QlikNews: GlobalView

Highlights from Qonnections 2008 Americas User Conference

“The Power of Simplicity”—the theme for the Qonnections 2008 Americas User Conference— was clearly evident for QlikView customers who took part in events in South Miami Beach, Florida on April 29 – May 1. While users from leading companies throughout North and South America raised their thought leadership profiles by presenting their experiences, innovations and success stories with QlikView, QlikTech presented attendees with their first detailed looks at new features engineered into QlikView 8.5 and a roadmap for QlikView into 2009. Included were insights into the next generation of QlikView in-memory association technology with Set Analysis, QlikView SAP Connector 5.0, and QlikTech’s new, simplified pricing model.

Simplicity works

Stephen Few, an expert on data visualization and keynote speaker for Qonnections was on hand throughout the conference to provide one on one reviews of customers’ QlikView applications. Steve didn’t want to know much in advance about QlikView so that he could remain open and objective.

“Visual analysis at the speed of thought – that is when you become an intelligent organization,” says Steve. His bottom line: Simplicity works. What he calls the Few Mantra—“Eloquence through simplicity”—had to be evidenced by what he saw at Qonnections. The parallels with QlikView, which works the way your mind works, were obvious.

Spirit of Cooperation

In addition to enjoying the opportunity to network among other users, QlikTech representatives (including executives, R&D staff, and technical experts) and QlikTech partners, many users told their QlikView stories in case study interviews and video taping sessions. Such “storytelling” is the base from which new QlikView innovations and techniques, born in the field by customers’ needs to overcome unique business challenges , can be shared with the growing QlikCommunity worldwide, benefiting all users. So a special thank you to the participants at Qonnections who worked with our marketing teams, to help “spread the word.”

Latin American Flavor

The Miami area itself and its proximity to Latin America added an air of a Latin American flavor to events. There were more attendees from Latin America than ever before, in part, because Latin America is one of the fastest growing markets for QlikView worldwide, with nearly a 500% increase in customers over the last two years. As in other parts of the world, QlikView is finding acceptance in diverse industry sectors across the region, including agriculture, banking, construction, manufacturing, media, mining, real estate, retail, and transportation & logistics.

See photos of the Qonnections 2008 Americas User Conference here.

Introducing…QlikTech’s GolfQuest Course Finder

Golf, travel and business intelligence? Not the usual combination, but it's an interesting way to showcase the power of QlikView analysis. To help golf enthusiasts find the perfect courses to play, we developed GolfQuest, a course analyzer powered by QlikView’s interactive Ajax zero-footprint client to plan your next great golf getaway.

GolfQuest was launched June 10 when the US Open kicked off at Torrey Pines. It combines data on 16,500 courses with seven years of global weather data and 13 different selection criteria to give you an immediate, free, powerful and fun way to find the course of your dreams—and your means!

Know where you want to play but not when? Know when you want to play but not where? Know that you want a certain price range, location, course difficulty, or any combination of these and other criteria? Ask GolfQuest.

Among other things, GolfQuest answers:

• What’s the best weather week to play in, say, Granada, Spain?
• Show me all the courses in, for example, San Diego where the USGA handicap index fits my skill level.
• I don’t care where I play in this area, as long as it's a public course that costs less than $200/round next month. What are my options?

“Some golfers take their vacation planning to an art form, while others just want to get quick options,” said Anthony Deighton, SVP Marketing at QlikTech. “Just like QlikView, GolfQuest works the way your mind works to give everyone a fun and intuitive way to analyze the information they need to make the right choice.”

GolfQuest is the latest in series of free applications that showcase QlikView’s power and simplicity. Other recent releases include MusiQ Tracker, which analyzes radio airplay in nearly 2,600 stations across the US; Dugg Analyzer, which tracks the popularity of thousands of stories posted to the Digg website; and The Wine Press, which allows you to pick the perfect food and wine pairings.