• Datazen is a visualisation-only tool. There are no data mashup capabilities, nor can you create measures. This sounds like a con, but for less technical users this will be a pro. You connect to a data source (preferably denormalized) and then creating the dashboard is very easy.
• Mature, native apps for iOS, Android, Windows; tablets, phones, PCs. There is also a web viewer.
• Datazen is an on premise solution. The data stays on premise, routed through an on premise Datazen Server.
• Visualisation first design: the users decide what graphs/charts/KPIs they want to see, which are added with simulated data so that they immediately can tell what the dashboard is going to look like. Then they substitute in the data sources that they want to use. Very quick to get up to speed because controls with simulated data function as tutorials.
• Very easy to design for different layouts (switch to a tablet or phone view and design with the controls you’ve already used)
• Easily handles custom shape files, has a range of built-in maps
• Datazen publisher and viewer apps are free. Datazen Server is completely free for anyone with a SQL Server Enterprise licence (2008 or later) and software assurance.
• It’s difficult to make an ugly dashboard (and making pretty displays is definitely not my forte). All graphs, gauges, charts, etc snap to the grid, and really do look fantastic at pretty much any size.
• You can brand your dashboards with your own custom colour palette using a CSS package
• You can set the caching/refresh schedule at the data source level
• Built-in mechanism for commenting on dashboards and KPIs, hosted by Datazen Server
• You can combine multiple data sources in a single dashboard if desired