Visual analytics is an essential component for enterprise BI strategies, which has driven demand for full integration of business applications with a variety of enterprise data visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, Domo, Jaspersoft, Sisense, etc.) across the enterprise. To satisfy this demand, data engineers and analysts may be dumping CSV files or turning to IT to build custom access against the published APIs—not a trivial task, since web APIs are seldom designed for analytics.
This has led many ISVs to build their own connectors, but there are several challenges associated with this approach — Do you pick ODBC or JDBC? How about OData? Do you need to create and ship a Tableau Data Source Customization (.TDC) file? Will your customers be satisfied with batch extracts or will they demand live access using DirectQuery for Power BI? What about Data Discovery for Qlik?
Building BI connectors using industry standards such as ODBC, JDBC or OData will help you deliver a seamless user experience for your customers. However, this build-your-own-connectors strategy is neither economical nor scalable, with each enhancement request taking up time that could be better spent elsewhere. To avoid this, many organizations are partnering with Progress® DataDirect® to deliver universal BI connectors that work reliably across many popular tools to accelerate their journey toward open analytics.