Data-based insights are a critical component of strategic decision-making in business today. We know this because, time after time, we’ve seen companies that successfully apply data and insights to their decision making perform better on key business metrics. They are 23x more likely to add new customers, and 9x more likely to retain those customers. They are also 19x more likely to be profitable.
These numbers paint a very clear picture: business leaders must bring data and insights into their decision making, rather than rely on gut instinct or experience.
But, transforming raw data into actionable insights can be extremely difficult. Business leaders may not have access to the data they need, or it may not be in a usable format. It could be in an Excel sheet with one million rows or stored across multiple databases and applications that don’t easily talk to one another. The data could also be in a format that just doesn’t make sense for how business leaders are thinking about a given decision. However this data is being created, stored, and presented, it is difficult to see the relevant data — and only the relevant data — in one integrated visualization that drives impactful decision making.
We tackled this problem in a recent webinar, Make Data Easy with MuleSoft and Tableau, including how MuleSoft and Tableau allow users to integrate, analyze, and action their data, no matter where it resides. Check out the recording to learn more about the unique benefits of each platform, as well as how they’re stronger together when it comes to analyzing and actioning disparate data sources. You will also see an illustrative demo of how our joint solution can inform critical healthcare decisions about COVID-19.
Throughout the webinar, we received a record number of questions — 86, to be exact. And because we couldn’t answer every question within the 15 minutes allotted for Q&A, here are some of the most-asked questions as an additional learning resource. Be sure to also check out the recording for the full demo and product discussion.
Q #1: Do I need MuleSoft to effectively use Tableau?
A: It depends. If you only want to visualize data from a couple of applications that Tableau has connectors for, or one database that integrates well with Tableau, you probably don’t need MuleSoft to be successful with Tableau.
We see greater demand for an enterprise-grade integration platform like MuleSoft when users want to visualize and analyze multiple different data sets, especially from legacy or on-premise databases, and applications without a Tableau connector.
Q #2: How is data actually transferred from MuleSoft to Tableau?
A: There are a couple ways to transfer data from MuleSoft into Tableau. In the webinar demo, we show a web data connector that can call an API. This works well to get data into Tableau via MuleSoft.
Tableau can also natively read CSV files, so you can set up MuleSoft to deliver data in CSV when integrating into Tableau.
Q #3: How do MuleSoft and Tableau ensure security, governance, and compliance of my data?
A: API security is a big theme for MuleSoft and we have enterprise-grade options to secure and govern your data. One of the biggest value-adds to using MuleSoft is that we decouple enterprise security from the actual implementation, so users don’t have to worry about it. Policies can be set at the global level to ensure security.
On the Tableau side, all data transfers are encrypted in transit, and any local copies of data can also be encrypted as well.
Watch the webinar, Make Data Easy with MuleSoft and Tableau to learn more.
