We performed a comparison between SAP analytics cloud vs. Tableau based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Tableau users say the best feature is the ease of use, which allows anyone to use the platform. The visual capability helps users explain the data more straightforwardly. On the downside, users say Tableau could improve its data management and ETL features, especially in the Tableau Prep feature.
Comparison Results: SAP Analytics Cloud seems to be a superior solution because of the multiple features. Although the support is slow, it is still better than Tableau’s standard support. Tableau’s upgrades are also challenging to install.
"One of the most outstanding features is being able to use the dashboard with a touch screen."
"Technical support is helpful."
"Planning and integration are the most valuable features. It is useful for planning, and it is useful for integrating with on-prem or cloud SAP solutions."
"Data integration is very good."
"The visualizations have been the most valuable feature."
"A robust solution."
"There is a really nice insight feature that I enjoy using."
"The solution is quite effective for collaborative planning."
"You can create attractive dashboards that inform users using Tableau."
"The feature that is currently most valuable is the import feature where I can link to an Excel data source. I'm not using it with any other data source, such as SQL Server. I directly link it to an Excel sheet, and if I change anything in that Excel sheet, the changed data immediately gets reflected in the virtualization. This is something that is very convenient for me as of now."
"Business insights are shared across various departments."
"The geospatial maps representation and the visualizations are nice."
"The solution allows for the possibility for end-users to do their own reporting."
"It is very easy to implement and to use."
"Tableau has many good features. It is user-friendly, has a simple-to-use interface, and has a customizable dashboard."
"The most valuable feature is the user experience."
"In the live connection model, we can't create calculated dimensions, however, in the import model we can create them."
"SAP could add some more visualization features to Analytics Cloud, like charts and analytics. I would also like to see some more data cleaning and ad hoc functions added to this solution."
"SAC, which is the cloud version, lost some good features from the previous planning product, like BPC or BPS."
"Could have more tabular reporting capabilities."
"The price, integration, and modeling capabilities could be better. I have to use an integration engine to integrate our products and databases. SAP Analytics Cloud is made specifically for KPIs and business intelligence. The modeling capabilities are kind of poor. You always have to model the data and then present it visually in SAP Analytics Cloud. In the next release, I would like to have a lite version for planning to create scenarios quickly. For me personally, planning is the most complicated feature of SAP Analytics Cloud."
"Technical support could be more helpful and responsive."
"The solution should include other scripting languages as well, such as Python."
"The customizations need to be better."
"The setup was easy but we are having some problems with the configuration that is taking a long time. We have done some initial tests and some of the delays could be from bandwidth issues. However, the whole installation process should be simplified."
"I take a long time to process the hundreds of thousands or millions of records that must be processed every day."
"Its price should be improved. Its price is much higher than Power BI and QlikView. Programming is not easy on Tableau. For programming, you have to have a separate model. They should include programming directly on the web portion of the Tableau desktop so that people can write Python or JavaScript code for customizations instead of using a different model. Currently, Tableau Data Prep is a separate application that you have to purchase. It would be helpful if they can include Tableau Data Prep and programming languages such as R, Python in the next version. Tableau Public, which is a community version, doesn't allow you to save your work on your desktop. They should allow it. Currently, you can only upload it in the community."
"Tableau's automatic insight could be improved. It has some predefined capabilities to understand the data, but I think they need more. Customers need more insight automatically from data—they don't want to discover them, they want to get the forecast automatically. The data preparation should also be improved because it's not easy. Tableau tries to focus on the business side, but the backend side has not improved much. They also have an ETS solution, but it's limited."
"Some of our clients are looking for better UI when using Tableau as they often work with this solution directly."
"The data preparation/blending options are very basic. They could be improved."
"Areas for improvement would be visualization and augmented analytics. In the next release, I would like to see automated insights from the data added to the dashboard."
"Conditional formatting could be an interesting feature to provide to final users."
SAP Analytics Cloud is ranked 6th in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 26 reviews while Tableau is ranked 2nd in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 67 reviews. SAP Analytics Cloud is rated 8.0, while Tableau is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of SAP Analytics Cloud writes "Great scalability, and stability, but does not integrate easily with non-SAP tools". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Tableau writes "Provides fast data access with in-memory extracts, makes it easy to create visualizations, and saves time". SAP Analytics Cloud is most compared with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, IBM Planning Analytics, Microsoft BI, Oracle Analytics Cloud and SAP Analytics Hub, whereas Tableau is most compared with Microsoft BI, Amazon QuickSight, Domo, SAS Visual Analytics and Qlik Sense. See our SAP Analytics Cloud vs. Tableau report.
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We monitor all BI (Business Intelligence) Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies that take substantial revenue hits when time is wasted implementing solutions.
No great background knowledge of coding is required for deployment. Additionally, most of the configuration that is required is handled by the platform itself. Automation of this kind puts Tableau ahead of the competition and is not something which SAP Analytics Cloud can claim to offer.
Maintenance is another area in which Tableau excels. Tableau requires updates every quarter to keep up with system improvements. They listen intently to the feedback that their users provide. It is not unusual for maintenance or other issues to be addressed in a future platform update. Our maintenance team is spared from worrying that pressing issues will be left unresolved.
SAP Analytics Cloud is not the easiest platform to set up. It has a level of complexity that requires a certain degree of knowledge in order to properly implement it.
SAP handles all of the maintenance for SAP Analytics Cloud. Organizations that choose this solution do not have to dedicate a team to handle issues that arise. They can rely on SAP to take care of any problems that may arise. This can be both a blessing and a curse - the worry of having to maintain it is handled by others, but the system is out of your hands and therefore you must rely on them completely.
Tableau is a product that can easily be taught to others. Anyone in the organization can be trained to use this platform. This is not limited to those that have an extensive background in coding or IT. An executive with little knowledge of coding can be given easy lessons and should be able to rapidly make use of it. Time and resources are saved due to the fact that just about anyone can be taught to use it.
SAP Analytics Cloud is also a user-friendly product. It does not require you to have an extensive knowledge of Information Technology in order to use it. A user can manipulate and use it on their own. This focus on the end user makes it a valuable product.
Conclusion
The prices of these platforms are unlikely to be the deciding factor as to which of them I would choose to use. They are both fairly expensive. Tableau’s ease of setup coupled with both its simplicity of use as well as its ease of maintenance make it the platform that I would choose.
I got limited experience with both. My answer is simple, I would typically try to keep the number of touchpoints to a minimum.
I assume you are already using SAP? If yes, select SAP Analytics Cloud. If you are not using SAP, Tableau would probably be a better option since it is implemented with a wide range of platforms.
If you already got SAP in-house, I would generate a comparison report, compare functionality, cost, investigate where your company got skills in use, support and administration.
It's not a fair comparison without context.
Tableau is by far the more popular and accomplished tool with very few organizations using SAC except for point solutions or embedded in one of the SAP applications.
SAC is cloud-only whereas Tableau is both on-premise (the majority of its base) and cloud.
In terms of integration and deployment, Tableau has a better rating.
Tableau could also handle larger data sets than SAP. I personally think that it is a much better tool in analyzing large data sets with complex cardinality.
In terms of cost per user, SAP would be a better option for its capability.
Tableau will allow you to analyse data from all different data sources combined amongst them and allows you to use cloud or on-premises.
SAP Analytics is more tailored to SAP and it's only for the cloud.