Item: Looker Studio
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The Google Data Studio platform provides us with the ability to perform simple analytics on various datasets in order to discover trends and present that data to management in a simple, easy-to-understand format. While first party connector support may be limited, the ability to use CSV files as an interchange format allows us to cover most systems from time and attendance to simple excel exports.

Pros and Cons

Ease of use
User interface / look-and-feel of reports
Pricing (has a free option)
CSV file support minimizes barriers to entry

First party connector support can be improved
Complex visualizations / datasets may not be possible
Cannot be used on-premise, which may cause issues with data compliance

Return on Investment

Better visualization of operational and administrative data to aid in decision-making
Provide valuable marketing insight from survey results
Allow tracking and trending for legacy systems and databases that do not support analytics

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Power BI, Tableau Desktop, Tableau Online and MS SharePoint

Google Data Studio provides a great feature set considering its price point, especially when compared to commercial options from Microsoft and Tableau. While it may not be as versatile when it comes to working with and developing complex datasets, there is enough charm in its simple, easy-to-use UI to allow not-so-complex analytics to be conducted without having to hire a data analyst.

Key Insights

Do you think Looker Studio delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Looker Studio's feature set?

Yes

Did Looker Studio live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Looker Studio go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Looker Studio again?

Yes

Other Software Used

GitHub, DaVinci Resolve, Topaz Gigapixel AI, OneDrive, Google Drive, Notepad++, Sublime Text, Apache Tomcat, CentOS Linux, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Audition

Likelihood to Recommend

Google Data Studio is great for simple, on-demand analytics and visualizations. The user interface is intuitive enough so that you don't need to be a data scientist in order to get some useful info from your data sets. If you are comfortable with having to manually export and load a CSV file every time you run it in order to get fresh data, then it will work for you - even better if you already use Google's platforms or one of the other supported connectors such as MySQL. However, the cloud-only option means that data compliance requirements will need to be taken into consideration.

Great for not-so-complex analytics and dashboards

Overall Satisfaction with Google Data Studio