Tableau Desktop vs. Varicent

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.
$1,380
per year (purchased via a Creator license)
Varicent
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
From quotas to sales and compensation, Varicent helps revenue leaders in enterprise organizations chart a more effective, connected path to revenue by providing vital data, insights, and sales go-to-market planning tools.N/A
Pricing
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Editions & Modules
Tableau Creator License
$115
per month (billed annually) per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll pricing plans are billed annually. A Creator license includes Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and Tableau Pulse. Discounts sometimes available for volume.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Considered Both Products
Tableau Desktop

No answer on this topic

Varicent
Chose Varicent
I used Appx and Optymyze in my previous organization and I found out of all the tools I have used Appx was the best, then Optymyze and then Varicent.
Chose Varicent
Out of all of the products I have ever evaluated for this space, Varicent is head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion. For me, I think of Varicent as akin to building an Access database while the other programs are like building an Excel data model. In Varicent you …
Features
Tableau DesktopVaricent
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
8.4
175 Ratings
2% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports8.0145 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.1174 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.1151 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
8.3
172 Ratings
3% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Drill-down analysis8.5167 Ratings00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.4170 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages8.0126 Ratings00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.5165 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
8.3
166 Ratings
1% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Publish to Web8.0155 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.0154 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Versioning8.3120 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.5128 Ratings00 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.878 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
8.3
164 Ratings
4% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.5162 Ratings00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.5156 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.6131 Ratings00 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining7.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
9.0
149 Ratings
6% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Multi-User Support (named login)9.0145 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.0125 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.7136 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.283 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
7.9
141 Ratings
2% above category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access8.7130 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Application7.3101 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.4122 Ratings00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
7.7
67 Ratings
0% below category average
Varicent
-
Ratings
REST API8.259 Ratings00 Ratings
Javascript API7.653 Ratings00 Ratings
iFrames6.751 Ratings00 Ratings
Java API8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)7.354 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.148 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales ICM
Comparison of Sales ICM features of Product A and Product B
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Varicent
6.7
55 Ratings
15% below category average
Sales compensation plan creation00 Ratings7.148 Ratings
Complex sales crediting00 Ratings7.548 Ratings
Sales compensation process automation00 Ratings7.452 Ratings
Incentive auditing/regulation compliance00 Ratings6.546 Ratings
Sales compensation dashboards & forecasting00 Ratings6.447 Ratings
Incentive modeling00 Ratings6.243 Ratings
Agile incentive strategy00 Ratings6.538 Ratings
ICM mobile visibility00 Ratings6.232 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Small Businesses
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.7 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Everstage
Everstage
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
Everstage
Everstage
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(203 ratings)
7.3
(67 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.5
(41 ratings)
4.8
(15 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(73 ratings)
7.0
(59 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(11 ratings)
5.2
(3 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(10 ratings)
5.8
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(57 ratings)
6.8
(6 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.4
(4 ratings)
7.7
(2 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(5 ratings)
7.7
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(34 ratings)
6.8
(6 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(3 ratings)
5.2
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
4.3
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(4 ratings)
6.8
(58 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
5.9
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
5.9
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Tableau DesktopVaricent
Likelihood to Recommend
Tableau
The best scenario is definitely to collect data from several sources and create dedicated dashboards for specific recipients. However, I miss the possibility of explaining these reports in more detail. Sometimes, we order a report, and after half a year, we don't remember the meaning of some data (I know it's our fault as an organization, but the tool could force better practices).
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Varicent
For the use cases we have at the bank, ICM is a perfect solution. For any bank or institution that has similar requirements, ICM would be a perfect solution. But I also think for any use case that has any sort of incentives based on Sales done, this would work amazing, as both Calculations and reports are handled by ICM very well; it's an all-in-one solution, I feel like.
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Pros
Tableau
  • An excellent tool for data visualization, it presents information in an appealing visual format—an exceptional platform for storing and analyzing data in any size organization.
  • Through interactive parameters, it enables real-time interaction with the user and is easy to learn and get support from the community.
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Varicent
  • Flexibility - Varicent is not template based. You can implement the model specifically for your organisation.
  • Scalability - Since it is not stick to templates you are able to expand the model for other domains as well.
  • Reporting - Several ways of reporting are possible and each has their own benefit/purpose.
  • Strong/Powerfull Calculation Engine delivering fast results/speed to insight
  • User Interface is minimized to what you need and is not showing off all the functions it can "also" do
  • Strong audittrail
  • Appears to be almost unlimited in what you are able to create
Read full review
Cons
Tableau
  • Pricing should be more user-friendly and usage-driven
  • Making edits to the production reports is fairly tough and has a vast scope of additional capabilities
  • Tableau Desktop should be able to differentiate itself from the Tableau server else there is no major meaning of two different products being offered
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Varicent
  • As [the] model gets more and more transactional data, the calculation time increases. This should/can be handled internally with better model optimization.
  • Migrating from one env to other sometimes is challenging. There can be better 'Alerts' or 'Explanation' provided to handle it or at least to give a hint of the error.
  • For managers viewing their rep's report, the access part can be made easier. It should be linked to Payee hierarchy and access can be done automatically.
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Likelihood to Renew
Tableau
Our use of Tableau Desktop is still fairly low, and will continue over time. The only real concern is around cost of the licenses, and I have mentioned this to Tableau and fully expect the development of more sensible models for our industry. This will remove any impediment to expansion of our use.
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Varicent
Customer support from IBM is impeccable. They are quick to respond and they don't nickel and dime you for every request you make. Their goal is to ensure your success and as a user, I really feel like they listen to my concerns. That's not to say there are no problems. All software has its issues, but I don't feel like those issues fall on deaf ears.
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Usability
Tableau
Tableau Desktop has proven to be a lifesaver in many situations. Once we've completed the initial setup, it's simple to use. It has all of the features we need to quickly and efficiently synthesize our data. Tableau Desktop has advanced capabilities to improve our company's data structure and enable self-service for our employees.
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Varicent
Any calculations can be implemented as there are hardly any limitations on complexity. However, online real-time usability is lacking - a simple user enters, and the system calculates work in a way that it is in the browser and hence still needs overnight to be properly reflected in the batch calculations and backend tables.
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Reliability and Availability
Tableau
When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
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Varicent
Never went down in last 3 years that I worked with it (every hour of the day basically). That is a 10 in my book.
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Performance
Tableau
Tableau Desktop's performance is solid. You can really dig into a large dataset in the form of a spreadsheet, and it exhibits similarly good performance when accessing a moderately sized Oracle database. I noticed that with Tableau Desktop 9.3, the performance using a spreadsheet started to slow around 75K rows by about 60 columns. This was easily remedied by creating an extract and pushing it to Tableau Server, where performance went to lightning fast
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Varicent
All is fast, but with API's it is sometimes slower due to the application we are pulling data from. Reports are loaded directly or within seconds and our reports are very detailed with many columns and rows.
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Support Rating
Tableau
Tableau support has been extremely responsive and willing to help with all of our requests. They have assisted with creating advanced analysis and many different types of custom icons, data formatting, formulas, and actions embedded into graphs. Tableau offers a weekly presentation of features and assists with internal company projects.
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Varicent
Giving a 10 would suggest there is no room for improvement. I don't feel like their support is perfect. However, I have never met another team that was more dedicated to making sure we get what we want and need.
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In-Person Training
Tableau
It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
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Varicent
The training was good in general with a nice trainer as well. But, the training could be better if it is more focussed on our process/data etc.
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Online Training
Tableau
I think the training was good overall, but it was maybe stating the obvious things that a tech savvy young engineer would be able to pick up themselves too. However, the example work books were good and Tableau web community has helped me with many problems
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Varicent
There is a learning portal with many videos about navigation, creating reports and managing your model.
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Implementation Rating
Tableau
Again, training is the key and the company provides a lot of example videos that will help users discover use cases that will greatly assist their creation of original visualizations. As with any new software tool, productivity will decline for a period. In the case of Tableau, the decline period is short and the later gains are well worth it.
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Varicent
Test test test. Make sure that the product is calculating everyone 100% correctly. DO NOT accept a 70% pass rate as some companies would like to have you believe is acceptable. This means conducting thorough testing by providing 100% of all expected results, but it will be worth it when you know that the compensation plans are working entirely as expected.
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Alternatives Considered
Tableau
I have used Power BI as well, the pricing is better, and also training costs or certifications are not that high. Since there is python integration in Power BI where I can use data cleaning and visualizing libraries and also some machine learning models. I can import my python scripts and create a visualization on processed data.
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Varicent
In 2015, we used a scorecard containing 80 attributes in our review of Oracle, Callidus, and Xactly & Varicent. Oracle did not have true self serve capabilities- programming was heavily required, not intuitive, out of the box functionality was limited. Callidus & Xactly could not provide us a demo using our data, statements could not be sent out in bulk form, difficulty in importing/exporting to CRM. Varicent excelled in most areas and was the clear winner.
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Scalability
Tableau
Tableau Desktop's scaleability is really limited to the scale of your back-end data systems. If you want to pull down an extract and work quickly in-memory, in my application it scaled to a few tens of millions of rows using the in-memory engine. But it's really only limited by your back-end data store if you have or are willing to invest in an optimized SQL store or purpose-built query engine like Veritca or Netezza or something similar.
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Varicent
It is very scalable and adaptable to changing complexities of calculations and business rules under a variety of different scenarios. It does not get full points because in large data loads the time needed to calculate and import the data increases exponentially and may cause issues related to timing potentially.
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Return on Investment
Tableau
  • Tableau was acquired years ago, and has provided good value with the content created.
  • Ongoing maintenance costs for the platform, both to maintain desktop and server licensing has made the continuing value questionable when compared to other offerings in the marketplace.
  • Users have largely been satisfied with the content, but not with the overall performance. This is due to a combination of factors including the performance of the Tableau engines as well as development deficiencies.
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Varicent
  • Compliance - with a central system used for calculation incentive payments and commissions, we are able to provide reports and data showing every detail of how payments are calculated and why they are justified. We can also identify anomalies and outliers.
  • Integration with our payroll system is seamless. Except for regular pay, nothing goes to payroll without going through ICM. The process for paying incentives/bonuses/commissions is now very structured and efficient.
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ScreenShots

Varicent Screenshots

Screenshot of Varicent providing clarity and transparency to sellers, helping them to find answers faster and have confidence in compensation plans.Screenshot of Tools for sellers that help them align strategic initiatives, and that help them understand which deals will help them win.Screenshot of Varicent ICM model compensation plans that display the financial impact of changes. Its ability to more accurately forecast commission payouts with “what-if” assumptions, users can budget more effectively for sales compensation costs, manage target total compensation for sales representatives and assess plan effectiveness.Screenshot of Shareable information sent to the right people to drive the right results.