to, access, and blend data from multiple sources into single visualisations.

This means that you don’t have to create different types of visualisation for different data sources. Alternatively, you can choose to use a range of data sources but view them separately.

With Tableau, you get a complete view of all your data — from sources including SQL Server, Google Analytics and Salesforce — allowing you to streamline processes and make smarter decisions.

#5 Use Multiple Scripting Languages

While you don’t need to be able to write code to use Tableau, it is possible to use programming languages such as Python and R to maximise Tableau’s potential and create more complex data flows and calculations.

By using Python scripts within Tableau, it enables users to:

• Transform data
• Run complex machine-learning pipelines
• Query remote sources for information
• Fix potential performance issues
• Speed up computation speeds

Python scripts do this in Tableau in two main ways:

1. Gather and process data, which can then be used in your reports
2. Produce bespoke visualisations for added power and flexibility.

To ensure compatibility for bespoke visualisations, you can import Python’s visualisation packages into Tableau, as Python is not a native Tableau language. While this process requires sufficient technical expertise and experience, it’s important to remember that Tableau can still be used ‘out of the box’ without needing coding experience (see point #3).

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