Chris Powell, chief marketing officer of QlikTech International AB, joins theCUBE’s John Furrier and Bob Laliberte at Qlik Connect 2025 to explore how Qlik is challenging conventional approaches to data and analytics. The conversation centers on the event’s theme, “Do Data Differently,” and the company’s evolving strategy in a data-saturated world.
Powell shares how Qlik is helping customers navigate complex data environments by offering a flexible, end-to-end ecosystem, from movement to transformation to analysis. He highlights how last year’s strategic goals are now becoming tangible through deeper partnerships and AI-driven enhancements.
The discussion also underscores the role of AI in unlocking operational insights and improving decision-making. According to Powell, Qlik’s vision is about making data real, actionable, and scalable for businesses seeking a competitive edge in a dynamic digital landscape.
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Chris Powell, Qlik
Chris Powell, chief marketing officer of QlikTech International AB, joins theCUBE’s John Furrier and Bob Laliberte at Qlik Connect 2025 to explore how Qlik is challenging conventional approaches to data and analytics. The conversation centers on the event’s theme, “Do Data Differently,” and the company’s evolving strategy in a data-saturated world.
Powell shares how Qlik is helping customers navigate complex data environments by offering a flexible, end-to-end ecosystem, from movement to transformation to analysis. He highlights how last year’s strategic goals are now becoming tangible through deeper partnerships and AI-driven enhancements.
The discussion also underscores the role of AI in unlocking operational insights and improving decision-making. According to Powell, Qlik’s vision is about making data real, actionable, and scalable for businesses seeking a competitive edge in a dynamic digital landscape.
Chris Powell, chief marketing officer of QlikTech International AB, joins theCUBE’s John Furrier and Bob Laliberte at Qlik Connect 2025 to explore how Qlik is challenging conventional approaches to data and analytics. The conversation centers on the event’s theme, “Do Data Differently,” and the company’s evolving strategy in a data-saturated world.
Powell shares how Qlik is helping customers navigate complex data environments by offering a flexible, end-to-end ecosystem, from movement to transformation to analysis. He highlights how last year’s strat...Read more
exploreKeep Exploring
What was the theme of the show and how did you bring all of the content together in a way that was easy to consume?add
What are your thoughts on the business logic being the key to success, how would you talk about unlocking it, is there a pattern or best practices, and what are your observations?add
What is the story being told around supply chain at the AWS booth, and what specific use cases are being highlighted?add
What can attendees expect tomorrow at the event?add
>> Welcome back everyone, to theCUBE's live coverage here in Orlando, Florida, for Qlik Connect 2025. I'm John Furrier, your host, with Bob Laliberte from theCUBE research and Kristin Nicole Martin doing the roving reporter, getting all the data. The full team's getting that data to you in a hurry, of course, in real time or in batch on YouTube. Watch that. We have Chris Powell is a CMO here, he put this show together, great to have you on and thank you for allowing us to come to the event and extract all the data out of it. I had great guests thanks to your awesome customers. Thanks for coming on and thank you.
Chris Powell
>> It's great to have you guys here, thanks. >> Yeah, really impressive vibe. Relevant, cool. Just everything's clicking on all cylinders, okay? Pun intended. So, last year was all about strategy, this year is execution, the keynote. We saw answers. We had a little taste of Kenji before it came in. Plus, Qlik and Talent had a lot of jewels from the big data days in there. So, just it all comes together this year. How did you make all this happen? Was it too much content? What was the challenges? Because it worked.
Chris Powell
>> Well, thank you. And look, I think you always ... In tech we always have too much content and not enough content. It's about framing it right. And so you're totally right in that we had a bit of a challenge or the challenge we had to make sure we were meeting was how do we bring all of this together in a way that's just easy to consume here. And so the theme of the show around Do Data Differently, a lot of this was borne out of work that we were doing with customers, with partners, with analysts about what customers were looking to do to do things differently really. And as you pointed out, last year the strategy, the announcements we made, were a big part of that show. What we started to see was that so many organizations were struggling with just having a strategy but not being able to make it real. So this show's all about making it real.>> Explain more about the do it differently. Because one of the themes we hear in here, Chris, is that you guys can meet a customer any part of the journey. They don't have to go to the sequence of events to get to a destination. You could hit them up here or be more mature, also you have more mature customers. So you have a wide spread of a customer base. It's hard to nail it down and say, "We get one thing." You do analytics, you help people achieve their outcomes. Is that a challenge? An opportunity? Is that part of the Do Data Differently? Can you explain what's behind the Do Data Differently? Was it that or was it something more use case specific?
Chris Powell
>> So, a lot of the research that we did, it came down to three things that made Qlik unique. Because we talked to customers and we're saying, "You can choose anybody. Why are you choosing Qlik?" And the three words that kept coming forward were breadth, flexibility, and guidance. And from a breadth standpoint, when I sort of make that in simpler language for all of us, it's you can do more, you can do it the way you need to do it, and you don't have to do it alone. And not doing more was just as you said. There's a lot of organizations that can do different pieces. The fewer that you need to work with it's better for everyone, and we are interoperable. That flexibility within our system is a big piece of why customers like choosing Qlik is whether you're moving data, needing to transform it, provide access to it, analyze it, or act on it, we can sort of step in to any of those pieces that you're looking to do. We work with any environment, from any environment to any environment, multi-cloud, private cloud, you name it, we're able to provide the kind of flexibility they need. >> Yeah, awesome. I thought a lot of the pieces that came up that were important were the foundational aspects of what you're doing. So, as we enter in the AI era, that white data, the quality data, having the data at the right time, all those things are so important and what you're doing and have been doing for a long time is really pulling all that together to give them the foundation from which they can then accelerate from.
Chris Powell
>> Totally.>> They have all that data there. So, and the other part that was really impressive to me today was it wasn't just about you talking about what you had for technology, it was about how your customers were using the technology that you put out. So, making it real that it's not just here's a marketing PowerPoint and it'll be out in 10 months. It's customers saying, "Oh yeah, no, I use that," type of thing.
Chris Powell
>> So, I met a CIO a number of years ago, and what she said to me was, "Talk to me like I'm your friend." That we're all just trying to figure things out here. Probably the one thing I'm trying to make sure I don't do is miss something. So, let's just have an honest conversation. And what better way to be able to do that at a show like this than to have your customers talking about what the real world is. We're so proud. The 111 breakout sessions we have here, over two-thirds, two out of every three of these sessions have either a parntner or a customer either leading them or involved in them. A lot of the people who are speaking on our behalf here, whether it's with press or with different analyst interviews, influencers, over half of those conversations are with customers. I think one of the things that makes this show so unique is you're not coming to a conference where you're just hearing about a company that wants to navel gaze and talk about itself. You're hearing from their customers. >> And the customers are plentiful. We had BT on theCUBE and he was . I pushed him hard. He said, "We were very vocal." Vocal is a good thing. You want requirements. You guys embrace that in the culture.
Chris Powell
>> We really do. We really do. A lot of organizations will talk about customer focus, but I think the proof is in how you really behave, how you behave at events like this, but just on a day to day basis. A lot of the influence that our customers bring into the work that we do. Earlier today I was with our executive advisory board, it's 20 of some of the largest companies in the world, and we really treat that very seriously as an advisory board. This is an opportunity to really hear from them and, look, the best conversations we have are the ones that are a little uncomfortable. >> Yeah. I love the idea in my keynote notes from dashboards to decision engine. That's a theme that's coming up. And also the word that's been kicked around last night in talking to a bunch of the execs at Qlik privately in the happy hour, the word unlock comes out a lot. Unlock. Unlocking value, unlocking benefits. Could be productivity, could be cash. So, the business logic is in the apps, it's in the domain experts where the analytics sit. You got the platform engineering side booming up to create that scale. So, you guys have a nice position to be that ease of use platform. You got to do both. But the business logic is an under-told story right now. Not a lot of people talking about the business logic being the key to success. What's your thoughts on that and how would you talk about that unlocking? Is there a pattern? Are there best practices? What's your observation?
Chris Powell
>> So, I think on both ways you can look at this, and if we just first look at it from the analytics standpoint, the in memory engine that Qlik has been known for for decades, it sometimes ... Mike Capone has a great phrase that some people use, which is, "I'd rather be lucky than good." In a lot of ways we were incredibly fortunate to be in this moment in time with this kind of technology because it was sort of unwittingly 20 years ago made for this moment, made for AI. The ability to be able to apply your agentic systems and the agents on top of the analytics engine that Qlik has really unlocks the power of that data because you're not limited to just a small amount of data that you've queried but all of your data. So, definitely we look at this as a moment with AI where we can leverage into that. And then all of the things we've invested in the last few years with regard to data integration, so much of what customers are looking to do is not get their data locked in. The first thing you have to do with that is unlock it from wherever it is. So, being able to provide that flexibility so that wherever their data is, we help them move it to where they need to move it to and make it accessible, but in a secure way and in a way that they find really reliable. >> Absolutely. And I think one of the things that I was impressed with when looking at the data, the keynotes, things that were going on with some of the demos was the maturity of the AI solution. A lot of people talk about trust and accountability, but first of all, you had a really nice closed loop for human in the loop to be able to respond and not just thumb up, thumb down, but actually provide real feedback, which I found really important. I thought the other piece was the ability to source where all the data was coming from. Again, if you want to have trusted AI, it's not magic. It's being taken from somewhere. So, being able to show that. And then lastly, just a few minutes ago we had the AI counsel on. So, the fact that you're going and seeking outside independent counsel to come in and review what you're doing and provide their feedback as oversight around ethics, trust, geopolitics, et cetera. All those areas are just so important. It's great to see that and it's great that you're exposing all that and telling people about it, so it can give some comfort to them. They're a lot more comfortable with the technology. They understand it, and I think that's really going to be key moving forward for a lot of these people who are looking to adopt AI and are going to be needed for mature AI solutions.
Chris Powell
>> I'm so glad you mentioned the AI counsel and you guys got to speak to them. They're impressive. >> Yeah, very much.
Chris Powell
>> What I found fascinating from my position in marketing is as we were really identifying who would best serve that purpose, it was unbelievable to me that other companies weren't doing this. That it was sort of unique in the industry. And we've had so many companies reach out to us after hearing about our AI counsel, they ask how we did it. How did we decide what kind of expertise we were trying to bring in, how did we identify them, and we've been super proud to be able to talk to a lot of organizations about what just seemed like an obvious thing to us, which is let's make sure that we're listening from every dimension possible. From customers, from partners, certainly from our internal experts, but also from people who will really just come in and tell you the bold truth about what we need to be focused on. >> Your customers give you guys a lot of props on being there for them. I think Drew said directly, "They helped us." We had Reworld. It wasn't for the engagement, I wouldn't be here. Your community and they love that, could hire from the community too. So, you guys are growing. Talk about the value of the community as you see that openness. Because it's a mixture of experts. AI uses that term, MOE, mixture of experts. You just kind of mentioned it, having the AI counsel. Are there other competency centers? Are there AI labs out there? Because research and expertise seem to be critical at this point in time in the industry where people need to get it right. And that could be a product advantage or customer benefit. What's your thoughts on the community?
Chris Powell
>> Well, one of the things that we're really proud of is our community. We have a 230,000 member community that's really made up of so many different roles across organizations. So, traditional analytics and more and more involving people who are responsible for the data environments within their organizations. We really work hard to foster that conversation, ensure that that's happening through just posts, questions that are posted, ways to interact. That 230,000 number can sound like an ego metric, but what we really drive is not just that it's a lot of people but they're participating, that it's engaging. So, we work every day to put those engaging topics out there, to work with great customers like Reworld and others to just be talking about this and posting and keeping the conversation alive. We're all just figuring this out together in a lot of ways. >> And customers love to hear other customer stories too. So, I have to ask you about your role, okay. You work for Qlik and it has all the goodness that you guys are presenting. People like the answers, they like the structured, unstructured data. They like the cloud scale. How are you using AI to break through some of your marketing goals? Because it's also great for you. Are you using it? How are you thinking about your AI strategy for making productivity work? Are there examples, breakthroughs you can share?
Chris Powell
>> Well, we use it from a marketing perspective it's sort of two directions. There's a generative side of it, which has been out there and a lot of marketing organizations are using it from a content perspective. So that's a big piece of what we lean into. But from this most recent combination of structured and unstructured is where I'm most excited about ways we can improve our efficiency just within Qlik of what we're doing. So, I'm currently working with our analytics business unit on Qlik Answers and an implementation of it that will look to the performance level data of some of our campaigns and the things we're putting in market, but combine it with what kind of messaging, what kind of unstructured data that we have around this, so that we can ask questions of it and understand not just how is this campaign performing but how is the campaign performing and what kind of content seems to be resonating. We've had these tools for a while but they're separate. It's a little bit you know that this piece of content performed, but what within that piece of content? What's consistent about it? The levels of sophistication that we can bring in to these conversations are tremendous.>> Yeah, the siloed platforms, also distribution, closed systems, which is open. Cool. What's the coolest thing about the show if you had to share? Or cool points? You can't pick one favorite child, but you mentioned the cycling, which we thought was cool. What are some of the cool highlights if you had to kind of go down the list? Notables that people should either pay attention to or follow up and get more information?
Chris Powell
>> Well, look, one's right behind us, the AWS booth and the story that they're telling around supply chain and what they're doing with us is really cool. I did a private walkthrough that we do each year yesterday, and I hadn't seen it yet. So, I walked in and I saw it for the first time and it is really well done. And really brings to life how we're working together and how specific use cases around supply chain can come to life. You mentioned the 36.5 cycling example. What's behind the covers on that is they started out with us around analytics and application to be able to look at things. They moved into being able to bring data into an data integration story. They've added things now with Qlik Answers because they have a lot of unstructured data. And what I find fascinating about the work that they're doing is you would think it's about their performance, but it's not just about performance. It's about recruiting. And it's not just about recruiting and performance, it's also about they're very committed to lowering their carbon footprint, so a lot of what they're doing also is measuring all of the things they're doing and seeing how they can do that. So there are examples now that are just so easy to wrap your head around, like Q36.5 that make this a really exciting thing to be. And I guess if there was a third, because all good things come in threes, it's just all of the different stories out there. The Reworld that we mentioned, the thing that I think is really cool about Reworld that they do with their data with Qlik is they have 90 plants. They recycle or they represent 9% of the waste in the US, which is a crazy number, and then they recycle the equivalent of ... Did you hear the number of aluminum cans? Have you seen it?>> Yeah, I have.
Chris Powell
>> Three billion aluminum cans. And so we were trying to find a fun stat for that. That's enough cans, you can stack they on end and they almost reach the moon or you can wrap around the earth, I think it's nine times. >> Nine times.
Chris Powell
>> Nine times around the earth. >> Incredible.
Chris Powell
>> We're excited to be able to put these stories forward and just show people the power of being able to be really smart with their data. >> So, a lot of great stories, a lot of great information coming out of today. But this is a two-day show. So, what do we have to look forward to tomorrow? Everyone who's attending, what can they expect tomorrow?
Chris Powell
>> Yeah, so in the spirit of any good show, you segment the days. Today was all about the innovation and the things we're bringing forward from a technology standpoint. Tomorrow it's about the people. It's all about people doing amazing things. So, we have customers are going to be highlighting their success stories on main stage. We have another organization that's called Medair that is here, they do amazing work in some of the most difficult places all over the planet. People really struggling and distributing aid to those organizations, to those people. The work we're doing with them we're really proud of, and Heidi Cockram from Medair is going to be talking about what they're doing with Qlik. And then the highlight of the show, and I'm really excited to maybe even seeing her later tonight after I leave here, as she puts in some of her practice for tomorrow's keynote, is Katie Ledecky. And the same way we kicked off the show with an analogy to really try to show how you can bring all of your data together and make something special happen, I had the great fortune of ... I love people who do amazing things, and Katie is so humble and her story around the way that she is totally data driven of course with not just her swimming and the technique around the swimming but all of her strength training, all of her nutrition, all of these are tracked very similar to sort of the cycling story. And I just can't wait for the organization and for everyone here to hear Katie. >> Yeah, and that's a human in the loop now. Human makes the difference on the performance.
Chris Powell
>> Yeah. >> Chris, thank you so much for, again, having us here. Congratulations on day one.
Chris Powell
>> Thanks.>> Of a successful show, Qlik Connect.
Chris Powell
>> Awesome. >> What's next? You got to get the word out.
Chris Powell
>> Well, we have our AI reality tour that follows up on that, so we're still finalizing the cities. Last year it was around, I think, 60 cities. It'll be about the same this year, so we're finalizing all those now. But it actually starts in ... I think it's late June or early July is when we start to kick those off all around the world. It usually kicks off in Paris, so we're excited to do that.>> Are they cities? Are they regions? Explain more so people can check it out. Is it regional?
Chris Powell
>> You'll be able to go on the website, our website qlik.com, and be able to see where the cities are. And we'll be announcing them very soon. And they tend to be just all over the world. Probably about half of them are in Europe because we're here in the states, so want to give an opportunity to have some of this great content over in Europe. Into Asia and then there's even a few locations here in the states and in Canada and in Latin America that we look to expand to. >> Well, congratulations. Qlik's bringing it all together. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it.
Chris Powell
>> Great.>> Okay.
Chris Powell
>> Thank you guys.>> I'm John Furrier with Bob Laliberte here at Qlik Connect 2025, thanks for watching.
