Tableau’s Commitment to Closing the Data Literacy Gap

By: Anna Cave
How the world’s leading analytics program plans to teach data literacy on a global scale.

Tableau created a new initiative to educate 10 million data learners in data literacy in the next five years. Tableau has already been recognized as the “world’s leading analytics platform,” so its commitment to educating learners is a vital step for the company. 

Getting comfortable with data has only recently been recognized for its importance by organizations. It’s vital to a company’s success, but only 33% of employees feel comfortable supporting their decisions with data. If organizations want to become more data-driven in the future, as 83% of CEOs expect them to, employees comfortable with data will be the ones getting hired.

Employers expect all candidates to have some sort of fluency in data— it’s no longer a skill reserved for technical roles. Media analytics students at Elon already have an advantage for future job and internship applications, since data literacy and analytics are some of the top skills employers look for in candidates. 

Knowing that organizations want their entire employee base to be data literate, Tableau made the commitment to closing the data literacy gap. Its academic program plans to collaborate with universities and an eLearning platform has already reached millions, but the end goal would be to provide 10 million individuals with essential skills. Tableau’s 7-prong plan will be implemented on a global scale and includes steps ranging from free software licenses, online learning platforms, apprenticeship programs and career support. An additional program will spend $5 million over the next few years in commitment to supporting women in girls in data to close the gender gap within data literacy. Tableau is making huge strides in data and we hope to see similar action by other leading companies in the future. ​