Executives need a spreadsheet alternative ... Is Dataiku the answer?

[kenlacrosse]

Our executives are running into limitations with Excel, especially when dealing with hexadecimal numbers which we use as account numbers for our clients.  They can't sort them at all as Excel doesn't support that functionality.  Is it reasonable to propose Dataiku, perhaps with a plugin, as an alternative for them to evaluate?  If so it would be a wonderful way to get the Dataiku camel's nose into the tent of our corporate environment!

[Turribeach]

First of all Excel can easily sort hexadecimal data with no issues, the most likely problem you have is that the tool you are using to create your Excel sheets does not properly define the column data type/format so Excel is converting the values as it sees fit. For instance a typical mistake is for people to create a CSV export, which is typeless data format, and expect Excel to figure out things automatically. 

Secondly I think trying to pitch Dataiku as an Excel replacement would be a mistake. Users love Excel for a reason. It's very flexible and allows data analysis like no other tool but obviously is not perfect. Can Dataiku replicate some of that functionality? Of course it can. But it depends on what the users want to do. The main advantage of something like Dataiku will be that the leave the "static snapshot" world of Excel and use a tool that can provide them with access to live data.

In any case without knowing exactly what your users do in Excel (aside from sorting hexadecimal numbers) it's hard to say if Dataiku will be a good replacement.