Qlik Cloud — the future-proof data platform

You can find all the answers to these and other questions about Qlik Cloud in our article:

• cloud computing
• BI in the cloud
• What is Qlik Cloud?
• Benefits of Qlik Cloud
• Hybrid cloud — the best of two worlds?
• How much does Qlik Cloud cost?
• Our Conclusion

Cloud computing — here to stay

For several years now, it's hard to imagine IT without a trend: cloud computing. Instead of keeping server hardware in-house, you obtain the infrastructure for operating business software and databases from a data center (Infrastructure as a Service — IaaS).

The success of hyperscalers, i.e. major providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), seems unwavering. Growth rates remain above 20 percent per year and analysts such as market observers from Gartner estimate total revenue from cloud services to be over 350 billion dollars in 2022 alone.

Business intelligence in the cloud

In addition to operational systems such as ERP, PDM, CRM, etc., data & analytics solutions are also operated in public cloud environments. But pure SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings are also becoming increasingly established. For example, the business intelligence offering can Power BI Pro or Premium from Microsoft Almost without exception, can only be operated via the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform.

The benefits of running a BI solution in the cloud

✓ Connect a wide variety of data sources independently of your own hardware resources
✓ You don't have to worry about running the infrastructure
✓ Any user from the organization can get access quickly and easily
✓ Flexible when requirements change at short notice

Since infrastructure maintenance and server administration are no longer necessary, savings are already being made here. However, this does not apply to every user. The total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT applications in the cloud is often even higher than with traditional on-premise solutions due to usage-based prices.

What is Qlik Cloud?

The Qlik Cloud is a software-as-a-service offering from the Swedish-born software provider Qlik. In contrast to business intelligence (BI) tools QlikView and Qlik Sense The cloud is a comprehensive platform for data & analytics requirements.

This means that, in addition to data analytics (visualization), analysis and reporting, as well as functionalities related to data integration, are included. This provides services for data warehouse automation, data transformation, and other data management functions. This applies to data that is already in any cloud environment and to information that is available in OnPremise systems.

What are the features of Qlik Cloud

Another difference to the client managed version of Qlik Sense or Qlik Sense Enterprise is the integration of many functions and add-ons in the SaaS platform, such as:

— Data Lineage and Data Catalog
— Alerting
— AutoML
— Insight Advisor Chat
— Qlik Application Automation
— Reporting Service

Some of these services are included free of charge in the basic version of the Qlik Cloud instance. It can be seen that Qlik Cloud is the full embodiment of Qlik's vision of “Active Intelligence.” This consists of four stages — in detail:

raw data

Benefits of Qlik Cloud

The most important advantage of using a Qlik SaaS solution is saving your own infrastructure. Neither the hardware for servers, nor the necessary operating systems and the always associated expenses for operating or updating the machines are eliminated. This has relevant effects on the TCO (total cost of ownership) of a data & analytics solution.

Qlik Cloud also includes many data integration and data analytics features that are missing or not available in the client managed version. For some time now, we have also noticed that functional innovations are delayed or are not included at all in the client managed version of Qlik Sense.

Finally, we would like to mention the flexibility that a cloud solution offers when requirements or user behavior change, for example. Resources can be added or withdrawn as required.

Hybrid cloud — the best of two worlds?

Most BI users currently see no need to migrate the entire OnPremise solution to the cloud via “lift and shift”. Reasons include maintaining a sustainable in-house installation, maintaining full control and configuration options at all levels, or securing investments made in hardware.

However, a SaaS company is a useful addition for rapid testing of prototypes, implementing new requirements or cushioning peak loads. A hybrid approach is recommended for this. In addition to the on-premise Qlik Sense Enterprise installation, a cloud instance is operated in parallel.

Data or individual apps are transferred from a local environment to the Qlik Cloud via Qlik Data Transfer (QDT).

In addition to parallel operation, Qlik Forts is a smart solution for not having to lift data into the Qlik Cloud, but to leave data on site (offline or in a public cloud instance) with a distributed “Qlik Cloud capsule”. In this way, only the actual app is brought into the uniform frontend for users.

How much does Qlik Cloud cost?

One of the most important questions when making a decision for or against the Qlik Cloud offering is cost. In the current price list The annual subscription prices per user correspond exactly to those of the client managed variant. There are some differences in certain functionalities and add-ons. These, such as Qlik Reporting Service (successor to the NPrinting Report module), are already included in the cloud fees in a basic version and are calculated depending on consumption.

If the decision is made to run Qlik Sense Enterprise (Client Managed) and Qlik Cloud in parallel using the SaaS Add-On, an additional license per user is required.

How useful is Qlik Cloud? Our Conclusion

The Qlik Cloud is a very powerful and future-oriented offering for implementing data strategies, not only because of its sophisticated end-to-end approach and comprehensive range of functions.

The flexibility that Qlik Cloud provides and the ease of purchasing technology as a service are important points when choosing cloud data analytics solutions. Regardless of whether it is a stand-alone solution or as an addition to a client-managed solution, used as a hybrid variant.

In times of ever faster changing market factors and thus the gain of information from increasingly growing data spaces, it is necessary to decide where scarce resources are best placed in an organization.

In our opinion, this is more about answering business questions quickly than taking care of commodities such as server maintenance or basic infrastructure operation.