乔布斯昔日干将创业 发掘商业数据之美

    有多少企业软件公司的高管够格自夸自己曾是好莱坞的座上宾呢？至少有一位可谓当仁不让，他就是帕特•汉拉罕。他是斯坦福大学（Stanford University）的教授，也是位于西雅图的数据分析和可视化软件制造商Tableau 软件公司（Tableau Software）的联合创始人。凭借视觉特效技术，他曾经荣获奥斯卡科学与工程奖。当时他还在史蒂夫•乔布斯手下工作，是皮克斯公司（Pixar）的元老之一。

    事实证明，他在皮克斯的成果放到现在的公司也颇有用武之地。这种技术能帮各大公司将大量缺乏联系的数据转化成有用的信息。所谓的业务分析领域（Business Analytics）现在炙手可热——去年，商业智能软件的年销售额达到73亿美元，比2009年的65亿美元增长了不少——类似IBM公司和微软（Microsoft）这样的巨头正在为企业级客户争得不可开交。那么，Tableau公司有什么杀手锏？那就是汉拉罕在设计上的敏锐感觉。

    Tableau公司将数据运算与美观的图表完美地嫁接在一起。它的程序很容易上手，各公司可以用它将大量数据拖放到数字“画布”上，转眼间就能创建好各种图表。这一软件的理念是，界面上的数据越容易操控，公司对自己在所在业务领域里的所作所为到底是正确还是错误，就能了解得越透彻。约书亚•克拉荷是雅虎公司（Yahoo）的高级产品经理，他将这款软件和众所周知的数据分析利器——Excel的数据透视表（PivotTables）进行了比较。他说：“它就像是服用了兴奋剂的数据透视表。”它还有一些大名鼎鼎的用户，包括可口可乐公司（Coca-Cola）和《财富》杂志（Fortune）的出品方时代公司（Time Inc.）。

    Tableau公司起源于斯坦福大学的一个研究项目。2003年，汉拉罕联手当时的博士生克里斯•斯托特，还有风险投资家克里斯蒂安•夏伯将这个项目从斯坦福大学剥离，组建了这家公司（现年56岁的汉拉罕是公司的首席科学家，夏伯是首席执行官）。

    去年，公司的营业收入达到3,400万美元。它提供这款软件的免费版，主要客户是博客作者和媒体公司。这些客户可以用它来创建各类互动图表。但公司对更高级版本收费以1千美元起价。这款软件最大的缺点是什么呢？它只适用于PC，这对汉拉罕这位曾经为苹果公司联合创始人乔布斯工作过的人来说，似乎是个莫大的讽刺。

    尽管汉拉罕1989年就离开皮克斯公司开始其学术生涯，但他还是在这家公司获得了宝贵的经验。汉拉罕回忆道：“史蒂夫给我的忠告是，‘创造性就是要有独特的观点，同时将自己的专长加以发挥’。”汉拉罕正是在Tableau公司充分施展了自己在工程和动画方面的渊博知识，才成功打造出了这款商业软件。这款软件不仅技术性能可靠，还兼具美感。我们不禁要猜想，乔布斯或许也会深表赞许。

    译者：清远

    How many enterprise software executives can brag that they have been feted by Hollywood? At least one: Pat Hanrahan, a Stanford University professor and co-founder of Seattle-based Tableau Software, earned a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for visual-effects technology he designed while working at Steve Jobs' Pixar, where he was an early employee.

    Turns out those Pixar chops are coming in handy at his current venture, which helps corporations turn reams of disjointed data into useful information. The so-called business analytics category is hot right now -- annual sales of business intelligence software climbed to $7.3 billion last year, from $6.5 billion in 2009 -- with giants like IBM (IBM) and Microsoft (MSFT) competing for corporate customers. Tableau's edge? Hanrahan's design sensibilities.

    Tableau marries data computation with beautiful graphics. The user-friendly program allows businesses to drag and drop large amounts of data onto a digital "canvas," creating graphs instantaneously. The idea is that the easier it is to manipulate what goes into the interface, the more insight you can gain as to what you're doing right -- or wrong -- in your business. Joshua Klahr, a senior product executive at Yahoo (YHOO), compares the software to Excel PivotTables, a familiar data-analysis tool. "This is almost like PivotTables on steroids," he says. Other high-profile customers include Coca-Cola (KO) and Time Inc., (TWX) Fortune's publisher.

    Tableau began as a research project at Stanford; in 2003, Hanrahan, former Ph.D. student Chris Stolte, and venture capitalist Christian Chabot spun the project out of Stanford and formed Tableau. (Hanrahan, 56, is Tableau's chief scientist; Chabot is CEO.)

    The company last year had revenue of $34 million. It offers a free version of its software, aimed mainly at bloggers and media companies, which use it to create interactive graphics. But it charges $1,000 and up for more sophisticated versions. Its biggest drawback? The program is only compatible with PCsan irony not lost on a guy who used to work for Apple (AAPL) co-founder Jobs.

    Though Hanrahan left Pixar in 1989 for academic life, he learned valuable lessons there. "Steve said to me, 'Creativity is having a unique point of view and applying your background to it,'" Hanrahan recalls. By applying his engineering and animation know-how to Tableau, Hanrahan has tried to come up with business software that's both technologically sound and beautiful. We suspect Jobs would have approved.