There are hundreds of Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics solutions available to businesses across all industries that provide a variety of insights and functionality for teams. It’s crucial in today’s world to leverage all the data at your disposal to make the best decisions for your company.
However, over the past couple of years, sharing that same data and insights with your customers has become equally important. As BI tools launch functionality to solve this use case with their embedded products, it becomes more important to evaluate solutions for both applications.
In this article, we compare two of the most well known BI tools head to head; Looker and Tableau. Readers will gain insights into differences between the platforms for internal BI and also augment their software offerings with embedded analytics.
Looker is a comprehensive analytics solution that equips organizations with a range of tools to support data-driven decision-making. It offers a robust platform for data discovery, visualization, and analytics, serving a wide array of industries and applications. The core of Looker's effectiveness lies in its data modeling capabilities, enabling organizations to establish and maintain standard business metrics throughout their entities. Additionally, Looker provides an embedded analytics service that merits further examination.
Key Features:
Potential Drawbacks:
Tableau is a powerful data visualization and analytics platform designed to help organizations unlock the potential of their data. Since 2003, Tableau has become a staple tool for businesses across various industries.
Key Features
Potential Drawbacks
Selecting between Looker and Tableau hinges on balancing factors such as cost, ease of implementation, customization, and the specific needs of your organization. Let's dive into this comparison to pinpoint the best fit.
Cost-Effectiveness
Looker's pricing model, which depends on the number of end-users, can lead to significant expenses for companies with a large user base. This model might not be economical, especially for businesses looking to expand their analytics features.
Conversely, Tableau's approach to pricing for embedded analytics is often not transparent, with costs reportedly reaching into the six-figure range for comprehensive solutions. While Tableau is a powerful tool, its pricing structure may pose challenges for companies seeking cost-effective embedding options.
Ease of Implementation
Looker benefits from its proprietary LookML language and semantic layer, providing a structured but complex framework for data modeling. This complexity can introduce a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with LookML.
Tableau, while offering robust support and extensive documentation, may present varying implementation challenges based on the integration's complexity and customization needs. The degree of technical expertise required can affect the ease of adopting Tableau for embedded analytics.
Speed of Implementation
The proprietary nature of Looker's LookML may slow down the implementation process for organizations new to its environment, due to the learning curve associated with its unique modeling language.
Tableau's implementation timeline can also vary significantly, impacted by the specifics of the integration and customization efforts required. This variability may lead to longer setup periods compared to platforms designed for quicker deployment.
End User Customizability for Embedded
Looker provides certain levels of customization, allowing users to modify their analytics experiences to an extent. However, its capabilities may be perceived as less flexible compared to platforms emphasizing user-driven customization.
Tableau offers robust report generation features, catering primarily to data analysts and those with technical backgrounds and not so much for other users. Allowing users to create their own dashboards is not feasible unless the entire Tableau platform is exposed.
Seamless Embedding
Both Looker and Tableau offer embedding capabilities, but their approaches differ significantly in terms of flexibility, ease of use, and customization. Tableau's customization and white-labeling options might not match the level of adaptability offered by competitors focused on providing a seamless, brand-cohesive embedding experience.
As opposed to traditional BI platforms, Explo focuses specifically on embedded analytics. As this becomes more important, it’s wise to consider if your BI solution can provide internal and external analytics, or if it makes sense to use two separate platforms.
Companies often choose Explo over legacy BI solutions like Looker and Tableau for several compelling reasons, as exemplified by SafeBase's successful adoption of Explo's embedded business intelligence solution.
Explo emerges as a modern solution for embedded business intelligence with unmatched flexibility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. It empowers product teams to integrate analytics into their platforms, driving value and enhancing customer experiences.
Ready to embark on your journey for embedded analytics? Take the next step today and discover the power of embedded insights. Click here to get started with a trial or take a tour of Explo's features, and unlock a world of possibilities for your business.
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