Buzzwords & Pretty Pictures — Are They Really The Key To Business Intelligence?
A Look At Looker
Looker is everywhere these days. Well, at least everywhere with an AWS infrastructure and a struggling Business Intelligence layer. I am quite certain there is good reason for both of those, but correlations can be tricky…
A quick spin around their site and YouTube channel provides a lot of strong content and examples. There is a slight over emphasis on dashboards and integration, but we have already covered the seeming requirement of those table stakes. Looker also emphasizes “pretty and connected” — my terms, not theirs. This is more in-line with competitors like Qlik than lower quadrant dwellers.
Looker also provides the “mandatory” Business Intelligence homage to data democratization. But does easy and pretty really make anything reliable? And what does drilling “deeper” really mean?
I am a huge fan of data access. I believe it is the crux of creating data-driven culture at any company. So my issue here isn’t that Looker is promoting it. It is that their message and branding seem to indicate that Looker alone can empower that change… sorry, no way. If you think it is unfair to single them out, I grant you that point. I then counter with, they do it a bit more than our Big Three (Power BI, Tableau, Qlik).
Just like Qlik, Looker labels itself a “complete platform”. It isn’t. In fairness, neither is Qlik. Both emphasize stunning data visualizations. Both emphasize connected data. Looker says they make it easy…
Digging Deeper
By “deeper” here, I mean trying to define what is so “complete” and “easy” about Looker’s Data Platform, we learn that the actual data lives outside the box. I guess that may make it “easy”, but it is hardly “complete”. Actually, let me contradict myself entirely. That is “completely” all I expect from a Data Visualization tool (or platform) but is only “easy” because they are ignore the area where the most discipline is required! So I am really just asking for a little more honesty… I guess that doesn’t sell.
Making Connections
If you’ll allow me to make my own connections, Looker’s graphic has id’ed a handful of additional bad actors in this space. Salesforce, Google Analytics, and Net Suites — all have their own heavy correlation with struggling Business Intelligence (yes, I just took us full circle).
Like Looker, all of these role players have their jobs. They do them well… well enough. Each oversells the ease and simplicity of their integration and data-driven value — because none of them really work to create a disciplined information layer. And again — I don’t want them to. I don’t think they would succeed and their appearance of “not even trying” tells me — they don’t disagree. Of course, many of their price points pretend otherwise…
In the end, Looker is a strong contender. Is it top four? We will know by the end of the week. Cast your vote below or circle back to the original article here.
Its position within AWS provides certain market benefits, but certainly certain integration benefits as well. It is not the “easy complete” answer but it is “pretty & connected”.
Thanks for reading! To start at the beginning — go here:
For other reviews:
Selling BI — Dashboards & Integration
Is this really all that matters?
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For more on data access and culture:
