Google Data Studio - First thoughts

As you all are aware, in the last year I've spent almost every single day using Tableau. However, I've done my best to try out other data visualisation tools. In the past, I've reviewed QlikSense and Power BI - So of course, when I found out that Google had released their own data visualisation tool, I had to check it out.

The Lowdown

The software is called 'Google Data Studio' (https://datastudio.google.com/#/navigation/reporting) and it is currently still in beta.

The paid version (Data Studio 360) is/will be a part of Google Analytics 360 Suite - Which also includes

• Analytics 360
• Tag Manager 360
• Optimize 360 (also in beta)
• Attribution 360
• Audience Centre (also in beta)

Check out the full range here (https://www.google.co.uk/analytics/360-suite/#?modal_active=none) - Of course, being Google, this lends itself to the 'wider' Google stack; following the 'one login, full integration' sort of model. In order to purchase the Analytics 360 Suite (or, I'd imagine you have to buy the whole package) you have to either contact Google, or one of Google's partner resellers.

BUT! A couple of days ago, Google announced a free version of Data Studio, aimed at individuals and smaller teams. The limitations? You can only create 5 reports (360 allows unlimited) & you can primarily connect to Google Sheets, BigQuery, AdWords, Google Analytics, YouTube and Attribution 360. Though it's currently focussed on the Google 'range', there is talk that SQL database connectors will be rolled out.

Data Studio's goal is to 'help you accomplish the three primary tasks you need to create beautiful reports that tell beautiful stories with your data'

Connect. Visualise. Share.

So very Google!

So, one of the immediate main drawbacks for me (as I write this on the train) is that the product does not work offline - Which makes sense to an extent; Google Docs etc are all browser based, as is the Chromebook. So it's not an uncommon thing to see. I'd imagine that the paid version *does* have an offline mode, but of course I hope so anyway (I don't know this as a fact)

Pre-demo thoughts

Instead of testing the tool (which I will do later), let me talk about first thoughts in this post. Watching the 'demo' video was slick. As it is Google, there's a well narrated video with beautiful visuals and a nice UX... Which made me feel a bit concerned as a huge Tableau practitioner!

Connecting to data looks simple enough, but as I mentioned before, I seems to be very Google specific (for now) - Which isn't an issue really, as most data can be in Excel formats etc.

The interface itself is very similar to what people who have extensively used Google Products online, the sort've format of Google Docs/Slides/Sheets etc. And of course, Google champion themselves for the simultaneous collaboration - which is possible within this tool (though you're able to set permissions) - Check out the image (taken from the Google Data Studio website, but annotated by me)

This is the sort've 'opening view' of Data Studio in such a Google way and then once you'd opened the datasource, the building window looks a bit like this

When I saw this, I thought two things; one, that the interface is very similar to QlikSense (config pane on the right, chart controls on the top) but second; green things, blue things. This refers back to the post written by Tom Brown years ago which I always recommend to people starting with Tableau to understand continuous vs discrete - and Google have done something very similar with the 'Pills' that the user can bring in.

So this is a really basic overview and first thoughts, from reading documentation, watching the video and seeing how the interface looks without actually playing with it.

Conclusions - For now

Moving forward, I'm going to try and have a proper play than this very basic overview - but my initial thoughts are fairly positive. It may not have the deeper analysis tools which Tableau has, including the level of customisability - but for firms/individuals who are doing very basic reporting, this doesn't seem a bad place to start.

To find out more, check out https://www.google.co.uk/analytics/360-suite/data-studio/ for more on this.

To try it out (and certainly where I'm going to start) check out - https://datastudio.google.com/#/reporting/0B_U5RNpwhcE6R3d5Nk5zOE5ZSGM

Unfortunately, at the time of writing Google Data Studio isn't available in the UK. I'll dig a bit deeper into the product once it is available here.