Tableau Software
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Business intelligence |
| Founded | January 2003 |
| Founder | Christian Chabot, Pat Hanrahan, Chris Stolte |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ryan Aytay (CEO) |
| Products | Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Prep Builder, Tableau Vizable, Tableau Public, Tableau Reader, Tableau Mobile, Tableau Cloud, Tableau Prep, Tableau CRM, Tableau Bridge |
| Parent | Salesforce |
| Website | www |
Tableau Software, LLC is a U.S.-based company specializing in interactive data visualization software with a focus on business intelligence. Established in 2003 in Mountain View, California, the company’s main offices are now located in Seattle, Washington. In 2019, Tableau became part of Salesforce through a $15.7 billion acquisition, which was Salesforce's largest purchase at that time.
The enterprise was founded by Christian Chabot, Pat Hanrahan, and Chris Stolte, who were researchers at Stanford University's Department of Computer Science. Their work centered on visualization methods for exploring relational databases and data cube structures, leading to Tableau’s development as a commercial product based on their research conducted between 1999 and 2002.
Tableau’s software solutions establish connections to relational databases, online analytical processing cubes, cloud databases, and spreadsheets to produce dynamic data visualizations. The platform incorporates an in-memory data engine designed for efficient data extraction, storage, and retrieval, supporting sophisticated analytics and business intelligence functions.
Software products
The suite of Tableau products comprises:
- Tableau Desktop
- Tableau Server
- Tableau Prep Builder (introduced in 2018)
- Tableau Vizable (a consumer-focused data visualization application launched in 2015)
- Tableau Public (offered free of charge)
- Tableau Reader (free software)
- Tableau Mobile
- Tableau Cloud
- Tableau Prep
- Tableau CRM (integrated with Salesforce Einstein Analytics)
- Tableau Bridge
These tools address a broad spectrum of business intelligence and analytics requirements across various sectors.
Functionalities
Tableau delivers user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality, a variety of chart types, and enhanced mapping features that empower organizations to build compelling visual data presentations and dashboards, thereby improving decision-making processes and market understanding.
Map functionalities
The application supports plotting based on latitude and longitude coordinates and integrates with spatial file formats such as Esri Shapefiles, KML, and GeoJSON to render customized geographic views. It also includes built-in geo-coding capabilities for administrative divisions like countries, states/provinces, counties/districts; postal codes; US Congressional Districts; US CBSA/MSA regions; Area Codes; Airports; and European Union statistical regions (NUTS codes). Users have the option to aggregate geographic areas into tailored territories or apply custom geocoding to expand geographic roles, thereby enhancing the platform’s mapping functionality.
Data sources
Tableau supports connectivity to a wide range of data formats including text files (.txt, .csv), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), Microsoft Access (.accdb), Tableau workbook imports (.tbm), and Tableau Table data Extracts (.tds). Additionally, it offers numerous pre-configured connectors that enable seamless integration with multiple databases and platforms, facilitating extensive data access for analytics purposes.
Data types
The software automatically identifies data types based on source metadata or assigns appropriate types when none are specified. Supported categories include:
- Text (string)
- Date
- Date and Time
- Numerical values
- Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude for mapping)
- Boolean (True/False)
- Image role (for URLs linking to images)
- Cluster Group (utilized with the Find Clusters feature)
This versatility in managing diverse data types is fundamental to Tableau’s business approach by enabling comprehensive visual analytics across numerous industries.
History
During their time at Stanford, founders Hanrahan, Stolte, and Diane Tang created Polaris, a data visualization application funded by the United States Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI), designed to support nuclear weapons simulations.
Tableau was officially established in January 2003 by Pat Hanrahan, Christian Chabot, and Chris Stolte, with its headquarters moving to Seattle's Fremont district in 2004. The company expanded its Fremont location and announced a significant campus development in Kirkland, Washington, in 2016. New office facilities opened in Wallingford in 2017 and in Fremont in 2018.
In August 2016, Adam Selipsky was named president and CEO of Tableau, replacing co-founder Christian Chabot. In June 2018, Tableau acquired Empirical Systems, an AI startup based in Cambridge, to enhance its platform with advanced artificial intelligence features and established a new office there.
Salesforce completed the acquisition of Tableau on June 10, 2019, through an all-stock transaction valued at $15.7 billion, representing Salesforce’s largest purchase to date. Mark Nelson took over as CEO from Selipsky in March 2021. Presently, Ryan Aytay, a veteran Salesforce leader, holds the position of Tableau’s CEO.
Key contributors to Tableau’s product innovation include Jock Mackinlay and computer scientist Leland Wilkinson, both of whom have played significant roles in the company’s development.
Finances
Tableau went public on May 17, 2013, listing on the New York Stock Exchange and raising over $250 million through its initial public offering. Before going public, the company had secured upwards of $45 million in venture funding from investors such as NEA and Meritech Capital Partners.
Revenue grew substantially from $34.2 million in 2010 to $232.44 million by 2013. The company reported profits of $2.7 million in 2010, $3.4 million in 2011, and $1.6 million in 2012, illustrating rapid expansion and increasing market penetration.
WikiLeaks and policy changes
On December 2, 2010, Tableau removed visualizations related to the United States diplomatic cables leak published by WikiLeaks, citing political pressure from US Senator Joe Lieberman.
Following this event, on February 21, 2011, Tableau revised its data policy to incorporate a formal complaint mechanism and emphasized a commitment to freedom of expression as a core principle. The company also created an advisory board tasked with managing future policy issues. Under this updated framework, Tableau committed that similar WikiLeaks visualizations would not be taken down again, differentiating between data about the cables and the cables themselves.