PeerSpot user
Senior Software Engineer at Ingram Content Group
Real User
Quickly and efficiently develop new dashboards that display relevant data
Pros and Cons
  • "We can easily and quickly deploy new dashboards that reach a wide audience and any changes get reflected almost instantaneously for the users."
  • "If a team wants to keep track of source code changes, there is not an out-of-the-box solution for it."

What is our primary use case?

My company is a distributor.

We use Qlik to surface information regarding sales, inventory, ordering volumes, customer data, and other key pieces of information to decision-makers in our company. We primarily use Qlik internally.

To date, we have created more than 1300 dashboards for various business teams within the organization. We have five developers who help create and maintain the dashboards. Some of our advanced users have also contributed sheets to our user community to augment the existing dashboards.

How has it helped my organization?

Qlik has brought tremendous value to our organization in a few key ways.

One thing Qlik has done is to give us a consistent platform on which we can build analytical solutions. Another thing Qlik has enabled us to do is to move rapidly. Most dashboards are now completed in a few days to a few weeks versus a few months with our previous solutions.

Also, Qlik has enabled our organization to deliver data that was previously unavailable to our internal users. We can now surface that information and do so in a consistent and meaningful manner.

What is most valuable?

The fact that we can develop and deliver solutions through the browser really cuts down on the operations overhead of producing dashboards that our company finds relevant.

We can easily and quickly deploy new dashboards that reach a wide audience and any changes get reflected almost instantaneously for the users.

Qlik provides an abundance of tools to use for data visualization. We spend more time focusing on how the data is best displayed rather than developing controls to display the information. 

What needs improvement?

As a developer, the biggest area for improvement is in the realm of source control. If a team wants to keep track of source code changes, there is not an out-of-the-box solution for it. Doing manual version control is error-prone and does not lend itself to simple rollbacks in many cases.

One other area for improvement would be discoverability. There are a lot of advanced capabilities in Qlik that are not easily discovered. Even some of the more 'mundane' features are sometimes hard to find or require a fair amount of explanation before users can take full advantage of them.

Buyer's Guide
Qlik Sense
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Qlik Sense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,334 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

My company has been using Qlik for about four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

While we have been on Qlik there have not been any outages. I would say the up time for Qlik is impeccable. We do occasionally have to take the system down for upgrades and maintenance but those are easily scheduled to occur during off-peak hours and are typically done well before users expect the system to be available.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Qlik scales relatively well.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Director, Supply Chain Services Operations at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
The QIX engine performance speed is a valuable feature.

What is most valuable?

QlikSense has drastically and dramatically made our analytical function more efficient. The QIX engine delivers performance speeds that are simply unmatched by any other BI tool.

How has it helped my organization?

Qlik has, simply but strongly put, removed a significant amount of our time spent engineering data and given that time back to our team to analyze and draw insights that drive decisions and outcomes for our company and for the healthcare industry.

What needs improvement?

If Qlik can further unify its products into a single platform, there would be no stopping them!

For how long have I used the solution?

We started using QlikView in 2013 and have begun work with Qlik Sense in the past year.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We did not encounter any deployment issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Only when our usage outgrew our physical environment (server size) did we have stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

From the support group to the extensive user community network, we have received excellent support and customer service when faced with environmental or development issues or questions.

Technical Support:

The support is thorough.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to Qlik, our data modelling and reporting process consisted of SQL -> MS Access -> MS Excel -> MS PowerPoint; when requests or report criteria would change, that vicious cycle would be repeated and sometimes it was painfully labor-intensive. Qlik optimized the data engineering aspect and packaged that entire process into one place.

How was the initial setup?

Our initial setup was straightforward in the sense that our team leveraged Qlik for internal efficiency only. After time, we built our confidence in our external work and usage spread like wildfire.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented through a vendor, who was very knowledgeable with BI and Qlik.

What was our ROI?

Qlik output operates at the capacity of multiple FTEs. The "faster" time to analyses and insights, and the single source of truth nature of that output has led to better business decisions and faster revenue recognition.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Build some expansion and user growth into your initial purchase.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We had other tools in use so were asked to try those first. MicroStrategy and Domo just didn't meet our expectations. Tableau was close on the front-end, visualization aspect but lacked the speed and power on the back end.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user377328 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user377328Management Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Really Very helpful review. I would like to know Real Time data capabilities how Qlik Sense helping to business users and Technical Person. I have been using Qlikview around 6 years but whenever we compared with Qlik to Other BI like Power BI and Tableau they are having good real time data capabilities

Buyer's Guide
Qlik Sense
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Qlik Sense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,334 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Head Of Business Intelligence at Israel InterUniversity Computation Center
Real User
Offers good performance and connects to a variety of data sources
Pros and Cons
  • "It allows you to create a new column using split on a current column, which we find very useful."
  • "The security rules should be made easier to use."

What is our primary use case?

Qlik Sense is the BI platform for my company.

At Carasso Motors, we use Qlik Sense and QlikView as back and front end tools for building data warehouses that are used across the company. We also build a variety of data GUI models that are also vastly used.

The main operation of the company is selling new and used cars, which is our focal point on building decision support models that are used by managers of all ranks.

In order to support all fields of operations within the company, we needed a platform able to connect to different kinds of data sources. Qlik Sense makes it easy for us.

How has it helped my organization?

Qlik Sense helped us with extracting insight from our data more quickly than before.

We have a need to connect with different kinds of data sources and combine data from different sources into a joint ERD. We find it easy to use the Qlik native data connectors.

As an example, we are now working on a new app that combines data sent to us from a survey that we sent using SurveyMonkey. The survey responses were gathered by email in Excel XLSX files and combined with survey data taken from Salesforce objects using the API connector.

This kind of ERD would have taken much more time to build with PBI.

What is most valuable?

The data manager on Qlik Sense allows you to clean the data before uploading it into the intuitive interface that creates an automatic script you can later edit to your needs.

It allows you to create a new column using split on a current column, which we find very useful. This feature saves us a lot of development time.

What needs improvement?

Adding a process tree so that we can see task dependencies would be an improvement.

The security rules should be made easier to use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qlik Sense for three years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Adam Abwat-Johnson - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Developer at Soak.com
Real User
Easy to use for sales and margin reporting in a retail setting
Pros and Cons
  • "The drag and drop UI has been the most useful to me."
  • "The only thing I would say that comes up is that sometimes it can be a bit buggy."

What is our primary use case?

As a consultant, I used this for a wide variety of use cases. Mainly, the first thing people would look at would be sales and margin reporting, especially in retail (which is the area I work in now). I have also used Qlik Sense as an integration tool to gather data from multiple data sources to be exported and sent to AWS to be picked up by a web marketing tool.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved the amount of time it takes to get information out to the business in a few ways. Firstly, by replacing reporting that was done manually in Excel by business users and giving them that time back. Next, by providing cleansed data to analysts so that they can create their own analysis.

What is most valuable?

The drag and drop UI has been the most useful to me. Working previously as a consultant, the self-service wizards for loading data weren't too important, as I knew how to load and manipulate data in the script. However, being able to see a list of the different chart types and fields certainly sped me up in terms of creating dashboards and visualizations.

What needs improvement?

The only thing I would say that comes up is that sometimes it can be a bit buggy. The product updates that come out are fairly regular, which is always nice, but getting bugs here and there that you have to work around can be a bit of a pain at times. This can be taken into account by waiting for a month or two to see if any patches come out (much like with how you would treat Microsoft releases) but if you want to get the latest updates as soon as possible then you need to prepare yourself.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is generally good. I haven't had the same sort of instability that I had with QlikView, but that may be a coincidence.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is pretty good, but it is very RAM and CPU intensive, so you need to keep on top of this.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer service/support is good through the partner, as this is the suggested way to receive feedback.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used QlikView before (and still have some reports on this). We changed when Qlik ran a good promotion to get people to switch. I had used the product before and knew the benefits that come with Qlik Sense (i.e. the easier self-service for business users), so I was happy to get the chance to switch.

How was the initial setup?

Setup is fairly straightforward. We had a single server to put this on, so we were able to just "next" through the setup wizard, other than supplying a few passwords for services.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented ourselves, as I had previous experience doing this. Our partner, who we have used for work, is generally helpful and had a good understanding of the product.

What was our ROI?

We haven't really measured this, but this will improve once business users are trained to work for themselves.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing can start to get expensive, but compared to other tools in this space it is about average.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate any other options as the promotion on getting Qlik Sense whilst being a QlikView customer was too good.

What other advice do I have?

I would say when you start with this tool, take the time to prepare the data first before creating reports and showing the business (especially if you are the only one doing this). This will help with getting ready for giving users the ability to create reports themselves, as opposed to them having to ask you all the time.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1101450 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a university with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Drag-and-drop dashboard building helps to easily create many types of visuals
Pros and Cons
  • "The drag-and-drop dashboard builder is an intuitive interface for building dashboards from source reports."
  • "This solution would be improved by adding some Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL) components that are easier to interpret and design."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is making dashboards, executive summaries, and creating an interactive analysis for several teams. Some of these teams are tech-savvy and thus are able to analyze the data themselves. For them, we also provide complex and relational analysis. 

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has definitely improved our organization. People are able to drill down information, see visual maps, and create a robust analysis. We provide teams with useful information and analysis to aid in decision-making. Using these dashboards, teams are able to make decisions faster than they otherwise could. Also, in some cases, we have overlapping applications.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop dashboard building, with many types of visuals. Users are allowed to present multiple reports, side-by-side, using dashboard components on a single dashboard page layout. Dashboard components come in a variety of chart types, and we can customize how data is grouped, summarized, and displayed for each component. The drag-and-drop dashboard builder is an intuitive interface for building dashboards from source reports.

What needs improvement?

This solution would be improved by adding some Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL) components that are easier to interpret and design. Maybe adding a module where we can drag and drop various models, test them in a sandbox, and test the outputs before putting them into production would be helpful. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution seems very scalable in terms of data and sharing.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented this solution with an in-house team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I suggest talking to the Account managers, as they are very resourceful and responsive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions before choosing this one.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
User-friendly, ensures security and governance, and is accessible on multiple devices
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies."
  • "I would like to see improvements in the Qlik Sense SaaS version, particularly in the front-end capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

My clients use Qlik for in-depth analytic analysis, creating touchboards for a variety of purposes. In our case, we prefer an on-premise solution over the cloud, especially for a banking client, to ensure data security and compliance with industry regulations.

How has it helped my organization?

One major benefit of having Qlik Sense in our organization is the ability to establish a strong KPI base. While various solutions offer similar capabilities, Qlik stands out for its remarkable speed, especially when compared to alternatives like Tableau. This speed advantage enhances overall efficiency in data analysis and decision-making processes.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies. It is pure HDMI, eliminating the need for cache servers or translation engines, making it one of the fastest solutions compared to others. The direct connection between ML and data adds to its efficiency. Additionally, one standout feature of Qlik is its QVD data model, allowing the creation of data maps that are directly stored in memory, offering fast and efficient data service to consumers. Qlik's ability to handle large datasets with millions of rows is a significant advantage, although there are some limitations.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in the Qlik Sense SaaS version, particularly in the front-end capabilities. Currently, the visualization options are limited, allowing only basic actions like adding dimensions and measures with restrictions on the number. Compared to older products like QlikView, there is room for development in enhancing the features available on the front end for widgets and visualizations.

Enhancing the formatting options in the SaaS component and making it more visually appealing would be a nice enhancement. Additionally, expanding the library with more versatile widgets would be beneficial. While you can add components from a marketplace or develop your own, there is a need for Java front-end developers to handle this aspect of Qlik Sense.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qlik Sense for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Overall, Qlik Sense is stable, but there can be challenges related to managing the QVD data models, especially when dealing with numerous versions for different periods. While it requires effort to maintain, the system itself is generally stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling Qlik Sense is possible by adding more servers, and it is generally smooth for load balancing and disaster recovery. However, making changes to the model can be time-consuming. Overall, it is scalable with effective load management and recovery mechanisms.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Qlik Sense is easy, especially for default visuals, though coding may be required for more specialized charts. Converting from QlikView to Qlik Sense is seamless for data models. The deployment process involves using Qlik Desktop for model development and two subscription options: on-cloud, which is ready to use, and on-premise, requiring Qlik Sense servers. Maintenance is simplified with admin tools, making it accessible for a developer. 

On average, for a consultant company creating reports and delivering a sales model with about five reports, the deployment of Qlik Sense can typically be handled within three months.

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI with Qlik Sense.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Qlik Sense is pricier than other BI tools, with various licensing models, including potentially expensive token-based licenses. Organizations should carefully assess their budget and licensing requirements before choosing Qlik Sense.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Comparing it with other BI tools, Qlik Sense stands out by requiring a front-end developer for optimal project development. Unlike Power BI, which needs BI developers, or Tableau and SAP BusinessObjects that don't require Java developers, having a front-end developer enhances the project quality in Qlik Sense.

What other advice do I have?

Before implementing Qlik Sense, my advice is to carefully assess its development needs, as custom components may require coding. While the deployment phase is generally straightforward, take advantage of Qlik Sense's flexibility in data modeling, allowing developers to write scripts for more tailored solutions. It is crucial to document projects for better collaboration among developers. Overall, I would rate Qlik Sense as a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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PeerSpot user
Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at LA JOLLA GROUP, INC
Real User
Enabled us to quickly adapt to the business and department needs during COVID
Pros and Cons
  • "With the changing business landscape, it is nice to access Qlik Sense through an external website. As an organization when we use QlikView Desktop, we need to connect to our internal network. We can access QlikView through the QlikView access point but the website has a little different look and feel than the desktop application."
  • "Reload failure alerts on the application within the Qlik Management Console without any use of extensions. QlikView is able to handle these alerts directly through the QlikView Management Console. We would appreciate a similar solution that is easy to set up and use. Simple formatting options in the pivot and straight tables such as adjusting line thickness and font selection and size."

What is our primary use case?

We are in apparel manufacturing. Individual Qlik Sense Apps were designed for each department: Retail, Warehouse, Sales, Finance, Production, and Operations. We are able to utilize data from our ERP, PLM, and retail applications. We use QlikView as well but Qlik Sense has been leveraged to allow departments to digest the data in a more targeted approach. It has a cleaner look and our users have been pleased with the solution. We added N Printing recently and have the trifecta of the BI solutions from Qlik. 

How has it helped my organization?

We adopted the Ikea approach where users defined what they wanted to see and we implemented solutions based on their needs. This allowed the departments to stay engaged with the tool. From our Business Intelligence department experience, we developed best practices and new visualizations to collaborate with the departments. This was rolled out beginning of January 2020. It was a good exercise in flexibility to use Qlik Sense to quickly adapt to the business and department needs during COVID. We are still making improvements every day to the Apps and will shift our focus to training to gain more user adoption. 

What is most valuable?

With the changing business landscape, it is nice to access Qlik Sense through an external website. As an organization when we use QlikView Desktop, we need to connect to our internal network. We can access QlikView through the QlikView access point but the website has a little different look and feel than the desktop application. We appreciate that Qlik Sense is browser-based and the user experience is the same whether at home, in the office or on a boat. As long as the user has internet access, performance is the same. 

What needs improvement?

Reload failure alerts on the application within the Qlik Management Console without any use of extensions. QlikView is able to handle these alerts directly through the QlikView Management Console. We would appreciate a similar solution that is easy to set up and use. Simple formatting options in the pivot and straight tables such as adjusting line thickness and font selection and size. This can be done with extensions, but without knowledge of JSON and/or HTML these can be difficult to use. We would like to add images using inherent Qlik Sense without the use of extensions.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qlik Sense for less than a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Overall the stability is good. We have not had many crashes and are able to add memory to solve most performance issues. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale and buy a license, however, the solution is very memory intensive. More users and more data can lead to degraded performance and longer processing times to run reports. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Our interactions have all been through our vendor partner and they reach out on our behalf when needed. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We currently use SSRS and QlikView in addition to Qlik Sense. We like to enhance our offering. SSRS reports can take much longer to develop than Qlik reports. 

How was the initial setup?

Since we already had QlikView, the setup was very simple. All additional setups have been intuitive. 

What about the implementation team?

We used a combination of both. Our vendor team partners have over 20 years of experience with Qlik and specific to our industry there expertise is unparalleled. 

What was our ROI?

We have not mapped out a true ROI. If we compare what it costs to build out using consultants in SSRS versus internally building in Qlik, saving are in the tens of thousands. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a flexible tool and has the ability to scale. Pricing is reasonable. Our setup was very easy as we utilized what was already built-in Qlik View. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were already using SSRS and Qlik View and have some fairly extensive data models built-in QlikView so we wanted to leverage our existing efforts. We did not evaluate other solutions. 

What other advice do I have?

I am very happy with Qlik and the solutions they offer. Like any system, it is not perfect but it allows for great flexibility and ease of use. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Solutions Architect at Pekin Insurance Company
Real User
Gives our business users the ability to author their own sheets and share insights they have found
Pros and Cons
  • "The number of visualizations that are present in Qlik is very useful for our developers to help our business partners tell stories with their data. Qlik continues to add to and enhance these visualizations with each release. We are also very excited to leverage the integration between Qlik Sense and Qlik Catalog as we roll that out soon."
  • "I would like to see Qlik add more DevOps functionality to their product. Currently, we have to turn to 3rd party products to handle things like Source Control, Code Deployment through environments, etc."

What is our primary use case?

Over the last two years, we have worked to modernize our company's data platform using technologies such as Qlik Sense to help deliver insight to our business partners. Prior to Qlik, our users had to depend on data extracted from our mainframe and loaded into various excel spreadsheets and access databases. Today, we have the ability to not only replace those antiquated methods, we can help our users look at data from many different angles. We are currently using an on-prem solution but will be moving to AWS next year.

How has it helped my organization?

Our executives and business users are starting to see how having the ability to analyze data and not just view reports can help them make decisions to help improve the business. We have started on our journey to become a data-driven and data-literate company. Qlik has been partnering with us to help us along that journey. The only roadblock has been our underlying data warehouse. However, we are looking to move that to Snowflake this year. Qlik and Snowflake have a partnership that should pay off greatly for us.

What is most valuable?

Qlik Sense allows the ingestion of all of our various data source platforms. It also gives our business users the ability to author their own sheets and share insights they have found. The number of visualizations that are present in Qlik is very useful for our developers to help our business partners tell stories with their data. Qlik continues to add to and enhance these visualizations with each release. We are also very excited to leverage the integration between Qlik Sense and Qlik Catalog as we roll that out soon.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see Qlik add more DevOps functionality to their product. Currently, we have to turn to 3rd party products to handle things like Source Control, Code Deployment through environments, etc. This should align with the DataOps focus Qlik has been moving towards with all of their latest acquisitions, such as Attunity and Podium. Without 3rd party products, managing code, promoting it from one environment to the next, rolling back code, allowing shared development workspaces, all are very challenging and manual with the out of the box solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qlik Sense for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Qlik has built in good fail-over mechanisms which help keep the platform stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe Qlik scales well, both on-prem as well as in the Cloud.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer support has been very helpful. Their support site has a vast wealth of support articles to help troubleshoot known issues.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. We had a Qlik employee come onsite to help with the initial installation and setup.

What about the implementation team?

We used a Qlik employee to do our initial implementation. They were quite knowledgeable about the product.

What was our ROI?

I believe the ROI has been and will continue to be achieved by unlocking our data and providing new insights to our business to help drive decisions to improve our company's performance.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Qlik Sense Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Qlik Sense Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.