What is Business Intelligence?
Business intelligence, or BI, is a field devoted to optimizing services and software to help find actionable information within data. The insights gleaned from the data can then be used to help a company or business make important decisions about operations or future endeavors. Those working in BI optimize tools that allow them to transform the results of data analyses into reports, dashboards, graphs, charts, maps, or summaries that are designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of affairs at the company.
Many organizations use BI tools hand-in-hand with data analytic tools. This allows them not just to have a clear picture of what happened in the past at their company, but to see the current state of affairs, as well as to devise a game plan for how to approach the upcoming years.
Using Business Intelligence in Data Analytics
Here are some of the ways companies leverage BI software, technologies, and tools to help with their data analytic needs:
- Predictions: Forecast engines enable those within a business to locate insights that will help them make predictions about future scenarios. These engines are a powerful tool that help an organization get the most out of its currently used strategies to yield the most helpful results.
- Streamlined data access: When all individuals in a company have access to the same data, this reduces the time spent waiting on the IT department to provide reports. By using self-service data analytics, those within an organization can cut down on the time spent on exchanging reports and devote their efforts to more important tasks.
- Automation: BI tools no longer rely on spreadsheets or static presentations. By introducing automation capabilities, those working with data don’t have to work with copious numbers of columns and rows. Automation eliminates manual tasks, which can help save valuable time, resources, and money for an organization.
- Cost reduction: When a company uses BI tools, they are able to perform many tasks much faster than they would without these tools. BI tools make it possible to execute faster analysis, planning, and reporting, all of which lead to a more efficient, profitable outcome.
This article will explore two of the leading data analytics platforms, Tableau and Domo, to see which one comes out ahead for BI solutions.
What is Tableau?
Tableau is the leading analytics platform for business intelligence on the market. It allows users to simplify raw data into a format that’s easy to access and understand by those working at any level of an organization. Even non-technical Tableau users can create customized dashboards and worksheets with the help of this versatile tool. Some of Tableau’s most remarkable features include its capacity for data blending, real-time analysis, and data collaboration. It can be installed directly onto one’s hardware from a web download and be operational in just twenty minutes.
The Tableau product suite is used by many companies, like Skype, Wells Fargo, Nike, and Coca-Cola, for their data visualization needs. In fact, thousands of companies and organizations use Tableau for their data analytic and visualization needs.
Pros & Cons to Using Tableau for Business Analytics
Those working with Tableau for BI needs find many benefits to using this platform, as well as a few challenges:
Pros
- Tableau performs well on various mobile devices.
- It can handle large amounts of data.
- Tableau is able to connect to multiple data sources.
- It works with multiple scripting languages.
- Tableau reduces network traffic.
Cons
- Some users cite Tableau’s cost/inflexible pricing as a drawback to working with this platform.
- There is a lack of post-sale support when working with Tableau.
- Tableau has limited BI capabilities compared to other platforms.
What is Domo?
Domo is a modern business management suite. It can integrate with a variety of data sources such as social media, databases, and spreadsheets. Domo’s data visualization software provides a user-friendly platform that helps an organization see data from all areas in one central location. In addition, Domo can form a direct connection with data and provide it with vital metrics and real-time updates so that users can act quickly with the best information available. Domo also allows users to automate data pipelines, create their own custom apps, and publish content for both internal and external use, and even integrate data from customers and partners.
Many businesses and companies around the world use Domo for their data analytic needs such as ESPN, The New York Times, Zillow, and National Geographic, among others.
Pros & Cons to Using Domo for Business Intelligence
The following are some of the benefits of working with Domo for BI, as well as several drawbacks:
Pros
- Domo is considered to be very user-friendly; it provides a variety of modules that help with learning.
- Users can select data points for each axis when creating bar graphs.
- There are a variety of options available for visuals when creating pie charts.
- Domo can connect with many apps, software, and data sources.
- In addition to its other uses, Domo can also provide valuable insights into customer behavior.
Cons
- Some users do not feel that Domo is as user-friendly as other platforms and learn by experimenting with Domo’s capabilities on their own.
- Domo’s processing tends to be slow when working with large datasets.
- The cost of Domo is higher than other software.
- Creating custom reports is time-consuming with Domo.
Which Comes Out Ahead?
Tableau and Domo are two of the leading BI platforms on the market. Although both provide helpful BI solutions, some of their features differ.
The pricing of Domo and Tableau is one main differentiation. Domo offers an initial free trial to users, then provides price options that are subscription-based. Three pricing tiers are offered through Domo; however, the cost of its services is no longer displayed publicly and users must contact Domo directly for more information. Tableau, on the other hand, has pricing based on user needs and implementation. Tableau Public is free to download and use, whereas Tableau Creator costs approximately $70/month for individual use. In addition, Tableau Explorer is $42/month, and Tableau Viewer costs $15/month for this service. The bottom line is that for those looking for a cloud-based app for creating dashboards to share with their teams, Domo is a better choice. For users who create in a hybrid work environment and wish to offer desktop access to a handful of users, Tableau is a better option.
With regard to dashboards, Tableau offers many benefits. Users can design interactive dashboards with the help of the drag-and-drop feature and filter customization. These dashboards can then be shared internally or externally. When working with Tableau, it is good to be aware that embedded analytics costs an additional fee, but it can be worth it for users who share BI data with their organization. On the other hand, Domo is largely a cloud-based dashboarding platform. Sources that lack native connections can be accessed with APIs or by using the Domo Workbench Connector. Most users consider Domo dashboards to be comparable to Tableau’s, since they provide a variety of pre-built pages as well as the Card Builder tool that is helpful for creating custom visualizations.
In terms of analytics and reporting ability, both Domo and Tableau offer enterprise-class analytic capabilities to all users. This empowers those working at all levels within a company to understand the data without having to seek out help from the IT department. Tableau can connect to web tools, databases, and servers to collect data. It provides tools for geocoding, survey analysis, time series analysis, social analytics, and others. In addition, Tableau can integrate with programming language R. Domo allows organizations to clean and analyze data regardless of where it came from. This platform makes ETL processing (extracting, transforming, and loading) easier for those who do not have formal training with SQL. Multiple data sources can be merged in Domo using the DataFusion feature.
While the price points of Domo and Tableau differ, the good news is both platforms provide powerful BI solutions, relevant data analytic tools and capabilities, and professional-level visualization options.
Hands-On Business Intelligence & Tableau Classes
For those who want to learn how to create stunning and engaging data visualizations, maps, charts, and graphs, Noble Desktop’s Tableau classes provide a great option. Small group courses are available in-person in NYC, as well as in the live online format. These Tableau-focused courses teach students skills like how to spot the most optimal datasets to connect to, as well as how to analyze, filter, structure, and visually represent data.
In addition, a variety of live online Tableau courses are also currently available from top training providers. These interactive classes are taught in real-time and provide all learners with access to an instructor who is live and ready to provide feedback and answer questions. Courses range from seven hours to five days in duration and cost $299-$2,199.
Noble Desktop also has a Business Classes Near Me tool, which allows users to select from over 200 business and business intelligence class listings.