Shelter Island Risk Services Finds Rewards from Tableau Cloud


Shelter Island Risk Services helps companies identify and manage risk. From risk management information systems (RMIS) consulting to outcomes-focused analytics, Shelter Island Risk Services works to make its clients’ information more available and understandable for improved risk management.

In this video, Shelter Island Risk partner consultant Ira Skop shares how his small business uses the power of the cloud to share dashboards at a click while avoiding the need to maintain a server infrastructure through Tableau Cloud.

Tableau: How is Shelter Island Risk using Tableau?
Ira Skop, Partner Consultant: We provide analytical consulting in the risk management industry, primarily casualty and property insurance; we look at insurance claims and the exposures that contribute to those claims. We use Tableau to provide our clients an analytical view of what their claims look like, where they're going, what the costs are, where and why they're happening.

Tableau: After years as a Tableau Desktop customer, Shelter Island has recently adopted Tableau Cloud. Why?
Ira: We decided to use Tableau Cloud so that we can more easily share information with our clients. Tableau Cloud allows us to give our clients a quick and easy web interface to the data.

Tableau: Did you consider implementing your own server in-house?
Ira: No. Bringing up a server and maintaining it for us is not an option. We don’t have the resources—human or technical. We're a very small organization and we don't have the infrastructure to put together a server and host it ourselves.

Tableau: How did you share your data visualizations previously?
Ira: Before we had Tableau Cloud, we had to create Tableau packaged workbooks, ship them off to our clients by e-mail or FTP transfer, have them download the Tableau Reader, and use that to do their analysis. Or we would create static .pdf files and email them…but that lacked the interactivity that Tableau has, that gives you the ability to play with your analysis and bring it to new levels. Tableau Cloud eliminates all of those hassles.

Tableau: Can you describe this new, hassle-free process?
Ira: To see the reports a client would log onto the Tableau Cloud Server and bring up their reports—in two seconds they bring it right up. Tableau is about speed, speed to analysis, speed to delivery of solutions—and Tableau Cloud shortens the timeframe of delivering solutions to our clients. Now it's a single click from Tableau Desktop product to Tableau Cloud.

Tableau: What’s the process for giving new clients access to the reports you’ve created for them.
Ira: Adding a new client to Tableau Cloud from our side is as simple as creating a new user ID and giving them the login credentials. Tableau Cloud allows us to easily show our analysis to our clients with very little investment or pain on their part.

Tableau: What’s involved in publishing your visualizations to Tableau Cloud—is it fairly straightforward?
Ira: It is simply a matter of clicking a menu option in Tableau and choosing “export to server.”

Tableau: What do you think of the uploaded visualizations—how does the user experience feel to you, a longtime Desktop user?
Ira: I have explored and worked with it and I’m impressed with the richness of the web offering interface on the online product.

Tableau: How are your clients benefiting from your use of Tableau?
Ira: Tableau has provided great value to us because of the speed with which we can take our information and produce meaningful visual representations. Our clients are amazed and very impressed with the richness of the way we can present information visually. It helps them in their decision-making.

Tableau: And what about you? How have you benefitted from bringing Tableau into Shelter Island Risk?
Ira: We have used many other and tried many other products, and nothing provides solutions as quickly, as dynamically and as attractively as Tableau.

Tableau: That’s great to hear! What would you tell someone who was considering Tableau Cloud?

Tableau Cloud is a great solution for companies like ours who have clients with a few users and who need to deploy solutions in multiple organizations… and who don't have the infrastructure to create their own server installation.

Ira: Tableau Cloud is a great solution for companies like ours who have clients with a few users and who need to deploy solutions in multiple organizations… and who don't have the infrastructure to create their own server installation.