Qlik Sense Reviews

I was working for a power utility company, so our primary use case for Qlik Sense was consumption data and customer billing.

Qlik Sense is essentially a web-based tool even though it's on-prem – you're working off an HTML page – so it's pretty quick. Your processing speed does not matter because you're using a lot of stuff through the web. That's great because it brings down the cost in regards to hardware.

At the same time, learning the language is quite easy. It's not SQL, it's not Python, it's natural database language, so you can pick up the usage pretty easily.

There is room for improvement in the storytelling mode and the report sharing. Qlik Sense also does not have a subscription base like Power BI. So a lot of the analysis is housed in community pages that are managed by either the author or a database administrator, or whoever the Qlik Sense manager is there. It doesn't lend itself to being shared quite easily, because it requires licensing for viewers to consume.

I would also like to see a PowerPoint integration introduced. Power BI, for example, offers a slide deck that can be downloaded and inserted it into your deck. I'm referring to Power BI because that's what I use the most and that's the standard for me. Tableau has this integration in addition to a superior visualization tool. I think Qlik Sense has a better engine than all the three that I've mentioned, but in regards to sharing the analysis, it's clunky; it's not as good.

I have five years of experience with Qlik Sense. 

The stability of a solution depends on the process that brings in the data. We had a strong Qlik Sense production data pipeline that is always firing and we didn't have any resource issues where we were running out of space or anything like that. I think that for the most part, any tool will work well if the environment that it's set up on is well prepared.

Qlik Sense does have a lot of connection APIs that you could do. However, I think Microsoft Enterprise customers can run into challenges with it. We were Microsoft Enterprise, so eventually there was going to be some issues in regards to just how this tool was going to be able to grow with the company. I think it really depends on how many systems you have and how ingrained you are with those systems.

The solution does replace a lot of legacy products, which helps reduce costs, but you really do need somebody that knows what they're doing to get all the integrations done right.

The tech support we received was great. They were very knowledgeable and explained things quite well. They were very gracious with their time. Obviously, they were charging us, but they were well trained. We received tech support through our vendor. 

Positive

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. However, a lot of expertise from the backend was required from the vendor to get the solution running. So even after Qlik Sense had been deployed, we still had a lot of issues with development and it wasn't very self-service.

As far as maintenance went, from my standpoint, it didn't really feel like there was a big team working on Qlik Sense. I'm sure there was probably scheduled maintenance that was done during off-peak hours and it didn't really disrupt any of the daily production; reports were still running as planned. There was maybe one or two hiccups towards the end before I left, but again, that was during the pandemic, so a lot of things were probably falling behind. 

The deployment was done through a vendor, which was a problem. The vendor was ingrained into a lot of the deployment of our analysis and trying to get things off the ground from a proof of concept to production and the expertise was not shared very well with the in-house talent. We were always having to go back to them. That created a revenue stream for them, which became very expensive for us. 

Anytime somebody wanted to develop something, we were having to buy hours (paying consultancy charges), and ultimately, it was not sustainable. This model ends up being so much more expensive than deploying something that is a little bit more self-serving and can be deployed across your admin user rates.

It's not a tool that can be the one-all because the license does not cover all the services that a small business or even an enterprise needs to lean on because it requires too much from the vendor to support it.

Qlik Sense is a middle of the road solution in terms of price; just average in regards to pricing. It has a great following because of QlikView and an organization can save money if it goes through Qlik Sense as opposed to doing the full deployment of QlikView. Qlik Sense is a robust solution tool, but it's hard keeping up with the big guys now. 

At my company, the licensing had to do more so with having other users, like non-technical users and business users, and enabling them to view the reports and the analysis. So I don't know if they've changed the licensing to a read-only or reader, but at the time when I was there, it was all or nothing. So you basically were a power user or you were just not going to get it.

My organization might have had a deal for 200 seats. I don't know how much a seat cost us though. 

Qlik Sense is used as a Business Intelligence and analysis tool as part of a dual BI tool strategy. The software is hosted on two multi-node environments; production and ad-hoc.  

The production environment hosts the main reporting suite of apps, while the ad-hoc environment is used for one-off or ad-hoc analysis as well as pre-development. A third environment is used for testing releases or developing extensions and features. 

NPrinting is also used to supplement the capability of Qlik Sense in cases where the users aren't able to access the environment. This happens, for example, with external or third-party reporting, etc. 

Qlik Sense has enabled the simplification of reporting and increased the efficiency of its production. Time-saving efficiencies have translated into genuine bottom-line improvements via the reduction in FTE.  

Its implementation has improved the ways of working in the BI teams and stakeholder engagement improvements have been noted. Moderate cost-saving efficiencies from decommissioning legacy software and recycling hardware have been recognised, as well as delivering a far better customer experience for users.

Qlik's comprehensive ETL capability makes it stand out from other vendors. The ability to connect to a wide variety of data sources and its ability to transform the data quickly and efficiently is extremely powerful; especially when speed to market is the priority for app development. 

The front end has more than enough capability and visualisation options available and rarely is there any limitation that cannot be surmounted quickly and efficiently.

A steady stream of updates ensures that the product keeps moving forward and the output looks great on mobile devices. 

The SaaS offering is being enriched quickly in order to attract new customers to that space and encouraging existing customers to make the switch. The Enterprise solution is therefore lagging behind SaaS in features. As such, the user needs to invest additional expenditure to ensure that all the services are available for the Enterprise solution.  

A lot of the features available in QlikView have now been introduced to Qlik Sense so it would be good to see that effort continue to go into developing front-end capability further still.

We have been using Qlik Sense for seven years.

Support was extremely good in the early days of QlikView, possibly less so since Qlik has been sold.

We implemented it through the vendor. Excellent service and "aftercare".

I use the solution in my company for dashboard building and reporting purposes. In my company, we have a lot of dashboards that are live, and we also work with quite a lot of reports.

In our company, we found a few requirements in the tool, which we directly shared with Qlik's team through our account manager.

With the May 2024 release, the tool has covered a lot of products, but I feel there is more to come. I am expecting new updates in the tool.

Qlik Sense requires one to have a lot of technical knowledge. It is an area where improvements can be made.

I have been using Qlik Sense for three to four years.

My company gets support from the service vendor team, so we have not contacted Qlik directly.

Earlier, I used to use QlikView. Every tool has its own set of pros and cons. It is not fair to compare a tool with another product.

If you look at Power BI, there are a few things you can do that would take a bit of time in Qlik Sense. On the knowledge side, people might need to know how to handle Qlik Sense technically. Power BI requires relatively less effort for a person to manage, especially given its exposure to Excel, so it is a reason why people might be already aware of Power BI and not Qlik Sense. Power BI borrows many features or examples from Excel or Access, which are long-standing Microsoft products that people are already aware of in the present.

When used manually, the tool has saved our company a lot of time. For certain projects, we have saved a couple of files for each iteration.

Considering the deal that we have acquired, Qlik Sense is pretty good in terms of price.

The tool's data analysis is useful to help out the teams across the globe and to track their work.

Qlik Sense is linked with our company's SQL servers.

After working with QlikView for a very long time, I felt it did not carry over many of the features to Qlik Sense directly, and it was done over a period of time. Until the tool's MAy 2024 was released, we did not have a hide option for every object, which now they have given, but there is a workaround for it using the layout container. In QlikView, such features were easily available with an expression view. It was much easier in QlikView than it is in Qlik Sense's latest version.

My company is not quite open to AI because of the compliance issues and the data restrictions that we have in place. We are managing AI-related areas in a controlled manner using Python and a few other things, which are being built in-house rather than using open-source platforms.

I rate the tool an eight to nine out of ten.

We use Qlik Sense as an on-premise enterprise self-service BI solution with a single physical Windows server.

We also have value-added products to support our solution including Qlik GeoAnalytics and Qlik Nprinting. We have dual-use licenses with QlikView for all of our users. All licensing is based on individual user names and access, which allows for unlimited use per user.

The end-users range from senior-level executive management to individual contributors such as data and business analysts.  All development is performed via web browser and no desktop client is necessary.

My organization now has data from disparate systems at their fingertips in a way that lets them get the answers they need when they want it. We previously relied on manually intensive legacy reports that provided static data and information.

Customers would need to constantly request updates to their analysis to answer additional questions and turnaround times were often days to weeks. Now, insights are gained within seconds, which has reduced reporting requests significantly from all areas of the organization.

QlikView was a framework for rapid application and dashboard development. Qlik Sense takes that rapid development to a whole new modern level.

I can stand up new dashboards and data discovery tools often within one to two days.

The speed of execution, modern visuals, and the power to get and manipulate data from anywhere are why you should choose this product.

Qlik's performance is among the fastest in the industry due to its in-memory architecture, which allows data to be loaded and cached in RAM for maximum efficiency.

The augmented intelligence features don't work well for the analytical user. They are difficult to set up correctly and often don't generate anything insightful.

The SaaS options often include these extra features and they are rolled out sooner and automatically.  Unfortunately, this is not an option for my organization at this time. There have been updates that include some new chart times but it's still lacking some common modern ones.

I've been using Qlik Sense for about two years and have been using QlikView for about 10 years.

Have had no issues with stability or downtime since implementation

Performance is industry leading and scales directly with hardware as you would expect

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

Setup was significantly more complex than QlikView and some of the competition but allows for more modern and robust administration.

Our in-house team was responsible for the initial setup.

For on-premise enterprise users, a number of additional features come at a premium cost.

We evaluated both Tableau and Power BI.

The solution is used for helping clients in their decision-making abilities, and to effectively analyze their data.

With the product, we're creating intuitive, interactive, and storytelling dashboards.  

This is a powerful tool with integrated ETL and the ability to handle huge data sets. It's capable of building intuitive and interactive dashboard designs.

The best features include ETL. Transforming data with complex logic can be done within the tool.

The Nprinting is useful. With it, we're scheduling reports directly to end-users.

I'd like to see more end-user-friendly UI designs and the ability to layer objects one by one would make a huge impact.                     

I've been working with Qlik Sense for more than seven years now.

My entire career I've only dealt with Qlik only.

We primarily use the solution for:

Business Intelligence. Qlik Sense is used by organizations to gain insights and make informed decisions by analyzing their data.

Data Visualization. Qlik Sense enables users to create interactive and visually appealing dashboards, reports, and charts to present data in a meaningful way.

Data Analytics. Qlik Sense provides tools to perform data analysis, including data exploration, discovery, and predictive analytics.

Collaboration. Qlik Sense allows teams to collaborate and share data insights and reports with each other, facilitating better communication and decision-making.

Data Governance. Qlik Sense provides features to manage and govern data, ensuring data security, accuracy, and regulation compliance.

The solution has helped out the organization via:

Faster and More Informed Decision Making. Qlik Sense enables users to analyze and visualize data in real time, providing insights that help organizations make informed decisions faster. It also enables users to explore data from multiple perspectives, providing a complete understanding of their data.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity. Qlik Sense is a self-service analytics tool that enables business users to create their reports and dashboards, reducing their dependence on IT resources. This increases productivity by enabling users to get the information they need when they need it without having to wait for IT support.

Improved Data Quality and Governance. Qlik Sense provides tools for data quality management, enabling organizations to maintain clean, accurate, and reliable data. It also provides features for data governance, ensuring data security and compliance with regulations.

Enhanced Collaboration. Qlik Sense enables users to share data insights and reports with each other, facilitating better communication and collaboration. It also enables users to collaborate on data analysis, improving the quality of insights generated.

Cost Reduction. By enabling users to create their reports and dashboards, Qlik Sense reduces the cost of IT resources required for data analysis. It also enables organizations to identify cost-saving opportunities by analyzing data across different departments and operations.

The most valuable aspects of the solution include:

Data Visualization. Qlik Sense provides a variety of options to visualize data, including charts, tables, and graphs, making it easier for users to interpret data and gain insights.

Associative Model. Qlik Sense uses an associative model that allows users to explore data relationships in real-time, enabling them to ask and answer ad-hoc questions without the need for pre-aggregated data.

Self-Service Analytics. Qlik Sense is designed to be a self-service analytics tool, allowing business users to create their reports and dashboards without requiring IT intervention.

Data Storytelling. Qlik Sense allows users to create data stories that provide a narrative around their data, making it easier to communicate data insights and analysis to non-technical stakeholders.

Collaboration. Qlik Sense provides collaboration features that enable users to share their insights with others, such as creating and sharing dashboards, reports, and visualizations, commenting on and discussing data, and co-authoring apps.

I'd like to see the following improvements:

Improved Data Preparation and integration. Qlik Sense could include additional features for data preparation and integration, making it easier for users to clean, transform, and integrate data from various sources.

Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning. Qlik Sense could include more advanced analytics and machine learning features, allowing users to build predictive models and perform advanced statistical analysis on their data.

Enhanced Collaboration and Sharing. Qlik Sense could improve collaboration features, such as real-time collaboration and commenting on visualizations. It could also improve sharing capabilities, such as embedding visualizations and reports into external websites or applications.

Mobile Optimization. Qlik Sense could include more mobile-optimized features, allowing users to access and analyze data on-the-go, on any device.

Natural Language Processing. Qlik Sense could incorporate natural language processing (NLP) technology, allowing users to ask questions and receive answers in natural language, making data analysis more accessible to non-technical users.

Improved Security and Governance. Qlik Sense could include additional features for data security and governance, such as more granular access controls, audit trails, and compliance reporting.

I've been using the solution for nine years.

Qlik Sense is very stable, especially when we are talking about panels with more than 200 million rows.

The scalability of Qlik Sense is impressive, both horizontally and vertically. The software is really designed for the use of available processing and RAM memory.

Customer support is good, yet it could improve as sometimes it takes a little while for accurate responses.

Neutral

I had already used traditional BI, however, the change or evolution process was very time-consuming. We achieved more agility with the use of Qlik Sense.

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. It is very easy.

We implemented the product with the supplier team. They usually have some tricks. That said, after following the entire process, we concluded that our internal team could have done the implementation.

They have an excellent team of suppliers that are fully committed to sharing knowledge with our team.

In terms of the ROI of Qlik Sense, we thought it might take a while. However, it surprised us with a return in six months.

The entire setup process is very simple. The licensing fee seems high at first. That said, the productivity and speed of delivery make up for it. There have been no billing surprises, as there is no need for other acquisitions, such as databases.

I also evaluated Tableau and Power BI.

The cost of licensing seems high and yet it is worth every penny, as the delivery of the panels is very fast.

We are in the affiliate marketing industry. We are using the Qlik Sense Cloud to visualize our marketing-related data. Qlik Sense allows us to visualize the complete funnel from the customer visiting the Google/Bing ads to the product sale. 

We are also using Qlik Sense as a platform where we integrate the data from other data sources and make the insights from it which otherwise would have been quite a difficult task. 

The Qlik Sense cloud insights advisor helps our business users to get the answers to their data questions so that they do not have to rely on IT/BI resources every time they have some data request.

Qlik sense is considered the single source of truth for our organization's operational data. 

Users do not need to switch to different data sources because Qlik Sense has various data connectors that allow us to integrate the data from the various sources into one platform. 

The platform has helped us to analyze our data in a more systematic manner, and make informed decisions from it. 

The solution increased the operational efficiency of our team members and allowed them to leverage the data and get the most out of it.

I found "Qlik application Automation" most interesting. It allows us to create automated analytics and data workflows. This helped us to create an end-to-end pipeline from raw data to Active intelligence. With Qlik Automation, we can reload multiple apps parallel and chain the app together to run one after another. 

Importing/exporting the app script to Github, sending automated emails/reports or chat messages on Teams/Slack based on condition. These are some amazing things we can do with the Qlik application automation feature.

In my opinion, collaborative development of the Qlik Apps is a bit tricky and difficult in the Qlik Sense Cloud. For example, the developer who is not an owner of the app cannot see the app script. The user needs to duplicate the app, and then he should be able to see the app script or make any changes in the app script. 

I see that two developers can not work collaboratively on one app. Moreover, Qlik sense cloud does not provide an option to create a folder on the platform to save the relevant Qvd's/files in one folder. I believe this is something the product should focus on.

I've used the solution for two years.

The solution is highly scalable.

The customer service is good, yet not the best. However, community forums help quite a lot in case of any Qlik-related technical queries.

Neutral

I have used Power BI, however, I did not use this platform intensively. I used it very rarely.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward.

We implemented this solution in-house.

The pricing of the product is very competitive. The licensing and the setup process is super smooth and easy.

We did evaluate Tableau.

The primary solution was to provide a centralized way to access siloed cross-functional reports. 

By using Qlik Sense, we were able to combine data from our BI solution, ERP, and other systems, to provide daily reports, plus analytics capabilities with high performance. 

As Qlik Sense is an in-memory solution, the performance is fast and provides real-time insights. 

Also, with their ETL capability, we were able to perform ETL without a true data warehouse. It saved us a lot of money by being able to postpone the DW project and gave us time to think of other solutions, like data lakes.

From siloed reports, we went to a centralized knowledge hub, combining cross-functional data, and helping decision-makers see the data as a whole, therefore making more informed decisions. 

Also, the self-service capability allowed users to create their own reports on the fly. People from different departments were pulling their data from different sources and presenting their own truth. 

With Qlik Sense, and being able to provide a central data hub, we were able to recreate most of the siloed reports, present one truth on the data, and increase the trust of the organization in the data being presented, gaining leadership approval.

The ETL capability is great. It facilitated the integration of data from different sources without a true data warehouse. Being able to pull data directly from the ERP system and apply the business rules in Qlik, and combine it with the BI data, decreased the business process time. We had to send every request over to our overseas BI team. Being able to have at least one BI resource in-house who is an expert in Qlik, we decrease the development time and started delivering solutions in a much more timely manner. 

The ease of use, providing a self-service environment, and high performance when interacting with the dashboards and reports are all great.

Ad-hoc reporting capabilities would be ideal. Despite the solution being a self-service solution, many users still struggle to create their reports. With an easy drag-and-drop style report, it would make a huge difference. There are extensions for that, however, you have to pay them separately. 

Having a report publication feature is also very important, and it is not native to the on-prem version. However, Qlik has made huge advancements on the cloud version, and adding the hybrid capabilities, in which we can maintain the data in-house and just publish the dashboards to the cloud, will allow us to soon go to the cloud and have access to all those extra features we are missing on-prem. 

I've used the solution for seven years.

The product is very stable. They release three to four updates every year. That way, if bugs come up, they are fixing them in a timely manner. They always listen to the user community and tend to develop what is being requested.

The solution is very scalable, especially the cloud version. Their licensing agreement works really well for large organizations.

The initial support has to come from the vendors, which is something I don't like much, as it can be costly. However, I believe they are starting to provide direct support in certain cases. The use of the Qlik Community is fantastic, as they have experts providing solutions and fixes in a timely manner as well.

Positive

SAP Business Objects. They were very expensive and lacked the dashboard capability side of it. It was also very complex and needed more internal resources. Every request would take longer for it to be developed as well.

The setup was very straightforward. The setup is done through 3rd-party vendors, so you just need to make sure you spend a little more and hire an experienced consulting company for the work.

We implemented it via a vendor. Having the knowledge of experienced consultants doing the work is worth it and can prevent huge delays and problems.

I am not really sure about the full ROI numbers, however, compared to what we would have spent with the DW development, and increased headcount, we would have spent a lot more money. As I said, their licensing plan makes it very simple and cost-effective when we need to add more users.

I'd advise users to go to the cloud. If you can, go directly to the SaaS version. From a cost perspective, it was cheaper than other solutions - and better. Now it might seem more expensive, however, with all the features available, and being able to create a full data pipeline, it makes more sense using Qlik Sense.

We also looked into Power BI and Tableau.

Definitely go to the cloud. Use the SaaS solution as it offers more capabilities and you don't need to be concerned about the back-end management. If fully going to the cloud is not possible, think of a hybrid solution.