With data becoming the backbone of an organization’s operations, analytics are becoming even more valuable to produce meaningful insights.

By enriching the visualization framework with different analytic capabilities, QlikTech International AB seeks to bridge the gap between data practitioners and users and the catalog, according to James Fisher (pictured), chief product officer of Qlik.

“I joined in 2014, and Qlik was at the point where we were pivoting our strategy away from QlikView … to really opening up the aperture of the different type of analytic capabilities that were needed,” Fisher explained. “We’ve enriched the visualization framework. We’ve changed the paradigm of analytics, not just from diagnostic and descriptive, but now looking at predictive and prescriptive analytics, bringing in AI, AutoML, augmenting the way people ask questions.”

Fisher spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Dave Vellante and Lisa Martin at the QlikWorld event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Qlik’s evolution journey and how it’s streamlining the analytics field. (* Disclosure below.)

Putting data in the hands of users

To answer business questions, data should be viewed as a product. As a result, a data fabric or mesh is needed because it enables business users to get data when they want it, according to Fisher.

“It’s about making sure you’ve got all of the assets you need to bring all of the data that you need to answer a question,” he stated. “Think of it like treating data as a product, which is a term that I’m increasingly hearing from executives in organizations all around the world. You create that fabric, bring all the data you need, to answer business questions. And then you focus on usability in the consumption of that.”

Customer feedback plays an instrumental role when Qlik is solving business problems. In fact, customer feedback drives more than 80% of the company’s product deliverables, according to Fisher.

“I think it’s just in the DNA,” he said. “Go back 30 years to where Qlik started. It started with some innovative guys in Tetra Pak trying to solve some business problems. The ability to ask a question and marry that with the power of the database. And it went from that customer to the next customer, which was AstraZeneca … and then you get to 38,000 customers.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the QlikWorld event:

(* Disclosure: QlikTech International AB sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Qlik nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE