Key Takeaways from Tableau Conference 2024

In the latest episode of The Sensemakers, we explore the reactions and insights the Actionauts brought home from Tableau Conference 2024. Keith Helfrich and Jonathan Drummey were there on the ground and Robert Rouse tuned in from afar, creating a unique opportunity to view the event both up-close and from a distance.

Here’s a summary of some of the team’s top takeaways:

Disappointment in the Keynote:

Lack of Vision: The keynote fell short of expectations, doing a poor job of communicating some of the advancements made under the hood over the past year.
Missed Opportunities: No significant clarity on the fourth wave of analytics they talked about or its anticipated innovations or impacts.
Positive Reaction: Funny, and perhaps telling, the announcement of 12 new Google fonts appeared to get the most enthusiastic reaction from the audience.

Bifurcated Experience:

Missed Messaging: High-level keynote messaging might have been a miss, but hands-on sessions and technical developments were encouraging and strong.
Under-the-Hood Developments: Features like composable data sources, API integration, and federated joins show real progress and a significant shift for the Tableau platform.
Period of Re-Finding its Feet: Tableau is regaining its footing after the harsh impacts of COVID and corporate cultural shifts due to the Salesforce acquisition.

Composable and API-Centric Future:

Composable Data Sources: Federated joins between multiple data sources.
Composable Analytics: Package and share analytics internally and externally via Tableau Cloud.
API Everywhere: New features and improvements built around robust APIs.

Ecosystem Shift:

Moving Beyond a “Dead-End” Tool: Focus on embedding, team integration, and ecosystem development.
Headless BI: Separation of data layer and presentation layer.
Marketplace Growth: Cloud marketplace allows internal and external analytics packaging.

AI Challenges and Opportunities:

Einstein Co-Pilot Concerns: Lack of data granularity awareness might hinder effective analysis. And having the AI asking the questions for the analyst might hinder critical thinking.
Wild West of Published Data: Potential governance issues with inconsistent metric definitions.
Organizational Future: Consolidation and navigability of analytics remain challenges.

Overall, our team, which included Jeremy Paytas, Johannah Villa, and Omar Abbasi, had a positive and inspiring time at the conference and they look forward to seeing how the year plays out as Tableau development moves ahead.

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