Executive Insights and Trends
Qlik Connect: A Decade in for me, the Best One Yet
This year’s Qlik Connect was officially my 10th Qlik annual user conference… From Qonnections to Qlik World to Qlik Connect, you could assume I have seen it all already, but I can honestly say that this one was the best (and most fun!) yet.
But don’t take my word for it. The buzz from our wonderful community of Qlik partners and customers speaks for itself. By all accounts, Qlik Connect was a vibrant hub of innovation, learning and plain old fun, leaving attendees energized and equipped with new ways to turn their data into opportunity, and meet their AI challenges head on.
Here are my key takeaways:
Now it’s possible: get insights from your unstructured data with Qlik Answers
Which organizations today have been successful in getting insights from their unstructured data – all these text-based documents, emails, images, videos, and social media posts that constitute most of our data (some say 80%), live everywhere, and are rapidly growing in volume? Very, very few. In fact, a new study we commissioned from ETR shows that only 16% of organizations have invested in a tool to help tackle this problem. The ones that can solve this now for their organizations will not only be ahead of the game, they will also create great value for their business: nearly half of respondents estimate it would translate into a 10-20% financial gain.
That’s why Qlik is introducing Qlik Answers, a new knowledge assistant designed to deliver GenAI-driven answers synthesized from your unstructured content. Qlik Answers is a simple, plug-and-play solution for Qlik Cloud, powered by generative AI and RAG (retrieval augmented generation).
Be responsible: create a trusted foundation for AI with Qlik Talend Cloud
Most organizations today are investing in AI technology at some level: only 3% of companies reported no investment according to that ETR study I referenced above. While that’s good news, our AI Council issued a warning that adopting AI without ensuring data integrity is a risky gamble. I discussed this at length with the Council on and off the main stage at Qlik Connect, and I think Council member Dr. Rumman Chowdhury summed it up well this way: “Brakes help you drive faster”. These data integrity risks are very real when it comes to the use of GenAI: in fact they have already materialized and led to negative consequences for nearly one quarter of organizations, according to a new McKinsey study.
While the adoption of AI is certainly an imperative for organizations to stay ahead, I think the ones that can do so responsibly by creating a trusted data foundation first will get the true advantage. That’s what our new Qlik Talend Cloud will help our customers do, by providing the ability to build data pipelines faster, improve the quality of their data, and assess it with an AI trust score to create AI ready data products. I’m also particularly excited about Qlik Talend Cloud as it’s a key milestone in our work over the last year to successfully bring the Qlik and Talend teams and now products together.
Leave it to the experts: achieve better results by taking advantage of a rich ecosystem
Qlik Connect was a great showcase of the value that a strong ecosystem of technology partners and consulting firms can bring. On the main stage, our diamond sponsors AWS and Accenture shared some great insights and guidance on path to success with AI, and how they are helping their customers innovate. And on the expo floor, our partners shared best practices and solutions with attendees.
It can be done: data pioneers show us the way
At Qlik, we are lucky to work with incredible organizations that have successfully turned their data into great opportunity. Organizations like the Brazilian non-profit Avon Institute in conjunction with the Federal Senate of Brazil to create the first national map on gender-based violence, with plans to leverage predictive AI to help curtail violence and shape policy decisions; or Carvajal Tecnología y Servicios, who transformed its customer relationship management and improved customer satisfaction by up to 25% and increased sales by 24%. Thank you to all the customers who joined us at the event, and shared their insights whether it was through breakout sessions, during coffee breaks, or on the roller coasters at our event at Universal Islands of Adventure…
If you were able to join us in Orlando, or watched the livestream, I would love to hear your own takeaways – anything I left out that really stands out for you? And if you missed Qlik Connect altogether, you can still catch up on-demand… and we hope to see you in Orlando in May 2025 for the next one!