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PeerSpot user
Planning Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Access to data from Oracle and managing large data volumes is easier than Excel.

What is most valuable?

  • Visualization
  • Data capacity

Where I'm working, we have many reports developed in Microsoft Excel to present results about the business. However, when we need to work a large volume of data, they are developed in Tableau because access to data from Oracle and managing large data volumes is easier than Excel. All the reports that we develop using Tableau are complimented by our directors, as the information is visualized well.

How has it helped my organization?

When we need to work with a large volume of data, we can create an extraction, validate data easily, and then present it to our users using Tableau Server or Tableau Reader.

What needs improvement?

I have difficulty working with many filters on the dashboards, and I'd like to see more options in the "Histories" section. QlikView makes better use of the dashboard filters.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used it for two years.

Buyer's Guide
Tableau
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tableau. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

In some departments we chose to install Tableau Reader, but it's necessary to create a ticket to update the software for each new version. This process is not good as it disrupts our day-to-day functions.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I work with 4GB RAM and rarely I have a problem with it. My OS is 32 bits.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've had no issues with scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I always take support from Tableau's forums and communities.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at QlikView.

What other advice do I have?

It's a great solution to present data, and our directors love to work with it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Jhornber - PeerSpot reviewer
JhornberDirector, BI & Analytics at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Completely agree Edwin. I currently work with both Qlikview and Tableau and the size of data is a very large factor in deciding which tool I'll use for a particular use case. Tableau generally needs some level of aggregation to perform well and that is not always an option.

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PeerSpot user
CRM Manager at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Helps understand data in seconds with lower cost.

What is most valuable?

Included data engine, work interface.

What needs improvement?

Include new graph views in Tableau, increase dual axis - sync of only two axis isn't enough.

For how long have I used the solution?

1 year

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No, but I have no experience in Tableau Server deployment

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Yes, in v8.1 there was a problem with changing bg color of sheets and dashboards (TD shutdown)

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In v8.1 there was a problem with big Excel files - for ex: if you have an Excel spreadsheet with three sheets and more then 300,000 rows in each one and you want to add it as one datasource linked by one key field - your Tableau Desktop will be very slowly.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: 3 out of 5Technical Support: 4 out of 5

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

QlikView and Microsoft. Switched because there aren't any cubs, user friendly interface and lower cost.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup very easy but I did not setup Tableau Server

What about the implementation team?

It was in-house

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

Only license fee and electricity:)

What other advice do I have?

It's a nice solution, the vendor should listen to users and customers.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user137202 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user137202Business Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant

Thank you so much for the responses. Quite helpful in various ways. I sense a favourable leaning towards Tableau, will continue on due diligence keeping all the advice in mind too.

regards

Pete

Buyer's Guide
Tableau
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tableau. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user7425 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
One major area where Tableau fell short for us is authentication

One major area where Tableau fell short for us is authentication. We would like LDAP (or Windows AD) SSO authentication to the server based Tableau product. We also want Tableau to handle authentication methods back to data sources like SQL Server or SAP BW other than a hardcoded ID/password. At this point I think the product falls a little short. Our workaround is dumping data to text files and then integrate in Tableau at that level. That extra step prevents us from looking at Tableau as an enterprise reporting/analytical tool. We have passed this info to Tableau support and are waiting to see how the product develops going forward.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Dan Ring - PeerSpot reviewer
Dan RingWriter at TechTarget
Writer

Kevin -- If a you or another leader at your manufacturing co. are willing to be interviewed for a story on your selection of rel. 8.3.2 Tableau software, email me at dring@techtarget.com, where I work as a news writer. Also, interesting comment on your selection by H. Emre.

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reviewer1645335 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Product Management at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Scalable and offers good filtering but lacks deeper trend analysis capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "You are able to see and follow trends."
  • "What is happening, with so many tools coming up in the market, is that people have to continuously get educated in order to use some of the more advanced features."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used for analysis purposes. I use it quite a lot. 

What is most valuable?

Overall, the solution is pretty good.

You can do a lot of filtering from the dashboard. 

You are able to see and follow trends.

The scalability of the solution is very good.

What needs improvement?

There is a lot more that can be done with Tableau than what is actually happening within Juniper. The company is not getting the answers to the questions directly from the Tableau database, for example. Of course, Tableau can be extended to answer those questions. 

What is happening, with so many tools coming up in the market, is that people have to continuously get educated in order to use some of the more advanced features. What's happening with Tableau is that, except for the dashboard view and all the filtering and that's happening from a dashboard perspective, it doesn't seem to be very good in making me understand the trend insights. For example, if I saw that the average sales price for Product A was lower than the average sales price for Product B, I'm not saying that B is inferior to A or anything. I'm just noting what I found and I cannot give more details. It doesn't go deeper into the analysis. I'd like more analysis to better understand what a trend might mean, and not just a report that a trend is happening. Right now, Tableau is not so good at providing that extra bit of insight.

What happens is Tableau data is used very often. From the quarterly business reviews, et cetera, the executives have direct access to the Tableau dashboard. More than anything else, they're able to do all this filtering. They could probably improve the user interface response times. When it comes to slicing and dicing of data viewing the results, it needs to be just easier in general as executives are using it and looking at it, and they are not very technical. 

When executives look at the Tableau dashboard, they want to know why, for example, Product A bringing in less than Product B. Those kinds of key questions, which come from executives for reviewing the Tableau data need to be addressed and in a simple to understand way. I think Tableau has to work a little more in terms of the business insights aspect of it, where it communicates to the user and answers their questions. That intelligence part needs to be developed in Tableau. 

Something great would be, if, for example, like in Google, if you asked a question, it could feed you back potential information. I don't want to compare everything to Google, however, it's so easy to find the answers you need in the way Google is set up. If Tableau could do something similar to showcase answers to questions, that would be ideal. It needs some sort of smart dashboard. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I've found the scalability to be quite good. If a user needs to expand it, they can do so. 

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

I also have used Teradata previously. 

The front-end of Teradata is not so well used and therefore I cannot talk about it much, however, the dashboard is pretty good. Much like Google, which uses ML and AI to help answer questions, both solutions could benefit from extracting intelligence to answer questions. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm simply an end-user of the product. I don't have a business relationship with Tableau.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. I'd like to talk to a Tableau product manager about the solution and describe how I would like the solution to work, especially around deeper analysis.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1463265 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Useful self-service tools, user-friendly, and high quality visuals
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found many of the self-service features valuable."
  • "The process of embedding the dashboards on external portals and websites could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for multiple functions internally, mainly for finance, accounting, and the operations team.

What is most valuable?

I have found many of the self-service features valuable. One tool allows anyone within the business to create their own dashboards. However, their data has to be prepared properly. Everything is user-friendly, and the visualizations are high quality and esthetically pleasing. Additionally, there is a tool that enables not just the developers, but even the end business users to create jobs for them.

What needs improvement?

The process of embedding the dashboards on external portals and websites could be improved. We also experienced challenges with integration with analytics.

In an upcoming release, if the capabilities of Tableau Prep are improvised and expanded, that would be an added advantage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have found the solution to be stable and reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have increased the number of users when we develop more dashboards for the new departments. We did not face challenges when we increased the number of users. We have approximately 50 users using the solution in my organization.

We are planning to increase the usage of the solution. We are doing internal training to help our employees because a lot of people do not know how to use it properly. This has caused a bit of an expansion problem.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial installation was straightforward. The deployment took approximately three months, this included the development of dashboards and customizations.

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

There is a license for this solution and we pay on an annual basis.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate other options before we choose this solution.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to those wanting to implement the solution would be, if you are looking for ETL heavy tools, this may not be the right choice. However, if you want beautiful visualizations and getting insights from data at high speed. This would be a good solution for that focus.

I rate Tableau an eight 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
it_user958110 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Bi Solutions S.A
Reseller
An interactive data visualization software with an important visual analytics feature
Pros and Cons
  • "The most important feature in Tableau is visual analytics."
  • "The price could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our customers in retail, healthcare, and manufacturing who need analytics. I'm doing use-cases like this a lot.

How has it helped my organization?

We have a customer who is an automation company, and we use Tableau for optimizing the inventory in the warehouses.

What is most valuable?

Tableau's easy to use, and easy to deploy. It has a good user interface. The most important feature in Tableau is visual analytics. The maps and geographical analytics are important for implementation. It's also easy to develop and work with historical data. It also makes it easy to create a culture within the organization.

What needs improvement?

The price could be better. The overall scalability can also be improved. I would like to see more machine learning components to do predictive analytics. It should be simple for our customers to use. Tableau should include an automated machine learning feature in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Tableau for about nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Tableau is scalable, but the overall scalability can be improved to accommodate large volumes of data.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. The time it takes to deploy depends on the company size. For example, one day, four days, or maybe even two weeks. It depends on the company and the data they have. It takes about three people to implement and maintain this product.

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

Pricing could be better. I believe they should offer better pricing for deployment in small to mid-sized companies. Tableau needs to change the pricing model and offer a monthly option. This is the principal benefit their competitors offer. If companies can pay month-to-month, it would provide more opportunities for them.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Our customers often evaluate competitors like Microsoft BI and Qlik Sense. These products are deployed everywhere, in the cloud and on-premise. Tableau loses to the competition because of price.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Tableau to new users. This is a great tool.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Tableau a ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
it_user851040 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Operations Support Leader at General Electric
Real User
Self-service; users can build their own reports based on their needs
Pros and Cons
  • "It provides business users with a tool, so they are not dependent on IT."
  • "Analysis is now more visual than in the past."
  • "Bursting email is needed to deliver the reports to many people in their inboxes and this functionality is not provided by Tableau."

What is our primary use case?

  • Create dashboards for different functions in the organization.
  • Used to report out information from the corporate data repository.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides business users with a tool, so they are not dependent on IT.

What is most valuable?

  • Visual analytical reporting
  • Ad hoc reporting
  • Self-service; users can build their own reports based on their needs.
  • Drag and drop to create analytical dashboards.
  • Multiple data sources connectors

What needs improvement?

Needs bursting email and export to Excel. Many users still need to download the information (to Excel) and export to an Excel macro to merge the info with some other info. 

Bursting email is also needed to deliver the reports to many people in their inboxes and this functionality is not provided by Tableau.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

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

Analysis is now more visual than in the past, which was only long operational support reports with bunches of info.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Engineer Business Intelligence with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We already had an ETL solution in place, so Tableau complemented it well for our use cases.

What is most valuable?

There are many features which I can speak about, but its overall ease with which you can analyze your data within a couple of clicks is an outstanding feature. Also, the stunning visualization with lots of statistical options, makes it a valuable product.

How has it helped my organization?

When we started with Tableau, it was basically used for converting existing Excel reports. But later on, after exploring the features and with latest releases, it had a greater impact on the way we interact with the data. We were able to connect the data from different source of data together. We were able to relate the defects, quality and cost aspects of the products of our company from different regions in a much more efficient way. The visualizations gave a better picture of the current state of affairs and we got an idea of what needs to be improved in the line of business. Now, Tableau has become an integral part of our organization for any analytical solution.

What needs improvement?

Tableau comes out with one major release every year and minor releases frequently, which is very good. Also, most of the changes are done based on the ideas posted on the community, which means it listens to the user base to come up with the changes, which is phenomenal.

As far as the changes I would like to see, they could improve performance with respect to big data connections and cube data sources. Many users in my organization feel that Tableau is great with RDBMS, but with Hadoop or cube data sources, the performance is not so great.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tableau for nearly four years for the majority of my reporting and analytical solutions.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We did not face any issues with deployment, stability or scalability. The deployment was simple and we have not faced any issues until now.

How is customer service and technical support?

I would rate customer service and technical support as 9/10, excellent. The turnaround time for any issue is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. The only thing you have to check is for hardware compatibility. The rest is very simple, with just a click of a button.

What about the implementation team?

As implementation is simple, we preferred an in-house team. But you will get assistance from a vendor team if required.

What was our ROI?

ROI depends on how effectively you utilize the tool and explore the data.

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

Pricing of the tool would be expensive for any small organization. I would suggest sitting with the vendor's relationship manager to discuss your strategy and the pricing model you’re looking for.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We explored other tools such as QlikView and Pentaho, but Tableau stood out in terms of its ease of use, great visualizations and simplicity. We already had an ETL solution in place, so Tableau complemented it well for our use cases.

What other advice do I have?

Tableau is more than a reporting tool; it has the analytical capabilities which need to be explored efficiently to get the best out of the tool. If you just want to replicate an Excel report, it would not help much in terms of ROI.

Tableau is a very good analytical reporting solution. It is improving its features with every release.

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: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tableau Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.