Unlocking the Future of Data - A Technical Overview of Qlik Connect 2024

Join the hype! Qlik Talend Cloud - Aligning with AI Trends through Quality Source Data

The event brought to light a significant shift in Qlik's SaaS offering – Qlik Talend Cloud. Clearly centered on an end-to-end platform approach, its prime focus is quality source data, the key determinant for AI implementation.

Qlik Talend Cloud is built for different types of users, from beginners to experienced ETL/ELT product users, with a unique no-code/pro-code methodology for defining data pipelines and transformations. Expanding beyond 400 supported SaaS data sources, the platform also offers a fascinating feature that generates SQL clauses in response to business queries, such as “generate a dataset with only data from external sales, with client name, sales rep and sales amount”.

Qlik Talend Trust Score for AI is also an interesting feature, enabling people working in an AI data projects to track different data quality attributes and reflects the AI-readiness of datasets used. Our Qlik partner lead and lead consultant, Mikko Kuusela, tested this by using AFRY's own data from one of AFRY’s AI projects, and the results appear to be quite promising.

Qlik Answers: A Knowledge Base that Answers

Knowledge base

Debuting at Qlik Connect 2024 and published in mid-July, Qlik Answers represents a quantum leap in data intelligence. In first release, there are three different possible sources to add files to Qlik Answers knowledge base:

1. Existing Qlik files from existing Qlik platform
2. Uploading new files from local device
3. Using data connection (7 are supported in first phase, for instance Amazon S3, Azure and Google storage, O365 SharePoint)

When using a data connection, users can dynamically set the folder and its structure depth, allowing Qlik Answers to automatically update the source folder with new documents. All typical document types are supported in first release, including PDF, Word, PowerPoint and HTML.

Indexing

Once the knowledge base is set up, it needs to be indexed. This indexing process may take some time and can be scheduled to update new content regularly, such as once a day. From a security standpoint, Qlik Answers only stores indexes from the source data.

Assistant

In Qlik Answer, the final step involves creating an assistant that integrates with the knowledge base. This assistant functions like Chat GPT, allowing users to type questions and receive answers. It also shows the sources of the answers and keeps a history of interactions. Additionally, users can add a conversation starter question to the interface to facilitate easier interactions.

RAG process

Qlik Answers utilises the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) process, enhancing the response by consulting an authoritative knowledge base outside of its training data sources (data that is loaded and indexed in Qlik Answers).

Qlik Answers in Action

During Qlik Connect, Kyle Jourdan from Qlik delivered an engaging session where he showcased the technical aspects of Qlik Answers, completing them with intriguing demos. One demo was about using a PDF document as a source that was concerning a presentation using AI dataset, based on another presentation by Jourdan at Qlik Connect. The question addressed how to build a machine learning dataset. Qlik Answers provided a response and referred to the relevant document for more information.

Another demo highlighted using competitive data within the organisation. Jourdan demonstrated how Qlik leverages internal documents from its web pages to clarify the differences between Qlik and Power BI. This serves as a prime example of how an organisation can enhance productivity by equipping sales representatives with such tools. They can use Qlik Answers to get their questions addressed without needing to contact Qlik product managers or other expert teams.

In conclusion

Qlik potentially changes the course of data handling, indexing, retrieval, and AI-readiness, redefining the future of data analysis and interpretation with the newly launched Qlik Talend Cloud and Qlik Answers. These advancements promise to enhance decision-making processes, streamline operations, and foster a culture of data-driven success. Join us and be part of this transformative journey as we lead the charge toward a smarter, more connected future!

People from left to right: Mikko Aimo from AFRY Data Solutions, Thomas Kristiansen from Qlik, and Mikko Kuusela from AFRY Data Solutions.