Power BI vs Tableau – which is best for you?
At first glance Microsoft Power BI and Tableau look pretty similar. Both are business intelligence tools. Both make it easy for you (and people in your organisation) to visualise data. And both make it easy to interrogate that data to gain useful business insights.
In fact, there are quite a few things that Power BI and Tableau have in common. Before we get into the differences (and which is best for your business) here are a few things that both tools allow you to do:
- Combine data from various sources (such as spreadsheets, databases, CRMs)
- Transform and shape that data for analysis
- Create intuitive, interactive dashboards to present the data
- Securely share and view dashboards on browser, tablet or phone
- Drag and drop different parameters to discover trends and outliers
- Ask questions in natural language to interrogate the data
So, assuming your on-board with the idea of giving everyone in your organisation easy access to real-time data reports and insights, which Business Intelligence tool should you choose? It all depends on what you’re looking for. Here’s a quick comparison overview:
Decided yet?
Hopefully, our overview has given you a clearer view of the pros and cons of Power BI vs Tableau. If you’re still not sure, here’s a quick summary.
Power BI
Whether you’re new to Business Intelligence or already on your journey, Power BI is a great choice. You can get started with a single user licence, costing as little as £10 per month. With pre-built ‘plug and play’ dashboards from the likes of Salesforce and Google you can begin seeing results really quickly. The option to upgrade to Premium ensures that Power BI can continue to help you to gain valuable insights as your business – and your data – grows.
Tableau
Tableau, on the other hand is better suited to companies that want to work with bigger data sets, access power features and integrate with a wider range of data sources. However, these plus-points for Tableau need to be offset against a steeper learning curve and higher cost. Tableau is perhaps more suited to larger organisations that can afford dedicated Business Intelligence Analysts.
Your BI journey
If you’d like to know more about how tools like Power BI or Tableau can transform the way you use data, get in touch.
Wherever you are on your Business Intelligence journey, a review of your existing data landscape will give you an unbiased view of where you are and what you can achieve. Take a look at change++’s BI Health Check.
