Tableau Online vs SAP Analytics Cloud

Tableau Online is a strong BI offering that serves as one of several options from Tableau, well known for its powerful data visualization tools. Many users would agree with this sentiment, citing its drag-and-drop capabilities, customization options and wide range of visualization options. Its intuitive UI invites users of all skill levels to analyze and work with data, though additional training is necessary to make use of the platform, with dashboard customization being one example where many users said they needed IT support. It establishes a private workspace on the web for users to analyze and work with data, with most users agreeing that it empowers cross-departmental collaboration, allowing for smoother communication between analysts and end-users. Accessible from both web browsers and mobile devices, it moves data analysis away from the desktop and enables users to bring their data wherever they go - a feature highly praised in recent reviews. Data source connectivity also rated highly with users who found it easy to connect to major data sources, though some noted that connections to unsupported sources were tricky. The most significant issue for most Tableau Online users is data refreshes - users said that they needed to publish new data to their site manually in order to refresh the information, a process that was both time consuming and damaging to data accuracy. For these reasons, Tableau Online struggles with real-time data and is better suited for historical data analysis, according to several reviews. In addition, the platform experiences performance issues, loading slowly when users filter or refresh data in particular. Others express concern that its licensing model is too restrictive and cost-prohibitive, requiring a minimum of 100 licenses for certain roles; several reviewers said that the ROI is simply not there for smaller to mid-sized businesses. Overall, Tableau Online offers many features that can help companies spread data literacy throughout their organization with relative ease of use, but may not be a good fit for all user needs.

SAP Analytics Cloud is a powerful data visualization tool that helps users explore data in an easy-to-understand format and discover metrics that help them make informed decisions. Many users who reviewed visualization said that the platform has rich graphics libraries and a range of templates for story presentation of business metrics. Citing its aesthetic design, a majority of users said that the solution’s interface is intuitive for programmers and non-technical users alike. Mentioning its strong predictive and augmented analysis capabilities, a lot of users said that the platform is a strong planning tool and helps them gain business insights easily. Many users said that the tool works well on a plethora of devices, including mobile, and is accessible on multiple browsers, though some users said that its offline mode capabilities are limited. Most of the users who reviewed data integrations said that the tool handles large amounts of data seamlessly, though quite a few users said its compatibility with live connection data sources is limited to other SAP products. Reviewing functionality, a majority of users said that the tool is versatile and scalable to ensure a great end-to-end user experience, though some said that it needs more features, such as improved live data analytics. The solution does have its limitations, though. Around 85% of users who reviewed its performance said that it struggles at the enterprise level, though quite a few users said that it performs exceedingly well within the SAP ecosystem. A majority of the users who mentioned reporting said that the solution lacks automatic report distribution and broadcasting capabilities, though some said that it has excellent analytical and data-oriented report creation. Many users who discussed data management complained that the process for updating an existing data model needs a lot of rework, and that the solution needs more versatile modeling features. Overall, SAP Analytics Cloud is a planning tool with strong BI capabilities that brings the power of cloud computing to self-service data analysis for gaining actionable insights into business metrics.