4/26/2018 Tableau vs Power BI vs SAP Lumira vs SAP Analytics Cloud - Which Self-Service BI Tool is the best?

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Tableau vs Power BI vs SAP Lumira vs SAP Analytics Cloud –

Which Self-Service BI Tool is the best?
by Jay Anantharaman | Aug 29, 2017 | Business Intelligence, Featured Blogs, Power BI, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Lumira, SAP
Lumira Discovery, Tableau, Top Business Intelligence Blog 2017

Note: The results of this comparison were shared online, a replay of which is available here.

Which Self-Service BI tool is the best?

It is a topic that has been discussed & debated quite often. While the question takes various forms — with a mix of tools
chosen amongst Tableau, Power BI, TIBCO Spot re, Qliksense, SAP Lumira and the like for consideration— the answers to
any one question takes di erent forms depending on whom you speak to.

We often found that considerations used to assess these tools were either oversimpli ed (e.g. We chose Tableau as it
delivers the best User Experience) or relied on a larger but yet seemingly limited set of factors at the high level (e.g. cost,
data connectivity, data blending, visualizations, collaboration, mobility and data governance).

To be sure, we – the team at Visual BI – decided to gure it out on our own, using factors as granular as possible. And
thus we set out on one of the most elaborate comparisons every done. We decided to focus on four products — Tableau,
Power BI, SAP Lumira and SAP Analytics Cloud. (Note: We do intend to conduct another comparison exercise in the near
future with additional products such as Qliksense and Tibco Spot re in the mix)

The complete ndings, compiled in a deck with 50+ slides, were presented online – a recording of which is available
here.
In this column, we’ll review our approach & a summary of the ndings.

1. Primary Evaluation Criteria (Functional)

We decided to perform the evaluation across ve (5) major areas-

Data Acquisition

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Data Preparation
Data Visualization
Data Exploration
Data Collaboration

And within each area, we decided to drill down further into more granular aspects as shown below.

Evaluation Criteria — Tableau vs. Power BI vs. SAP Lumira vs. SAP Analytics Cloud

For example, a comparison of maps & charts available gave the following ndings. (Note: The visual for charts shown
below is a partial list)

Charts (Slide 1 of 2) — Tableau vs. Power BI vs. SAP Lumira vs. SAP Analytics Cloud

2. Supplementary Evaluation Criteria (Typical Enterprise Needs)

In addition to the functional criteria outlined above, we also decided to focus on an exhaustive set of enterprise
considerations such as the following (in no particular order)-

1. Single Sign On
2. Security
3. OS & Browser Compatibility

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4. Web Authoring
5. Mobile Compatibility
6. Noti cations
7. Live Connectivity
8. Pricing
9. Need for buying (and thus additional pricing for) add-on components/licenses such as Tableau Extracts, Power BI
Service & Enterprise Gateway
10. SDK Availability
11. O ine Analysis
12. Integration with on-premise & cloud platforms
13. … and more

A sample slide comparing collaboration & sharing features across the four products is shown below

Collaboration & Sharing — Tableau vs. Power BI vs. SAP Lumira vs. SAP Analytics Cloud

3. Tertiary Evaluation Criteria (for SAP Customers)

We did a deep-dive into connectivity factors speci c to enterprises running SAP, such as-

1. SAP HANA Connectivity (Import & Live connectivity modes)

2. SAP BW Connectivity (Import & Live connectivity modes)
3. SAP BW features (hierarchies, merge, conditions, exceptions, cell editors, etc)
4. SAP BusinessObjects Universe connectivity
5. Use of SAP BICS (using OLAP engine) vs. Non-SAP MDX Connectivity

For example, a comparison of SAP BW connectivity (Live mode) across the products is shown here

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4/26/2018 Tableau vs Power BI vs SAP Lumira vs SAP Analytics Cloud - Which Self-Service BI Tool is the best? - Visual BI Solutions

And nally, we also looked into implications of using BICS vs. MDX (the former used by SAP and the latter used by
Tableau & Power BI)

Conclusion
No surprises here..

After an in-depth evaluation we have came to the conclusion that the devil is in the details. And there is no one answer
that would suit everyone.
For an in-depth analysis & a list of evidences supporting this conclusion, view our replay here.

And nally, here are some snippets from our analysis that may interest you:

1. The turf on which we are playing — home vs. away — as decided by whether you are predominantly an SAP shop or
Microsoft shop — is important. As a rule of thumb, you may not attain strong bene ts by playing on an away turf. SAP
Analytics Cloud works best for SAP HCP or Cloud-based SAP data sources and cloud applications; Power BI works best for
Azure or MS stack out of the lot; Tableau is best-in-class and may appeal to you if you are not aligned heavily with either

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SAP or Microsoft. At the same time, Tableau does lack a home turf and it would be interesting to watch where they go
from here.

2. Tableau is feature-rich, delivers the best UX and can connect to tons of data sources. However it also seems to be more
expensive of the lot.

3. Power BI is closing the gap well with Tableau. It integrates best with O ce365 and Sharepoint, provides intuitive Excel-
like interface to deliver one of the best data preparation experience;

4. One drawback of Power BI & Tableau: SSO & Security would be a challenge

5. Tableau & Power BI connectivity to SAP sources is sub-optimal due to reliance on the older MDX connectivity vs. the
newer BICS

6. SAP Analytics Cloud works best for SAP HCP or Cloud-based data sources; Support for Planning is a unique selling
point. As a cloud-only system, we found it to be much more powerful than Tableau online or Power BI online.

7. SDKs for SAP Lumira & Power BI provide options for custom visualizations & features

8. Comparing pricing is not straightforward — there are add-on components, hidden costs, volume licensing, tiered plans &
more

Some di erences in capabilities are due to philosophical di erences in the way the vendors approach Self Service BI. For
example, SAP Lumira & SAP Analytics Cloud have minimal data blending capability for HANA and BW Live connections —
as the belief is that any data wrangling has to be done at the back end — and not at the visualization or front-end layer. In
a similar way, SAP Lumira advocates connecting to only HANA views using the native connector as compared to
consuming tables through the Query with SQL option.

10. For the above reasons and more — just because a tool worked in a di erent rm (even at your previous rm), it is no
guarantee that it would work for your rm today. There are simply many contextual considerations that come into play.

11. And nally, the products are in di erent stages of lifecycle & maturity — what applies today may not hold true 12
months from now.

That summarizes our approach and ndings. If you would like our team to walk you through the detailed (and updated)
ndings, reach out to us here.

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