Salesforce has announced an upgraded version of Tableau, and they are calling it “the future of analytics”.
The new version, called Tableau Next, is described by the cloud giant as a flexible, API-first analytics experience that integrates the analytics platform with their AI suite – Agentforce.
What Is Tableau Next?
Tableau Next integrates natively with Agentforce and comes with out-of-the-box analytics skills, including Data Pro, Concierge, and Inspector, in a bid to “put agentic AI at the heart” of a new analytics experience.
“Powered by Hyperforce and with Data Cloud as the unified data layer, Tableau Next ensures enterprise-grade security, compliance, and agility while seamlessly unifying customer data for analysis,” the company said in a statement. “Open, interoperable, and API-first, it brings insights to everyone in every workflow.”
Tableau Next is built on the Salesforce platform, powered by Hyperforce, and uses Data Cloud as the unified data layer.
Salesforce acquired Tableau – which sits on a completely different platform – in 2019, so the ‘Next’ version moving to Hyperforce represents a significant shift for the analytics platform.
Salesforce says they ensure “enterprise-grade security, compliance, and agility” while unifying customer data for analysis.
It should also be pointed out that Salesforce released an analytics tool – called CRM Analytics (CRMA) – which was built on the Salesforce platform. It will be interesting to see how the Tableau Next migration to Hyperforce will affect CRMA.
Tableau Next allows users to explore data with analytics capabilities and “take it a step further” with actionability built directly into the platform powered by an enterprise workflow solution, according to the cloud giant.
It also comes with out-of-the-box analytics skills and pre-built skills, which are meant to enrich agents and enable the delivery of personalized, contextual insights.
These include:
- Data Pro: A skill that helps prepare, model, and visualize data. Use this to speed up your analytics journey and turn data into actionable insights.
- The Concierge Skill: It allows users to ask questions and get analytical answers in natural language, identifying root causes, providing visualizations, and suggesting actions.
- Inspector: It monitors data in real-time and keeps you informed about trends and anomalies.
What’s the Difference Between Tableau and Tableau Next?
With Tableau Next, a deployment option for the cloud, to be hosted on the Salesforce platform, is being added in a bid to provide the “most secure foundation” for Tableau to date.
Tableau Next will also provide a reimagined analytics experience with a particular focus on collaboration, reusability, and agent-powered workflows in a bid to make action on data more efficient.
On the question of whether Tableau Next will feature the same connectors that are available in Tableau today, Salesforce said that the newer product’s data layer is powered by Data Cloud, meaning it supports the same connectors as Data Cloud.
Direct connectors – including Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Databricks, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and more – will be supported.
Other connectors, like SQL Server (Cloud AWS live and ingest), are planned for future releases, Salesforce said.
Tableau Next will also allow direct, ad hoc ingestion of Excel and CSV files within the authoring experience.
Salesforce says that Tableau Next, being built on the Salesforce platform, brings a number of benefits, including bringing together the best of both for a “seamless” analytics experience.
“It’s the first BI platform with a workflow engine that seamlessly connects the entire analytics journey – from raw data to insights to action,” Salesforce said in a statement.
“Designed as an open, API-first platform, it accelerates analytics development with reusable, composable assets and enables users to access insights anywhere, making data-driven decision-making more intuitive and impactful.”
How Will Tableau Users Be Affected?
Salesforce says it has “robust product roadmaps” for Tableau Cloud, Tableau Server, CRM Analytics, and any other analytics solution from Salesforce, so you and your analytics assets are “in good hands and will continue to be invested in”.
Addressing the question of whether customers can use their own data lakehouses or semantic layers if they have already invested in another technology, Salesforce said that their roadmap includes connecting other tools to Tableau Next to let people use them together.
The cloud giant says customers can use their own data lakehouse by leveraging Data Cloud connectors, which include batch and streaming ingestion, zero copy, and bring-your-own-lake capabilities.
Salesforce says it is working on the ability to translate an existing semantics layer from another system to reuse in Tableau Next, and working towards opening the Tableau Next semantic layer completely.
Final Thoughts
It’s no surprise that Salesforce is seeking to intertwine Agentforce into more and more of its products, continuing to pivot hard into the world of agentic artificial intelligence.
We may yet see even more integration from other products into their flagship AI.
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