Tableau (https://www.tableau.com/) is one of the most popular analytics and data visualization software tools. The company was founded in 2003 at Stanford, became public in 2013, and was acquired by Salesforce in 2019 for $15bn (Salesforce’s largest acquisition to that date).
Data analytics tools are used to create dashboards for decision-making. These visualizations combine disparate data in multiple ways to generate relevant information for users. Platforms like Tableau have connectors that allow business intelligence (BI) analysts and data analysts to link multiple data sources and bring the information they need to construct dashboards and visualizations. Databases, data warehouses, and data lakehouses are common sources these connectors link to.
Like other data analytics tools, Tableau has created a partner ecosystem that drives the adoption of its tools. Partners include ISVs that allow Tableau to connect to their products and consulting and implementation companies that help customers and end-users integrate Tableau into their environments. Services partners facilitate the adoption of the platform and customization into customers' systems and processes.
Tableau has approximately 600 consulting and implementation partners worldwide, employing three million professionals.
This services partner ecosystem shows a fairly evenly distributed geographical distribution compared to other companies’ programs, implying that Tableau has been able to develop partners close to where its customers are using its products.
The same goes for the headcount distribution of these consulting partners. In other developed ecosystems from other ISVs, we see a predominant presence in Asia, but in the case of Tableau, Asia (primarily India) has only 63% of the share, and North America and Europe have a high share, with both regions adding up to approximately 40% of total headcount. Business and data analysts have a stronger impact by being closer to the business and decision-makers.
Half of the Tableau consulting and implementation partners have fewer than 100 employees. The ecosystem is fragmented, with a high number of boutique data consulting firms.
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