From individual databases to cloud, on-premise, and hybrid deployment options, the data landscape is a labyrinth of choice. The market is full of innovation, and new databases, Hadoop tools, and cloud-hosting solutions are emerging on what can feel like a daily basis.

How are businesses adopting these new technologies? Analysts provide a high-level perspective on market trends, but data on actual use of products and deployment types is hard to come by.

To help understand how real businesses are navigating the data landscape, we’ve taken a look at our own platform and analyzed how our customers choose specific database products and deployment types. Using a sample of one million+ anonymous data source connections published in Tableau Online by our 4,000+ customers, we’ve parsed out the usage patterns and trends shaping the data landscape.

Today we’re releasing our findings in the Cloud Data Brief.

Tableau Online customers are located around the world. They span nearly every industry, and vary from small businesses to enterprise corporations. The analysis in the Cloud Data Brief includes them all, and we believe it serves as an accurate indicator of broad trends in the market.

As you navigate the diversity of choices and capabilities available in the market today, we hope our findings will help inform your organization’s own data strategy.