“Qlikview is great, all hail our wondrous shiny BI tool…” is the shout of Qlikview resellers everywhere, in this post I’m going to tell you why I think you should give it a try.
Qlikview isn’t perfect by any means, but here are some of the reasons that we first trialled it and then signed up.
Not only is it free, but it’s a fully functional version, the only thing you can’t do with a personal edition is open documents created by other people. I am currently using the personal edition for this blog until I upgrade in the near future.
2. The training is Free
Qliktech provide a great tutorial free of charge, that takes you through the basics of loading your data into your first document. Simple and usually takes under two hours. In addition to this, Qliktech does offer certification courses which seem reasonably priced to me.
3. The community is free (and amazing)
Having a problem with your Qlikview document? The Qlikview community (http://community.qlikview.com
4. Qlikview is cheap(er) for small rollouts
Talk to suppliers, you’ll find that for small rollouts, Qlikview is much cheaper when compared to most of their competitors.
5. Qlikview can (and has) connected to pretty much anything
You want to use Qlikview to look at Twitter or google analytics? Qlikview can do it (Go see the excellent chaps at http://www.qvsource.com/ for more info). Qlikview can connect to flat data sources as happily as it can connect to most databases.
(One proviso, Qlikview doesn’t have a straightforward connection to MS SQL Analysis cubes unless you can code in MDX)
6. Users love it
As opposed to traditional reporting, once the document is built the user is in control of their data. They can build their own definitions of reports quickly and without any technical knowhow.
7. Coding is child’s play
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| Just choose your aggregation and your field and Paste! |
The standard script syntax is very similar to SQL, if you don’t know SQL the latest versions of Qlikview have great built in support allowing you to pick the functions you want to apply to which fields,
8. Qlikview can be a one-stop ETL program
I say “can be” - many resellers will say you can use Qlikview in place of a data warehouse. I personally wouldn’t recommend this but if you are on a tight schedule and need to get the data in and out to the business quickly. Qlikview can do every step along the way.
9. Qlikview is quick
Qlikview is not only free to learn, it’s also quick to learn and documents are quick to build. It’s quick at manipulating data as it’s all stored within the document.
I wouldn’t believe the hype that you can build a Qlikview solution within weeks as that’s just not possible with meeting user needs
10. You will be cool
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| Case in point - it's not just me! |
This may seem like a frivolous point but it’s not Qlikview is cool, my wife thinks it’s cool, my friends think it’s cool and my boss thinks it’s cool. I can take raw data and within two hours I can have a working, presentable demo that is fully branded and completely interactive.
In Conclusion
Qlikview may not be right for you or for your company – however if the above points appeal to you I would suggest heading over to http://www.qlikview.com/ and getting the free personal edition for a trial.
Notes: As a heavily invested user of Qlikview I am of course biased; in a few weeks I will try and write an article on the points in Qlikview that could be improved upon.
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