6 reasons why Qlik Sense makes sense

Qlik has recently launched a second Business Intelligence tool, Qlik Sense, to complement its already award winning QlikView tool. Some might ask why they would do this. Qlik Sense brings Business Intelligence to groups that have been asking for more access but may struggle with more traditional tools. There are many users that are looking to do more for themselves and need a self-serve business intelligence platform that is accommodating of this. There is also the growing trend of “any device anywhere” with people wanting to access and do work from the phone, tablet, or any other device. Qlik Sense fills these voids and others. Here is a quick look at Qlik Sense.

Great Visualizations. A couple of years ago Qlik acquired NcomVA that is renowned for their data visualization. This company was formed by PhDs that specialized in developing graphic visualizations to communicate what is happening in your data. The fruits of their labour are in the Qlik Sense product for the first time and as a result we get award winning visualizations to help us understand our data.

Easy to Use. The product is easy to use. It’s designed for the end user so they can truly perform self-serve BI with no more waiting on IT to build a report. In fact it’s so easy even our salespeople can build solutions and tell their story using the tool. A member of our sales team, with no previous experience or training with Qlik Sense, grabbed the tool and in an afternoon had built an application to communicate to the rest of the team his sales activity, where we were getting traction, what activities were generating results and what activities weren’t. Imagine what your team could do with some training!

Mobility. Although you could browse QlikView using tablets, Qlik Sense takes mobility to a new level. The entire platform is designed for mobility, allowing end users to consume their business intelligence on any device. But it goes even further. You can develop Qlik Sense applications and visualizations using any device as well.

Storytelling. Qlik Sense has a new feature called storytelling. It allows you to build presentations within the tool so you can share the insights you gain in your analysis. The benefit of their storytelling feature is the ability to instantly return to the analysis application to answer questions your audience may have.

Associative Data Engine. Qlik Sense still has the Associative Data Engine allowing us to see what is associated with the data you have selected. This is extremely powerful in providing insight into the relationships between items in your business. Adding to this is the “Smart Search” which allows you to search for and find anything regardless of where it is in your data.

Governed Data and Security. Although Qlik Sense is extremely easy to use and allows the business user to perform self-serve business intelligence it is also Enterprise ready. Qlik Sense provides for Governed Data so the organization can regulate the data to ensure everyone is using the same data sources and formulas. This ensures there is a single version of the truth. In addition to the governed data we have enterprise security to ensure that only those that are allowed to see the information have access to it.

A combination of all of these features results in a great tool for empowering the business user to generate their own reports and conduct their own analysis. It truly puts the business user in control with self-serve Business Intelligence.