Domo unveils integrations with Microsoft 365, Teams
The new integrations will allow joint customers of the analytics vendor and the tech giant to access data assets while remaining in their everyday workflows.
Domo launched new integrations with Microsoft 365 and Teams that enable users to access analytics assets without leaving those applications.
The cloud-based analytics vendor, based in American Fork, Utah, initially unveiled the integrations with Microsoft during its virtual user conference in late March and made them generally available on April 6.
With the integrations, joint Domo and Microsoft customers can access their business intelligence assets while collaborating in Microsoft Teams and working with various production capabilities in the Microsoft 365 environment.
Given the prevalence of Microsoft's suite of tools in so many organizations, it's important for analytics vendors to provide a way for users to easily incorporate BI into their everyday workflows, according to Wayne Eckerson, founder and principal consultant at Eckerson Group.
Among other analytics vendors, MicroStrategy and Tibco have integrations with Microsoft 365, while SAS and ThoughtSpot have strategic partnerships with Microsoft that involve joint development and go-to-market strategies.
"Every BI tool needs to integrate with Microsoft Office because so many business users rely on Excel and PowerPoint," he said.
He added that it is also important for analytics vendors to integrate with other collaboration and office productivity tools -- for example, Google Workspace -- though not as critical as integrating with Microsoft, given the tech giant's pervasiveness.
A sample Domo dashboard displays an organization's manufacturing data.
Integration details
The Domo Teams integration allows users to share, post and search for data without leaving the Teams environment.
The Microsoft Add-in allows Domo users to:
sync data to Microsoft 365 so that dashboards, data sets, key performance indicators and cards that have been embedded in a Microsoft 365 product remain current;
share data in real time within Word and PowerPoint, including automatically updating data as more information comes in and as data changes;
use Domo in concert with Outlook to embed analytics content in emails, edit or develop new data sets in Domo based on email attachments, and initiate new Domo tasks and projects; and
transform data in Excel by importing data from Domo to edit in Excel and by combining Excel and Domo datasets.
Like Eckerson, Donald Farmer, founder and principal at TreeHive Strategy, said it's a smart move for analytics vendors like Domo to integrate with Microsoft's collaboration capabilities and Office suite.
In particular, the integrations make sense given Domo's evolution from a traditional BI vendor providing reporting and visual analysis capabilities to one focused on delivering insights within workflows that can lead to data-driven action, he noted.
This integration with Microsoft 365 and Teams makes a lot of sense. These business platforms are the default for many enterprises worldwide.
Donald FarmerFounder and principal, TreeHive Strategy
"In that context, this integration with Microsoft 365 and Teams makes a lot of sense," Farmer said. "These business platforms are the default for many enterprises worldwide. Email is still the most significant form of direct business communication, spreadsheets the leading data tools, and PowerPoint is still how most enterprises tell their stories internally and externally."
Farmer added that the integrations between Domo and both Teams and Microsoft 365 stand to be of significant benefit to users and could even attract new customers.
"Domo [information] cards and KPIs embedded in Microsoft 365 products will make focused collaboration much more straightforward," he said. "And a data and analytics portfolio which includes the business focus of Domo with the default standard of Microsoft 365 will be attractive to many CTOs and CIOs wanting to combine best-in-class with familiarity."
An ecosystem for analytics
The integrations between Domo and Microsoft are not the first for the analytics vendor and the tech giant, nor are they the first between Domo and collaboration and workflow tools.
Among other Microsoft capabilities, Domo integrates with SQL Server, Azure Data Lake and Dynamics CRM. Beyond Microsoft, Domo has hundreds of integrations and connectors to tools from vendors including AWS, Google, Oracle and Salesforce.
From the time it was founded in 2010, Domo's mission has been to make data and analytics accessible to as many business workers as possible, according to former chief strategy officer and new CEO John Mellor.
One means of reaching that end is to deliver analytics in the flow of everyday workflows via embedded applications. Another is the joining together of tools from different vendors via connectors and integrations so workers can access Domo without leaving their normal work environments.
And given Domo's focus on application development and integrations to form an ecosystem for analytics rather than a separate BI tool that sits on top of a database, Eckerson likes what the vendor is doing and where it appears to be headed with its roadmap.
"I like Domo as a product, although I was a skeptic for a while," he said. "It's a great all-in-one product for companies that want a complete data and analytics stack that's completely integrated."
