Datastudio Vs Power Bi Vs Tableau

To know if a project, campaign, or even if the company is achieving its objectives, it is important to have a global vision and in real-time of what is happening in it.

This is possible thanks to the use of a dashboard where you can collect the most relevant aspects to visually monitor everything that happens and to be able to measure the degree of success or failure in achieving defined objectives, facilitating decision-making by having key information in real-time.

In this article, we will see what a dashboard is and we will make a comparison between three tools to create control panels, DataStudio vs. Power Bi vs. Tableau. These three options are the most used today by companies to build their dashboards.

What is a Dashboard and What is its Use? 

A Dashboard (control panel or dashboards) is a tool to obtain and visualize data related to the activity of a company or project, which allows analyzing it visually to better understand the situation and the scope of the actions taken, and be able to assess whether the set objectives are being met.

The dashboard presents data in the form of metrics  (measurable values ​​of the company) and KPIs (metrics aligned to specific objectives) that facilitate the monitoring of the status of a company, campaign or project.

The Main Characteristics of a Dashboard Are: 

• Customization. Those metrics and KPIs of interest are included.
• Visual presentation. The data are presented using visual aids (graphs, colours, etc.) to facilitate a quick understanding.
• Updated. It should show the information in real-time.

DataStudio vs. Power Bi vs. Tableau

It is customary for many companies to design their dashboards using Excel or other spreadsheets, but there are tools on the market to get more out of this tool. Next, we will talk about three of the most used programs for creating and managing dashboards, such as DataStudio, Power Bi and Tableau.

What is DataStudio 

DataStudio is Google’s cloud platform for dashboard creation and reporting. This free tool allows you to create control panels by adding different data sources connecting to other tools of the Google family to obtain information in real-time (such as BigQuery, Cloud SQL for MySQL, Google Analytics, Google Ads or Google Cloud Storage among others).

Apart from its own data sources, DataStudio can import data from numerous external sources such as Mailchimp, social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), Microsoft, Shopify and many other sources.

The DataStudio editor is very easy and intuitive, providing tools to include custom texts, images, shapes, graphics, and links, among others. In addition, it has a series of predefined themes with which to give the dashboard a professional visual design with a single mouse click.

What is Power BI 

The solution to creating a dashboard for Microsoft is called Power BI ( Power Business Intelligence ). This tool allows you to create custom dashboards in the cloud and visual reports based on the data managed by a company.

Power BI is based on Excel, so users of this spreadsheet will find it easier to learn with this tool when creating their dashboards. The reports and dashboards created with Power BI can be:

• Power BI Desktop. For dashboards in Windows.
• Power BI Service. For online dashboard ( software as service).
• Power BI Mobile. For control panels on mobile devices.

Power BI is a professional tool for creating dashboards in the cloud that is within Microsoft Power Platform, integrating with other Microsoft professional solutions such as Dynamics 365, Office 365, SharePoint, Power Apps and Microsoft Flow tools. . Power BI is capable of creating and generating dashboards obtaining data from these applications.

Some of the components present in Power Bi can be used within Excel itself, facilitating the generation of visual reports with the Office spreadsheet.

What is Tableau 

A tableau is a tool for data visualization and business intelligence that has been very successful thanks to how intuitive and easy it is to generate dashboards. In just a few clicks and using the system drag and drop your r ( drag and drop ) can be generated visual control panels KPI, metrics and data from different sources.

This tool has different versions, such as the Desktop one for use in local computers, the Prep for analysis and data flows, the On-Line for dashboard in the cloud, and the Server to be able to use it on the company’s server and share dashboards.

Tableau is able to connect with a wide variety of sources for information and generate reports and dashboards. Among these sources, we can name Dropbox, Google Analytics, MySQL, Amazon Redshift, Azures SQL, Excel, Access, Salesforces, Sap HANA or Postgre SQL.

A noteworthy aspect of Tableau is the large community behind this platform, with a large number of online training resources.

Which Of These Three Tools To Choose 

If you want to generate dashboards without making an economic investment, DataStudio is the best solution, since it is a free platform that does not require any payment to use it. In addition, the Google tool is also very useful if you want to obtain advanced visual reports of Google Analytics data, related to e-commerce and web pages, their traffic, users, etc.

If other Microsoft applications such as Excel, Azure, SharePoint or a Dynamics 365 tool are used in the company, the decision when generating a dashboard should be Power BI. It is also interesting for complex projects where it is necessary to include in the graphs or tables, data from different sources, or to take full advantage of machine learning and analytics in the cloud in real-time.

If you want to build complete and powerful dashboards without many complications when designing them, Tableau consulting is the best solution. It is the right option to create dashboards quickly thanks to its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, and a large number of free learning resources available on the internet provided by its extensive community.

With a dashboard, you have a graphical, global and real-time view of the situation of the company, of a project or of a campaign. This information is presented in an eye-catching and visual way to make it easier to understand and allow faster and more accurate decisions to be made.

We have analyzed three of the best tools on the market, each of them being more appropriate according to the situation and needs of each company.