Updated June 14, 2023

Difference Between Visual Analytics vs Tableau

Today’s business needs more efficient and easily used business intelligence tools to achieve their goals and gain more profit. Installing a new business intelligence tool takes several weeks, months, or even years, and the maintenance of the device is also expensive. Here are the two most popular BI tools, Visual Analytics vs. Tableau, and their features and comparison.

Head to Head Difference Between Visual Analytics vs Tableau (Infographics)

Following are some of the differences listed below.

What is Visual Analytics?

Visual Analytics is a form of inquiry in which the data is displayed graphically. Visual Analytics is a combination of automated analysis techniques with interactive visualizations for the purpose of effective understanding, reasoning, and decision-making. This is mostly used in very large and complex data sets. Visual Analytics is an in-memory visualization and reporting tool.

Goals of Visual Analytics

The goals of visual analytics are as follows.

Provide a transparent way of processing data and information for an analytic discourse.
Integrate scientific disciplines to improve the division of work between humans and machines.
Gain in-depth knowledge from large, dynamic, and complex data
Helps to provide more understandable, timely, and defensible reports
Communicate the report effectively so that proper decisions are taken

Visual analytics does more than just visualization. The main task in visual analytics is to identify the best algorithm for the task at hand and develop the best solution with proper visualization and interaction techniques.

Areas related to Visual Analytics

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Visual Analytics Process

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SAS Visual Analytics

SAS Visual Analytics is a deep analytics portfolio that was launched by SAS in the year 2012. It is the most sophisticated visual analytics platform and best suits larger companies with complex needs. SAS VA is a complete analytics visualization platform that will help you find patterns and relationships in data. It has a powerful in-memory technology for quicker analytic computations. It is easier to use and has a self-service environment that can handle large amounts of data.

SAS VA helps you to unlock insights and improve efficiency throughout the organization. It reduces the work of the IT department and lets them concentrate on the business’s goals. Visual Analytics in SAS is the best way to tell your Business Intelligence story. It is priced higher than other visual analytic software comparisons but has many good features and functionalities. It has a traditional Business Intelligence platform, requiring skilled persons to use it.

SAS Visual Analytics is compared with Tableau, TIBCO Spotfire, and others.

Features of SAS VA

Following are some of the features given.

Innovative visualization techniques
Visual data exploration
Self-service, easy analytics
Robust report design
Mobile Business Intelligence
Collaboration
Easy data administration
Deployment flexibility
Auto charting
More interactive dashboards and reports
Mapping technologies
Text sentiment analysis

Benefits of SAS VA

Following are some of the benefits given.

You can implement visual analytics dashboards, reporting, and analytics from a single interface.
You can view and interact with the reports and dashboards from your smartphone or any such device through Mobile BI apps.
Visual Analytics in SAS allows you to share visualizations through MS Office applications like Excel and PowerPoint.
Visual Analytics in SAS uses various optical analytics techniques that will help you present the data more attractively.
You can choose a Business Intelligence implementation that fits your business need. You can also expand it as your business grows. You also have the option to use BI in a private cloud or a public cloud.

What is Tableau?

Tableau is a business intelligence software that lets anyone connect to the data, visualize and create graphs, charts, and dashboards in the way they like. It is an exploration software. Tableau’s desktop can perform its analysis. It helps the business to analyze a large amount of data in a quick and user-friendly way.

This is the more popular software that is most preferred by business people for data visualization.

Features of Tableau

This has five essential features.

Tableau Desktop – This has an attractive drag-and-drop desktop, which lets the users quickly analyze, sort, and visualize data.
Tableau Server – This server communicates the visualizations to any device, like a desktop or mobile, that supports a web browser. The architecture of the Tableau server is measurable.
Tableau Online – Tableau online features let users share the dashboards with their partners as well as the customers
Tableau Reader – This feature lets the user share the data visualization created using this software.
Tableau Public – The website enhancement feature lets the visualization narrate the story.

Features of the new version of Tableau

Statistical data files – This already supports more data sources, and the new version of it supports statistical files.
Data preparation – The new version of this has more data preparation features which help the users to clean the data and spend more time on analysis.
Ad Hoc Calculations – The new version allows the users to perform many calculations on an Ad Hoc basis. Tableau gives you answers on the flow, letting you experiment with new things.
Query Performance Improvement – In the new version of Tableau, the in-memory analytic database works even faster. It is designed to make the most use of the user’s hardware.

A new technology called Query Fusion has been added, which will search for all the queries and look for ways to simplify them.

Innovative Maps – Selection controls, Location search capability are all the new features introduced in the latest version.
Admin Views – Admin views are one more unique feature added to the new version, which lets the administrators monitor and analyze data quickly. It also enables them to detect bugs, plan upgrades, and track activities.

There are also several other features of Tableau, which are divided into three categories.

Analytics Features

Ad Hoc Analysis
OLAP
Predictive Analysis
Trend Indicators

Reporting Features

Ad Hoc Reporting
Automatic Scheduled Reporting
Customizable dashboard
Dashboard
Financial Forecast
Graphic Benchmark tools
Multiple Languages

Support Features

Email
In-Person Training
Online Chat
Phone
Visual Analytics Tutorials

Some features are provided at a cost, while others come for free. This has all the necessary features you need for your business today and the capabilities you want for tomorrow.

Installation of Tableau is straightforward.

Comparison Table Between SAS Visual Analytics vs Tableau

Here in this article, we are going to compare SAS Visual Analytics vs Tableau.

Basis of Distinction	SAS Visual Analytics	Tableau
Otherwise Known as	SAS BI	Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server
Ranking	Ranks 11th position in the BI software tools	Ranks 1st position
Few Customers	Staples, Scotia Bank, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare	Accenture, Coco-Cola, Bank of America, PayPal, Google, Skype, Citigroup, Dell, Walmart, The New York Times, US Army and Air force
ETL development	Supports internal ETL development	This does not support ETL development
Modeling Add-in	SAS VA comes with SAS Visual statistics, which will help you to do modeling	Does not support modeling Add-in
Functionality support	In SAS VA, there is a “Stored Process” system where if any functionality is not working, then it can be programmed to do anything literally.	Tableau is dragged and drop tool, and if any functionality is not working, your work gets stopped there.
Size of Business	SAS VA can handle larger volumes of data	This is best suited for small and medium-scale industries
Installation	THE SAS VA installation process is large and takes some time. A third party does the installation, and your company is considered as a passenger.	This can be installed with ease, like your MS Office. It is also easy to manage.
Forms of analysis	SAS VA supports many forms of analysis	Whereas Tableau does not support different types of analysis like text analysis, predictive analysis, what-if analysis, and others
Capability	SAS VA requires extra effort and cost to expand the capability	This comes with all the in-built capabilities for business users.
Visualization	SAS VA does not support packet bubble visualization	Tableau has packet bubble visualization
Color differentiation	SAS VA output cannot be differentiated using colors	In Tableau output, different sectors can be differentiated using different colors
Underlying data	In SAS VA, the underlying data cannot be viewed unless you have a Visual data builder or report designer.	On the Tableau desktop, the underlying data can be easily viewed
Dashboard	SAS visual analytics dashboard has multiple tabs	Tableau dashboard can tell a story
Important features	Interactive dashboard, Visual data explorer	Actions, Story dashboard, Parameters, Maps
Deployment Issues	Only minimal deployment issues detected	No deployment issues detected
Pros	SAS VA is excellent for modeling, data exploration	Slicing and dicing of data, Connectivity to Google Analytics, and dispersed data sources
Recommended improvements	Navigation should be made easy and need to be little cheapAccommodate survey data.	The release of new features is always in the next version, which takes time.
Usability	SAS visual analytics has a user guide that will help the users to learn all the basic capabilities	This is very simple and easy to learn. It is a drag-and-drop tool and so users can easily learn it.
Support	SAS VA lends legendary support from customer services as well as from analytics experts and representatives	Support is not required in Tableau as it is frequently updated, and the issues are solved quickly.
Training	SAS has many regional and national level centers to provide training in order to expand the user’s knowledge about the software	This software is so easy to use, and so it trains a lot of people in a short period of time. Simple instructions are more than enough for the users to understand the new features added.
Online help	There are a lot of videos available online for users, which include live classes and resource materials.	Online videos are exceptionally good in Tableau
Performance	SAS VA can handle billions of rows of data, and the performance is relatively good	It performs very well. But the only thing is that the data should be organized properly in order to get the maximum performance out of it.
Alternatives	SAS VA can get data from other sources such as Salesforce and many others	Alternative solutions are still in the process
Initial Setup	The initial setup of SAS VA requires more time and effort	This is easy to install and set up
Cost and Licensing	Annual License and the one-time cost	The cost of tableau differs for each of its features
Return on Investment	Increase the return on investment through marketing campaigns	Increases productivity and Increases client satisfaction
Technical support	SAS VA offers excellent technical support	Do not need any technical support in Tableau
Customer Service	The customer intelligence manager and the support team interact closely with the users.	Customer support is very good, but often it is not needed because of the robustness of the software.
Google Analytics Connector	SAS VA does not support this feature	Tableau connects easily with Visual Google Analytics
Free Trial	Free Visual Analytics trial is available for 14 days. Click here	This offers a free trial to the users
Sharing of work	SAS VA lets you share your work with partners and colleagues	It does not let you share your work
Themes	In SAS VA, corporate themes can be integrated once it is installed	Tableau does not support any change in themes

Below is the picture that compares Tableau with SAS VA for the year 2014.

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Conclusion

I hope this article has helped you learn the differences between Visual Analytics and Tableau. On the whole, Tableau has a lot of good features when compared with Visual Analytics. Tableau answers all your business needs and lets you focus on the other task in the organization.

Quiz Result
Total Questions	Correct Answers	Wrong Answers	Percentage