Deloitte to deliver strategy with Tableau

Tableau Software has announced that it has signed an alliance with Deloitte Consulting in a deal that moves Deloitte firmly from Customer to partner.  Deloitte have been using Tableau analytics software for several years, with more than 5000 users of the software, 3000 of whom are in the US.

From user of Tableau Software…

That Tableau has been implemented with the Strategy and Operations division of Deloitte shows that they are a serious customer and Ryan Renner, Strategy and Operations Principal was evangelical about the product in a video piece for Tableau. When asked how Deloitte are using the software he replied:

“We made a very conscious decision at Deloitte to use Tableau as our front-end visualization piece. What we’re trying to do is make analytics real for our people and for our clients. Tableau has been a critical tool and enabler for us to do really transform how we visualize data and relay that on to our clients.”

Deloitte has been able to take advantage of Tableau’s easy to use analytics software delivering benefits to both themselves and clients. This led them to realise that they could do more than just show customers the results of analytics, they could also sell them a solution around Tableau.

As Richard Starnes, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP commenting in the release said: “Tableau solutions will enhance Deloitte’s ability to deliver self-service analytics capabilities to our enterprise customers.

“With Deloitte’s strategic advisory and industry experience, our joint customers can transform their businesses by implementing an agile, self-reliant data driven culture.”

…to alliance partner of Tableau Software

This desire by Deloitte means that they will not just deliver insights from analytics gleaned but also enhance the customer capability to inform themselves, moving the conversation from predictive analytics into prescriptive analytics as companies utilise the self service features that Tableau offers.

Sometimes the consulting practices take software and use their own implementation methodologies as a means to differentiate themselves. In this case it seems that Delotte are also adopting Tableau Drive as well. This means that while Deloitte will be a very important partner for Tableau, and certainly this deal places them at the forefront of the analytics market, they will be coming as equal partners.

Kelly Wright, executive vice president at Tableau Software commenting on the deal said: “As a long-standing Tableau customer, Deloitte has experienced the benefit of helping people to see and understand their data. We’re excited to take our relationship to a new level with this strategic alliance, extending our reach and benefiting from Deloitte’s passion for helping clients make better business decisions.”

Deloitte to use Tableau Drive

Tableau Drive is the methodology that Tableu defined for scalling out self-service analytics within enterprise deployments. It has been developed through experience and its delivery uses iterative, agile methods rather than more traditional spiral or waterfall. The deployments become an engagement between the business and IT, or in Deloitte’s case their consultants, so that the business users quickly achieve value and have a direct input into the insights that are revealed.

For Deloitte customers, or rather for their joint customers, there will be clear benefits according to Richard Starnes, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. He commented: “Tableau solutions will enhance Deloitte’s ability to deliver self-service analytics capabilities to our enterprise customers. With Deloitte’s strategic advisory and industry experience, our joint customers can transform their businesses by implementing an agile, self-reliant data driven culture.”

Conclusion

This is a big deal for Tableau and places them at the top table for analytics, with Deloitte using them in strategic discussions with clients they greater chance of engagement with new clients than they might otherwise have done so. If they are able to even work with one other big four consultancies with the same result then their future is well assured.

For Deloitte this is just about adding a piece of software to their sales portfolio, as Renner puts it: “It’s insight to action. We don’t sell analytics for analytics’ sake. We help solve clients’ problems. It’s really around helping them understand the ‘so what’ in the analytics.“