Thoughts on Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence

Gartner Research released its Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms last Friday.  The report was complied using data was collected from (897) user survey responses. For the first time, Tableau Software met all of the criteria for inclusion in the report.

Full disclosure, my company, InterWorks Inc. is a reseller of Tableau and provides consulting services related to Tableau and Microsoft SQL Server. 

Prior to becoming a reseller, I was a fan of Tableau.  As the CFO/CIO for a medium-sized, global manufacturing company, I implemented Tableau as a BI solution.  It was the enabling technology that made it affordable for my company to implement a robust, user friendly and secure solution.  That is how I became a raving fan.

Gartner had this to say about Tableau:

  " …the darling of this years report," "overwhelmingly positive customer survey feedback for functionality, product quality, support, customer relationship, success and view of the vendor's future." 

 Clearly those who have purchased Tableau love the product.   But why?

Tableau Isn't a Platform

Tableau is a platform-agnostic tool.  There is no middle layer.  It connects to every popular enterprise-class database, Excel, Access, tabular data on web sites, or text files.  So, don’t don’t think of Tableau in the same sense as you would Oracle, IBM or SAP.

People love Tableau because it's easy to use and it produces excellent visuals.  This approach comes from Tableau's determined and disciplined approach to product design and customer support.

1. It has to be fast
2. It has to be easy
3. Data visualizations must be appropriately displayed

One of the most compelling aspects of Tableau is its ability to provide excellent utility in both large companies and small.

There are (5) forces at play which will continue to drive demand for Tableau and other light-weight data visualization tools.

1. Volatile business conditions
2. Exploding amounts of data (internal and on the web)
3. The need for rapid response
4. Impatience with centralized control of data
5. The cost and time required for implementation

These dynamics play-out in differently depending on the size of the company, its current level of investment in database technology,  the technical proficiency of its IT staff, and the amount of pressure exerted on IT by non-technical business users.

Big Company Dynamics - Centralized Control & Low Adoption Rates

Large companies have huge investments in their data warehouses.  They also have frustrated users. Why?  The data is frequently not situationally-relevant and it is frequenty too difficult for users to access. 

Several industry studies have confirmed that the adoption rates for BI systems are miserably low, no better than 30% and one recent study, The BI Survey by Nigel Pense, concluded that real adoption rates are closer to 8%.  

Business managers don't really understand the difficulties associated with providing clean & secure data.  They just want timely and flexible reports that are easy to understand so they can make better business decisions.

Tableau is making inroads into large companies because it puts more control into the business user's hands. Big company IT managers like Tableau because it addresses their interal customer’s needs without having to tie-up their technical staff creating ad hoc reports.

During the last month I've provided Tableau training for one large financial company.  I've also had discussions with two other large consumer products businesses who are adding Tableau to their BI tool set.  All (3) have very large investments in existing database/BI platforms.  They perceive Tableau will increase the value of their most important asset, data.

Small and Medium-sized Business Dynamics

Smaller entities don't have big IT budgets.  The have fewer IT employees. Many outsource their technology support to companies like my employer, InterWorks.  

Business Information (BI) doesn't exist for them in the same way it does for large companies. Data is disbursed with relatively little central control.  It's housed in Excel spreadsheets or Access databases, or exists only in the companies’ transaction system.

The data creators are business users/analysts who have figured out how to get the data out of the transaction systems. 

Invoice files, purchasing records, inventory files, labor reports or basic accounts receivable and accounts payable data.  Other potentially useful information is scattered around the organization but in most cases it’s not used to improve decision making in a consistent and visible way.

Tableau is desirable because it provides a better, more feature-rich way to view data.

My experience as a Tableau Customer

Before I became a reseller/consultant of Tableau last year,  I was a customer.  My former company employed just under 200 employees.  I discovered Tableau during a project to develop better global business reporting.

The decision drivers for me included:

1. Low Price Point
2. Excellent visualization capability
3. Portable and easy to use
4. Ability to connect to a variety of data sources
5. Ability to leverage an unused MS SQL Server database

I was able to start distributing useful reports in days. A few months later I implemented Microsoft SQL Server as a data repository and used Tableau to visualize the data. Business managers and field sales staff had never had better, more flexible reports.

The end result was a fully realized data store with sales, purchasing, inventory, accounts receivable and accounts payable data for 90% less than the big platform vendors had quoted to me. The ad hoc reporting capability was simply wonderful.

Tableau is a Compelling Value

Big business is beginning to understand the utility of light-weight, dedicated visual analysis tools. Tableau provides a means for non-technical managers to create relevant reports quickly and in a way that increases the utility and adoption of their valuable data warehouse platforms.

Smaller businesses can realize the same benefits as larger companies using Tableau, but at a much lower cost. 

And finally, the big platform vendors will realize greater adoption of their excellent platform technologies because Tableau makes them more accessible to the average, non-technical information consumer.

During the past year as a consultant I've come to realize that I was not a typical SMB customer.  My background equipped me better than most to understand the value of Tableau.

I’m hopeful that Gartner’s study will help other people realize the benefits Tableau has to offer for entities of any size.