Today we announced immediate availability of Version 9.0 of our QlikView product. To our customers that means advances in areas of enterprise functionality, mobile BI, real time functionality and the option to deploy in the cloud. We've also spent significant time listening to our customer's feedback and researching how they use QlikView to solve analytic challenges. This has resulted in enhancements in simplicity and usability. It is my view that it's this last point which is what makes users of QlikView our most fervent supporters (Yes, I could just say this but it has been confirmed by Aberdeen, Gartner and BARC Research in 2009.)
What strikes me about this milestone is not the new bells and whistles of the version, but the number itself. The dinosaurs of our industry are starting to claim an "in memory" model, but I think they've missed the point. It's not about "in memory". What makes QlikView successful is the full system – from how the software works, to how we sell it, to how customers are able to implement it (themselves). It's not just a particular technology, but how that informs (or, really, disrupts) a business model.
But, focusing on the technology, even then they're behind. I know that the version they will offer will be equivalent to a Version 2.0 of QlikView – basically what we offered circa 1996. And for some of the mega vendors they are still talking plans and that 1.0 version may or may not come out next year. But still, I personally love that they have started to make an effort. It certainly endorses the space we built and, although we've always focused on the end user experience, finally now they are now starting to agree. They are even wielding terms like "Google-like simplicity". Crazy.
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| QlikView 2.0 (1996) |
MSFT Gemini 1.0 (2010?) |
At SAP's recent Sapphire event, they pitched the SAP Explorer product (the newly rebranded Polestar) as the new simple SAP BI. So, I was curious. And I went to get a demo of their new simple BI. And, I took the data they showed in their demo and I built a QlikView with it. I invite you to compare… which is functionality rich and yet simple, and which is just simplistic.
The first QlikView launch I was a part of was in 2005 for Version 7. At that time I remember a big part of the release being our first x64 64-bit version, which now seems like standard functionality. Yet still to this day no one else comes close here. People often ask me if I'm "worried" now that the "big" vendors are focusing on usability and simplicity. And, to that I say, not so much. In fact, quite the opposite. The best thing that's ever happened to us is to have SAP, on stage at Sapphire, suggesting they've built BI that is simple enough for their CEO to use. Because, when a prospect compares SAP BI to QlikView, we're confident we know which they'll pick.
I look forward to your thoughts and comments.