Qlik Sense Review

It has an easy to use interface, a powerful extraction process, and a rich API and web integration capabilities, which are some of its most valuable features

What is most valuable?

  • Easy to use interface
  • Leveraging and reusability of already existing QlikView assets and knowledge
  • Powerful data extraction process
  • Rich API and web integration capabilities
  • Performance

How has it helped my organization?

Reducing the number of Excel spreadsheets in house, or at the very least, improving the accuracy of the numbers in those Excel spreadsheets (which come as exports from Qlik charts).

What needs improvement?

Multi-server deployment: not just cloud, but on premise too, and hybrid. Needs lighter protocols to communicate between the different services and with the clients.

Multi-server computing: the QIX engine is still "limited" to the power of one single computer. While this power increases with better CPUs and bigger and faster memories, data demands even faster handling, only achievable by leveraging on several computers to crunch the numbers.

Data sources connectivity, natively: Drivers tailored to how Qlik processes data and how the sources provide it.

Governance: On the reactive side, see how each node in my development is doing, on the proactive side the ability to spin up new instances for the different needs in different moments (extraction, or data handling in memory or report distribution). Have a unique, central library of apps, but also measures and dimensions which can be used across the different sets of apps. Natively built in tools to analyze who is accessing where, when, providing better insights on apps seldom used and those who are massively accessed, and allowing to provision resources and make these apps more accessible and improve the user experience.

Licensing: Review the named model and move towards a usage model (e.g., cores, memory, computers, API calls, etc.).

For how long have I used the solution?

More than three years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?


What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Yes, with initial versions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Mentioned in the area for improvement: Large data sets and sources of data, large applications are limited to a single server (instance or virtual machine).

How is customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:


Technical Support:

Depends highly on the people attending the call, from excellent to poor.

Which solutions did we use previously?

I was not part of this process.

How was the initial setup?

Coming from QlikView, it took some time to get accustomed to new interfaces and functionalities, but all-in-all, quite straightforward. Anyway, Qlik Sense is not QlikView, and the architectural changes require some thought upfront, not just install the server and get it working.

What about the implementation team?

To implement, we used Qlik Consulting Services as well as in-house people, like me.

What was our ROI?

Cannot measure that.

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

Triple check with the Qlik Sales Department about your current needs, often smaller than the definitive ones, allowing you to scale the price. Chase them to provide the best solution to your needs, not just a discount, but the one that meets your company requirements (and eventually more).

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I was not part of this process.

What other advice do I have?

I have to disclaim that I worked for Qlik in the past, although today I'm a Qlik customer and also a user of other BI technologies in the SAP ecosystem.

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