In this interview from Qlik Connect 2026, Christopher Powell, chief marketing officer of Qlik, joins theCUBE Research's Rebecca Knight and Rob Strechay to discuss how enterprises are moving past AI experimentation toward operational dependence — and what foundational work that shift demands. Powell argues the AI inflection point is less about whether the technology works and more about whether the data does. He outlines three prerequisites for enterprises ready to operationalize AI: a trusted data foundation, deep contextual understanding of proprietary environments and architectural flexibility to adapt as innovation accelerates. To address the trust dimension, Powell highlights Qlik's trust score for AI, which evaluates data lineage, provenance and access history to give AI systems confidence in the inputs they're acting on.
The conversation also explores how leading organizations are building human expertise into agentic systems before removing humans from the loop — a model demonstrated on stage with UPS, where domain knowledge defines the boundaries of autonomous action. Powell breaks down the evolution from standalone AI tools to agents to fully agentic workflows, noting how this progression is dissolving organizational silos and forcing companies to build shared data foundations across marketing, sales and customer success. He underscores cost management as a strategic imperative, warning that AI environments built without embedded cost controls will fail to scale. From emerging efficiency stories — including customers spending a few hundred thousand dollars to save $15 million annually — to the broader organizational rethinking required to lead in the AI era, Powell outlines why companies that ask not how AI can improve existing processes, but how it will fundamentally transform them, are the ones best positioned to win.
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Craig Brophy, Qlik
In this interview from Qlik Connect 2026, Christopher Powell, chief marketing officer of Qlik, joins theCUBE Research's Rebecca Knight and Rob Strechay to discuss how enterprises are moving past AI experimentation toward operational dependence — and what foundational work that shift demands. Powell argues the AI inflection point is less about whether the technology works and more about whether the data does. He outlines three prerequisites for enterprises ready to operationalize AI: a trusted data foundation, deep contextual understanding of proprietary environments and architectural flexibility to adapt as innovation accelerates. To address the trust dimension, Powell highlights Qlik's trust score for AI, which evaluates data lineage, provenance and access history to give AI systems confidence in the inputs they're acting on.
The conversation also explores how leading organizations are building human expertise into agentic systems before removing humans from the loop — a model demonstrated on stage with UPS, where domain knowledge defines the boundaries of autonomous action. Powell breaks down the evolution from standalone AI tools to agents to fully agentic workflows, noting how this progression is dissolving organizational silos and forcing companies to build shared data foundations across marketing, sales and customer success. He underscores cost management as a strategic imperative, warning that AI environments built without embedded cost controls will fail to scale. From emerging efficiency stories — including customers spending a few hundred thousand dollars to save $15 million annually — to the broader organizational rethinking required to lead in the AI era, Powell outlines why companies that ask not how AI can improve existing processes, but how it will fundamentally transform them, are the ones best positioned to win.
play_circle_outlineQlik Connect 2026 Sports Pavilion: AI-Powered Cycling, Golf, Hockey Performance Zone with Real-Time Leaderboards Featuring Pinarello-Q36.5, Topgolf, Malmö Redhawks
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play_circle_outlineMinutes to Insight: Qlik's Real-Time Ride, Golf and Hockey Dashboards Drive Tour de France 2025 Success
In this interview from Qlik Connect 2026, Craig Brophy, head of global communications at Qlik, joins theCUBE's Rob Strechay to discuss how Qlik is making data tangible through immersive sports experiences that showcase the full power of its analytics platform. Brophy introduces the Qlik Sports Performance Zone — a hands-on environment featuring cycling, golf and hockey stations tied to real customers including the Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Topgolf and Malmö Redhawks. He explains how stationary bikes function as live IoT devices, generating data that f...Read more
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What is the Qlik Sports Performance Zone at Qlik Connect 2026, and which customer partners and activities are featured?add
How has Qlik helped the cycling team improve its performance and competitiveness, and what do you want people to take away about working with Qlik?add
>> Hello and welcome back to Qlik Connect 2026. We're out on the floor really exploring what's going on and seeing AI and data in action. Craig's joining me, head of global communications for Qlik. We're going to be talking about some of the stuff going on here at the Sports Pavilion. We got people riding bikes behind us here. What's going on here?>> So this year, we decided we were going to take things up a notch. Last year, we had the cycling engagement, where we really helped explain what Qlik does, but on a level where people could create data and see how it works through using all the Qlik products. This year, we've taken it a step further and we've created the Qlik Sports Performance Zone, and we've aligned with three of our customers. We've got cycling, we've got the Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. On the golf, we've got Topgolf, and they're also sponsoring the overall Sports Zone. And then, on the hockey, we've got Malmö Redhawks. So we're tying each one back to a customer, but we're really letting our customers who are attending Qlik Connect actually engage in something more fun. But while doing it, they get to generate their own data and then they get to go on the leaderboard, so they get to see how they're positioning against themselves or against their colleagues. And it's just a fun way to really have a way to play with data, and that's ultimately what we're trying to do.>> I was going to say, I can't wait to get at it. I've gone around. I think probably the worst I'm going to be at is probably the golf. I think I have a good shot at hitting the corners in the hockey. And this, I used to cycle a lot, so I'm very, very excited to hit this a little bit later on. It's the bell lap, so we're going around this sharp zuluize now or something like that. We were talking to some of the customers, and what they said is that this helps them think like, "Hey, here's IoT data that's coming in," or something like that, similar to how they're seeing this. Is that what you're seeing and the experience you're getting our of this?>> We are. Data is this thing we can't really see. It's this intangible thing, but we know it has relevance and importance. But what we've done here is if you really look at the bikes, they're an IoT device that could be sitting in a manufacturing plant or in a warehouse. And when that penny drops with people, they suddenly realize, "Oh, my goodness, this is where the data's coming from." And they can see the journey it's going on, and then when it lands up on their dashboard, they can then work with that data. But we're just really bringing it home so you can actually create the data, you can feel the data, and you can do something with it, so yeah.>> And sometimes you'll feel it more than others.>> Of course, yeah.>> Depending on how many miles you put in, right?>> So true.>> So I think when you look at all of this and you... What are you hoping that customers take away from this, and partners as well that are here?>> If I could be slightly selfish about it, I want them to see how easy it is to work with Qlik. They're getting to feel the entire portfolio with us, from Qlik Talend Cloud, Qlik Open Lakehouse, to Qlik Cloud Analytics, or within a minute of them finishing their bike ride, it lands up on a dashboard. And this is the same thing that can be applied to their own businesses, and it's easy. And that's really what we're trying to get them to come away with is just that it's easy to work with and it gets them the results they're looking for.>> And it's a great story with the cycling team that you've helped because again, when you start to look at it, and it was the same with the hockey team, and golf's a little bit different, but when you look at it, you're trying to put together the best cycling team you can.>> Of course.>> And when we were talking before, you were even saying that it's helped them even make it up level, that entire team.>> Absolutely.>> Talk to that a little bit.>> Absolutely. So when budgets constrained, data was the one thing that could help the team. They were fighting up against teams that were running at three times the budgets that they had to work with. So when you want to compete and you can't afford a really expensive rider, where do you compete? So we compete on the data field. We were using data to help the team look at how they approach a race, how they get the right riders for recruitment, and then how they can perform better. And ultimately, in doing so, and I'm very proud about this, the team is going to the Tour de France year because of how they used Qlik in the 2025 season. And I absolutely love that and I'm proud of that, because it really showed that this small team can now play with the giants on the cycling field, in pro cycling field.>> Love to see them in the Alps and see them on the Sean zuluize.>> Absolutely.>> That'll be fantastic. So what do you hope that, again, customers and the people who aren't here might take away from this? And this experience that people have been able to see Qlik in action, what is it that you hope that they see that between now and Qlik Connect 2027, wherever we may be, that they can lean in and say, "Yeah, I want to see if I can do this between now and then."?>> That's exactly it. We want customers to see they can do it, that together we can innovate together. Whatever your constraints are, let's sit down, let's talk about it, figure out what hurdles you're coming up against, and let's see how we can overcome that. And using data as the basis of that discussion will give them the advantage and give them the ways to get around those mountains that they're facing.>> Yeah. Oh, very good. That was very good. Especially some of them, I believe they have the highest ones in the Tour this year.>> They do.>> They're back going up some of the major ones there on all the way down to the border with Spain and everything, which will be fantastic.>> The Bernese are great, but the Alps won't miss, yeah.>> Yeah. Aw, It's going to be awesome. It's going to be a great time. Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on board, Craig. This has been great.>> Thank you so much.>> Helping to connect people to their data through sports.>> Seriously, yeah.>> I think what an idea, a killer idea.>> No, it's been great. Thank you very much.>> And thank you for watching Qlik Connect 2026. Really appreciate it. Stay tuned for more.
