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Tableau Software

Company: Tableau Software, Seattle, Washington
Entry Submitted By: Sterling PR
Company Description: Tableau Software delivers fast analytics and visualization to everyday businesspeople. Tableau’s products integrate data exploration and visualization to make analytics fast, easy and fun. They include Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server and the free Tableau Reader. Tableau has attracted more than 10,000 licensed users in companies from one-person businesses to the world’s largest organizations.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best New Product or Service - Computer Software

Nomination Title: Tableau Server 1.6

  1. Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date. You may include hyperlinks to product photos and data sheets. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

    Organizations today possess more data than ever and their employees are
    increasingly more technologically savvy. This has created a demand for tools
    that enable people to extract, organize, analyze and share this data. Visual
    analysis tools enable organizations to identify strengths and weaknesses in
    their business, track progress toward goals and make important decisions, all of
    which can increase competitive advantage.

    However most products that offer data visualization capabilities are either
    hard-core business intelligence tools (expensive, require specialists, long
    install time) or highly complex visualization software intended for scientists
    and other specialists. The challenge with either of these scenarios is that the
    average knowledge worker has limited ability to utilize the software.

    Unlike these traditional solutions, Tableau enables organizations to extend the
    power of analytics beyond specialty analysts and statisticians, allowing all
    employees to understand the data and metrics of their business. This extends
    enhanced decision-making throughout an organization, rather than a siloed “black
    art” practiced by a few specialists.

    Tableau Server, combined with the robust analytical capabilities of Tableau
    Desktop, is a Web-based sharing and publishing solution that enables businesses
    to extend data discovery, analysis and collaboration to an entire organization
    via the Web. Tableau allows information workers at all technical skill levels to
    share, discover and participate with their data.

    Share:
    -- Publishing dashboards to Tableau Server lets users assemble multiple views of
    data from various sources and then securely share their findings in real time
    with just a few clicks. This allows the wider audience to quickly gain
    perspective and explore their specific areas of interest within a particular view.
    -- As the underlying data is updated, the published findings update as well.
    -- Administrators have control over how data and analytical results are shared,
    and publishers can ensure the privacy and security of their specific analyses.

    Discover:
    -- Once users create analytical visualizations and insights and publish them to
    Tableau Server, others can interact with those visualizations by filtering,
    paging, sorting and inspecting individual values through the Web.
    -- Tableau Server’s smart search and browsing features make discovering content
    quick and easy by displaying thumbnail visualizations. People can search tags
    and comments as well as the actual analyses themselves.

    Participate:
    -- Tableau Server creates an environment for group intelligence by allowing
    anyone to participate in “blog-style” online discussions to enhance their
    understanding of the data.
    -- Users can add tags, explanatory notes, pose hypotheses, ask clarifying
    questions or contribute to the discussion.

    Tableau’s products are designed for drag-and-drop ease of use and do not require
    specialized IT training. Its solutions can simultaneously tap into nearly any
    data source, including Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Excel and text files to create
    customizable data visualizations. Significantly less disruptive than traditional
    business intelligence solutions, users can install Tableau in approximately 10
    minutes and use existing Microsoft® Active Directory® applications to manage
    user permissions and accounts. There are no specific infrastructure requirements
    other than a Microsoft Windows environment.

  2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, product reviews, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

    Press Releases:
    - Tableau Software Extends its Visual Analytics Solution to the Web:
    http://www.tableausoftware.com/press_release/tableau-software-extends-
    its-visual-analytics-solution-web


    - Cornell University Selects Tableau Software for Web-based Visual Data Analysis
    and Reporting: http://www.tableausoftware.com/press_release/cornell
    - Tableau Server Named Washington Technology Industry Association’s Business
    Product of the Year:
    http://www.tableausoftware.com/WSA_2008/business_product_of_the_year

    Coverage:
    - Tableau Takes Visualization to the Web:
    http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=D97ADAB4-7427-45DC-A
    90B-E23737F4C634

    - Tableau Marries Data Visualization, Dashboards, Collaboration:
    http://esj.com/business_intelligence/article.aspx?EditorialsID=8700
    - Tableau Desktop 3.5 – Once Again, Right on Target:
    http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=191
    - Review: BI Tools Get Smarter: http://www.crn.com/software/202403700
    - Intelligent Enterprise 2008 Editors’ Choice Awards:
    http://www.intelligententerprise.com/channels/performance_management/show
    Article.jhtml?articleID=205207028&pgno=3

  3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

    Christian Chabot, CEO, brings more than 10 years of analytical software
    experience to Tableau. Previously, he worked for Mobius Venture Capital,
    specializing in enterprise applications.

    Chris Stolte, VP engineering, is a co-inventor of five software patents related
    to information visualization. Prior to co-founding Tableau, Chris spent six
    years researching the analysis and exploration of large, complex databases at
    Stanford.

    Pat Hanrahan, CTO, is a professor of computer science and electrical engineering
    at Stanford. His research includes visualization, image synthesis and graphics
    systems and architectures. Pat was also a founding employee of Pixar and the
    chief architect of its RenderMan™ Interface.