Tableau platform update targets need, eschews AI hype
Following the recent unveiling of significant AI-related tools, the vendor's final 2024 release adds practical features aimed at making Tableau easier to deploy as well as consume.
Tableau has unveiled its latest platform update, including new tools aimed at making it easier for system administrators to oversee deployments and features that add new ways for business users to consume data.
Not included in the vendor's third and final platform update of 2024 are any new generative AI tools or other capabilities that represent leading-edge innovation. Instead, the update features tools that address customer needs and gradually improve Tableau's analytics platform, according to Doug Henschen, an analyst at Constellation Research.
"I would characterize 2024.3 as an incremental release with several very helpful, customer-anticipated improvements," he said. "[Tableau is] addressing few squeaky wheels and sought-after capabilities."
Similarly, Mike Leone, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, termed Tableau 2024.3 "incremental" while addressing core enterprise needs. However, the platform update follows shortly after Tableau unveiled significant AI capabilities, he added.
While we don't see any mentions of agents or AI in this release, I think it was purposely done with a focus on meeting customers where they are in their data exploration and analytics journeys. There are [many organizations] using core Tableau capabilities day in and day out that don't have a need to be disrupted [by AI] right now.
Mike LeoneAnalyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
For example, the update was released just a month after the unveiling of Tableau Einstein, a new AI-based analytics platform that essentially represents Tableau's future direction as an analytics vendor. In addition, Tableau 2024.3 arrives three months after the vendor launched the first versions of Tableau Agent, an AI-powered assistant, and eight months after the release of Tableau Pulse, an AI-powered insight generator.
"While we don't see any mentions of agents or AI in this release, I think it was purposely done with a focus on meeting customers where they are in their data exploration and analytics journeys," Leone said. "There are [many organizations] using core Tableau capabilities day in and day out that don't have a need to be disrupted [by AI] right now."
Based in Seattle, Tableau is a subsidiary of CRM giant Salesforce, whose platform enables customers to view and analyze data.
Tableau's 2024.2 update included capabilities that enable users to embed Pulse in work applications so they don't have to toggle between those applications and the Tableau environment to view generative AI-powered insights. It also added a feature that lets users better relate data sets that have shared dimensions such as time or geography.
New capabilities
While generative AI has been hot the past two years, many enterprises are still dealing with the complexity of deploying their data operations in the cloud, even as they explore ways to develop and deploy generative AI tools.
To make it easier, Tableau is launching Cloud Manager, a feature that aims to make it easier to create, expand and manage cloud-based deployments. Cloud Manager, which is being rolled out in waves to existing Tableau customers, enables system administrators to control the creation and management of deployments in the region of their choice, including managing licenses within those regions.
In essence, it is a way for Tableau to help those customers still using Tableau Server -- the vendor's analytics platform for on-premises customers -- migrate to Tableau Cloud, according to Henschen.
"Salesforce is encouraging customers [to migrate to the cloud], but cloud deployment management can get tricky, particularly for larger organizations that have users that need to work across sites and regions," he said. "Tableau Cloud Manager is [providing] flexibility to ease the management of users, [and] access privileges and licenses associated with sites, regions and users."
While Tableau Cloud Manager offers help for system administrators as their organizations move to the cloud, Tableau App for Microsoft Teams aims to make it easier for business users to consume Tableau's analytics capabilities.
Tableau already has integrations with Slack, which, like Tableau, is a subsidiary of Salesforce. The integrations enable users of both platforms to use Tableau in their Slack environments rather than having to toggle between the two platforms to analyze data.
However, many enterprises use other communication and collaboration platforms such as Teams.
As a result, the integration with Teams, which enables users to interact with Tableau dashboards and Pulse metrics within Teams apps and channels, is valuable, according to Henschen.
"The Microsoft Teams integration [is] an update that's been on the short list for the many organizations that use Teams and that want to be able to collaborate around Tableau-based analytics," he said.
In addition to Cloud Manager and the integration with Teams, Tableau 2024.3 includes the following:
Table Viz Extension, a feature that lets users who prefer traditional reports to data visualizations to add detail tables and grid views to dashboards.
Spatial Parameters, an addition to Parameters -- the values that inform dashboards. Spatial Parameters enable business users to query and analyze geospatial data to add location intelligence to their traditional business intelligence.
A feature that allows developers to understand the semantics of data models by clicking the Data Source pane in a Tableau Workbook to see how tables in data models are related to their data sources.
A tool that enables system administrators to set access controls on up to 20 identity providers -- services that store and verify user identities -- on each Tableau Cloud site.
Just as Henschen said Cloud Manager and the Teams integration are useful, if unspectacular, new features, Leone mentioned Table Viz Extension as a feature that provides existing Tableau platform users with practical capabilities that aren't driven by the hype around AI.
"Not everyone is embracing AI at the pace of which the industry is making it appear everyone is doing," he said. "For example, Table Viz Extension is a way to enable legacy users to still leverage what they know and love about traditional Tableau capabilities like simple dashboards and reporting, while not holding back power users or those leveraging more advanced capabilities."
Looking ahead
While Tableau's latest platform update provided traditional customers with capabilities that address need and did not feature any new AI-powered tools, the vendor's plans center largely on AI, according to a Tableau spokesperson.
Tableau Einstein, which includes generally available tools such as Pulse and Tableau Agents but also includes tools such as a semantic layer and marketplace that won't be available until 2025, is part of that roadmap. In addition, developing new generative AI tools that take on tasks previously performed by humans to make data management and analytics a more agentic experience are part of Tableau's plans.
Henschen, meanwhile, suggested that features such as Tableau Cloud Manager are a prudent area of focus for the analytics vendor.
No two enterprises are the same. Many have advanced data operations and are in the process of building and deploying AI models and applications. But others have different needs. Tools that meet customers' specific needs and help them progress, therefore, are vital.
"Customers are at different stages of maturation and are weighing next steps," Henschen said. "Some customers are on Tableau Server and considering the move to Tableau Cloud. Other customers are on Tableau Cloud and considering the Tableau Einstein announcements. I see the Tableau team as working on multiple paths forward to fit a diverse customer base."
Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial and a journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He covers analytics and data management.
