Top 5 Features Google should add to Google Data Studio in 2017
Click Here to See an Updated List for 2018
With the introduction of Google’s data visualization product last May, aptly named Google Data Studio, many data nerds including myself have been anxious to see what Mountain View has in store for 2017. With the little information we have, there are certain things we should be expecting for the first half of the year. For starters, Data Studio’s project team indicated that the product is set to exit beta (finally) sometime in Q1 2017. As of today, that gives Google just a few weeks to get a lot of “missing” features off the drawing board and into our hands. With that said, the Top 5 Features outlined below range from “very likely” to “highly improbable” to be part of the Q1 ’17 release, but, as someone who spends countless hours churning data I wanted to provide some unsolicited advice to the engineers at Google.
Without further ado, here are the Top 5 Features I want to see from Google Data Studio in 2017:
1. More Data Connections
This Top 5 list starts where many data challenges begin — with the data source. In the simplest terms, most modern Business Intelligence (BI) tools set out to accomplish three major things: connect to data, analyze/visualize data, and share insights with others. The first stage of that process turns out to be one of the most challenging. While we live in the “age of data”, most of it is segregated, living in data silos, and it takes a lot of effort to connect those silos together.
While we live in the “age of data”, most of it is segregated, living in data silos, and it takes a lot of effort to connect those silos together.
So far, Data Studio does a great job of connecting to Google’s own data sources: Google Analytics, AdWords, DoubleClick, Sheets, BigQuery, even YouTube. However, a lot of useful data lives outside of Google’s walls. Google has added options to connect to SQL databases, but that’s not really the solution most of us are looking for. If Google truly wishes to succeed with this key step, they should work on developing a couple of important connectors for launch.
What are some of the most important connectors you ask? The list could be vastly different depending on who you asked, but I’m personally looking for some connectors for the big social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), a general web connector, and a csv uploader (the latter of which has been promised by the Data Studio team). After launch, Google should open up their data connector APIs to third parties, similar to how Tag Manager works today. That would put the burden of building connectors on the owners of the data silos instead of the data wrangler, which could truly change the game.
2. Better Data Manipulation / Blending
As of today the only common thread that can connect multiple data sources together in Data Studio is the Date (yep, that’s not great). Even if two datasets share multiple commonalities, Data Studio will not recognize those common keys and you will not be able to blend/filter visuals using those data points. Most products on the market today have different approaches to data blending, but I think Microsoft’s Power BI product presents the best path forward. Power BI allows users to easily manipulate, structure, and blend data, across multiple data sources into a singular data frame that can be utilized to create meaningful mutli-source reports. For feature request #2, I would like to see Google copy Microsoft’s approach to data blending and take it one step further.
I would like to see Google copy Microsoft’s approach to data blending and take it one step further.
After going through the whole process of creating that singular data frame, it would be nice to use it for multiple reports/dashboards, maybe even blend it with another data frame. This is something Microsoft still hasn’t figured out, which leaves it wide open for Google to jump ahead.
3. Analytics Capabilities
Are you tired of talking data connection yet? Yeah, me too. The most exciting part of having all your data in one place is the analysis and visualization that comes with it. We’ll save visualization for feature #4 (I promise, it’s coming); for now, let’s discuss improvements to analytical capabilities. Google has a long way to go to catch up to industry leaders when it comes to creating custom metrics, groups, trend lines, and other ad-hoc calculations.
Google has a long way to go to catch up to industry leaders…
Data Studio’s list of supported functions is quite meager and lacks many basics like running total and percent of total. There are also areas like forecasting which Google hasn’t even attempted to tackle. Many analysts will deem Data Studio un-useable until Google beefs up their analysis feature set, and luckily, this is an area that the project team has mentioned they are working on. Beyond the basics, I could see Google mixing in some of its machine learning and search chops to deliver automatic insights and natural language queries, which would take Data Studio from rather useless to absolutely necessary.
4. Visualizations
I promised it was coming. All these BI products culminate to one thing — the visualizations. Telling a complex data story through simple, easy-to-understand visuals is arguably the prime directive of a good analyst. Why? Because it’s an analyst’s job to find the story within the data, and more importantly it’s an analyst’s job to tell the story to his/her audience. Visual aids, whether simple cartesian plots or intricate infographics, play an essential role in simplifying the data story you are trying to purvey. While Data Studio has the basics covered (Bar, Column, Line, Table, Pie), analysts are always looking for the latest and greatest visualizations to take their narratives to the next level.
While Data Studio has the basics covered (Bar, Column, Line, Table, Pie), analysts are always looking for the latest and greatest visualizations to take their narratives to the next level.
This is another area where I think Microsoft’s Power BI is paving the way. One of the most unsung features of Power BI is the Infographic visualization. It’s so underappreciated that it doesn’t even come bundled with the standard package from Microsoft, you have to download it separately from their custom visualization catalog. Its visuals pack some serious punch. Just about any cool pictogram or infographic you’ve seen can be recreated and updated dynamically with this plugin. I was truly blown away by the potential when I first used it. This is the arena Google is entering into and they should have ideas like this in mind when updating their visual library.
5. Sharing
Last on the list, and last in our data process (I love a logical flow), is sharing. This is actually an area where Google is ahead. Since Data Studio is built on the same framework as Google Drive sharing is a breeze, and you can tell collaboration was top of mind when the team released the beta last May. There are still a few things that Google could improve on though that would take sharing data to the next level. User groups, embedding, and email alerts would really round out all the features analysts are looking for.
User groups, embedding, and email alerts would really round out all the features analysts are looking for.
User groups would make managing permissions for multiple teams much easier; rather than entering one email at a time, you can give an entire list of users read or edit access to a report. Embedding would allow you to share insights publicly across the web. This feature already exists for Google Sheets, and I imagine it’s only a matter of time before they add it to Data Studio. Lastly, email alerts would be a huge bonus. If a spike in website traffic occurs you want to know as soon as possible, so setting up an email alert for large fluctuations in data could enhance the current status.
