Banco Nacional de Costa Rica delivers financial data in hours, not days


Costa Rica’s Banco Nacional is the largest bank in the country, with a network of over 170 offices. Before, teams within the General Auditing department at Banco Nacional were consuming large volumes of data in Excel files and SQL tools, limiting their ability to make quick data discoveries. Processing information could take days. They knew that they had to find a system that could handle their large dataset and provide faster insights. After several recommendations, they trialed Tableau. They realized that with Tableau, they could immediately start querying their data. Today, Banco Nacional can surface information in a matter of hours. The quick turnaround time allows the General Auditing department to collaborate with other departments, providing data to the users who need it most. (Video in Spanish)


Tableau: How has Tableau changed things for Banco Nacional? Nelson Zúñiga Ramírez, Specialist Auditor, Continuous Auditing Management: The utility of Tableau is impressive in terms of visualizing data. It's a whole different ball game. Instead of looking at a table of numbers or structured information, we get to see a graphic where you can take decisions almost immediately. Where you can spot trends or make comparisons between offices or products or see if the financial goals were achieved or not. Tableau: What are your data needs? What were you doing before Tableau? How did the transition go? Nelson: Our organization deals with a very high volume of data. We already had tools to use, but they were unable to cope with this large amount of data. So we performed a benchmarking test on various tools available on the market. They all had very high dependency in terms of IT. We wanted to find something that would be a better match for trade expert requirements. We had a look at Tableau, as it came recommended to us. We made initial contact and carried out a concept trial. This trial gave us impressive data in a variety of areas. There was no tool configuration process to go through. We didn't have to seek out an IT technician to go through it for us. Installation was immediate. It only took a minute. Tableau: How has Tableau made a difference for your business? Nelson: We have been able to work with the relevant parties on our own terms and, working hand-in-hand with business, we feel we have become more efficient in what we can offer all areas of the organization. Before, it took days to process information. Now, in a matter of hours, we already have the information practically ready for analysis. Tableau: What would happen if you couldn’t use Tableau anymore? Nelson: If we couldn't use Tableau, we would be put back to where we were some time ago. Like a couple of years ago. We would have a fairly large workload in terms of processing data. We would have to see how we could fragment information to run it through the tools we had at that time, which were Excel and other SQL tools. But this would mean turning back the clock to a process that took days to prepare information for analysis. Tableau: What would you say to someone considering Tableau? Nelson: I would recommend everyone who wanted to use Tableau. First install it and try it out. They'll see what an innovative process it is. How it is so user-friendly and powerful. It gives people a better understanding of data. This is going to be a great benefit to any organization in which it is used.

The utility of Tableau is impressive in terms of visualizing data. It's a whole different ball game. Instead of looking at a table of numbers or structured information, we get to see a graphic where you can take decisions almost immediately.