Tableau Software Inc. has just announced the release into general availability of its updated business intelligence offering, Tableau 9.1. The newly updated solution is designed to make it simpler than ever for users to analyze data – regardless of the source – using any kind of device.

Tableau 9.1 comes with a bunch of enhanced capabilities that give users more ways to answer their queries with the help of data, plus a new mobile experience, more choices for connecting with their data, and improved enterprise security and authentication features.

For those who’re unfamiliar with Tableau, lets just says that it’s one of the more “mobile friendly” companies around. It’s one of the first Big Data firms that’s tried to design spreadsheets with tablets and mobile devices in mind – basically, its software takes Excel data and coverts it into data visualizations that are designed for touch screen devices.

Tableau was quite the trendsetter in its day, but its rivals have been catching up. Notably, Microsoft has now designed Office for the iPad, while IBM is teaming up with Apple to launch lots of possibly related apps in this area. However, Tableau still has lots of converts among those who want greater mobile spreadsheet control, and this latest release won’t hurt its cause.

Tableau 9.1 is designed to make it easier for people to collect and analyze data from any resource while either in the office or while traveling. New capabilities in the version give users more ways to answer questions with data and new options for connecting to data and easier security and authentication for the enterprise.

“Tableau 9.1 builds on our mission to help people see and understand data, no matter where the data resides and what device they’re using,” said Chris Stolte, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder, Tableau Software. “We’ve made significant investments in enterprise features and an entirely new mobile app. We also created a web data connector that helps developers extend Tableau to connect to a limitless number of sources from Facebook to Twitter and Google Sheets. New native connectors to critical data sources such as SAP and Google Cloud SQL are also included.”

The all-important Tableau mobile app has also been given a facelift. It’s been redesigned to make it easier for users to locate, manage and interact with their content while they’re on the go. For example, the Offline Snapshots features can save favorites views so these can be seen when offline. Tableau’s app also supports single sign on for SAP SE’s HANA, as well as support for SAP variables and Rest API updates for self-service analytics at scale.

Tableau 9.1 also provides more connectivity options and opens up new opportunities to connect to any web data through the web data connector.

“The web data connector helps people choose and connect to any data they want to use,” said Craig Bloodworth, Chief Technology Officer at The Information Lab, a Tableau partner. “We’ve already seen a plethora of connectors being built, from Fitbit to Facebook, Quandl to Import.io…and we’re just getting started. What’s amazed me is how quickly the connectors have been produced without the need for programming skills. I’ve been inspired to create visualizations of my own quantified self data, something that I’ve never done in my previous five years of Tableau use. The web data connector is indeed another great leap for Tableau.”

In addition to the Web Data Connector, the update includes new native connectors to Google Cloud SQL, Amazon Aurora and support for several data services from Microsoft Azure.

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