Qlik Sense for small business customers and freelance consultants?

[jonashertz]

I am a freelance Qlik consultant who have worked as a Qlik developer for 10+ years within various roles.

Right now I work projects for larger businesses but I also work with small customers who have old QlikView environments that would require a move to the cloud.

However the limit of minimum 10 users for Qlik Sense Cloud prepaid for 1 year pose a serious challenge in convincing those small businesses (and myself) that they should migrate to Qlik Sense Cloud.

For the customers with less than 10 users there is just no option for them to use Qlik Sense except a 30 day trial?

But it gets worse. Since I am a small business Qlik professional paying 200$ USD per month just to have a test environment, where I can test new functionality and keep up my competence, feels a bit steep even if I can afford it. I have not even gotten a reply from Qlik regarding my application as a partner, and that's fine I am way to small for them to bother. But what options are left for me to remain an independent consultant working with Qlik?

[paulcalvet]

I'm agree with you, I work for a big company so I haven't this problem but when I was consultant, I used Qlik Sense Desktop free version to test and learn.

It could be excellent if Qlik launch something like tableau public for the community, the existing Qlik gallery is not very fun, a pdf of an application don't show tips and technical setup.

Regards,

[jonashertz]

I was wrong it seems it is possible for me at least to purchase 1 Qlik Sense Cloud license. On qlik.com/us/pricing they clearly state "10 user minimum". Perhaps because I am a current customer (trial) the single seat is available for me?

[jonashertz · Accepted solution]

I reached out to Qlik representative to see if there was a way to test and build skills for Qlik Sense premium features. I feel having only skills with standard features would not be enough for a Qlik Sense consultant.

The reply I got was: “Sadly the only options available is signing up for the Qlik Sense Trial or purchase a subscription”.

The person understood the problem and were very helpful but there are no way forward for freelancers to try Qlik Sense features without paying for the license (2700$/month for Premium) or sign up for a trial.

I hope this information helps other small businesses out there.

[stevedark]

It is a worry about how people are going to pick up and learn the product in future. If students can't pick it up and do their university thesis using Sense then they are not going to take that skill into the workplace later.

If you can purchase a single user licence at the moment then I would recommend that you do that. It is not guaranteed that the option to buy single users will remain on Cloud, and it could be removed at any time.

Steve

[jonashertz]

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@stevedark wrote:

It is a worry about how people are going to pick up and learn the product in future. If students can't pick it up and do their university thesis using Sense then they are not going to take that skill into the workplace later.

If you can purchase a single user licence at the moment then I would recommend that you do that. It is not guaranteed that the option to buy single users will remain on Cloud, and it could be removed at any time.

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Getting new people to use the products is another issue we have with Qlik. 

I was able to purchased a single user license (Standard) in the hope that it would be enough. But I help clients administer their Qlik Sense Premium environment and it is essential to try core features outside of their production environments.

Not having a test environment was a hypothetical problem until a week ago when the app key for the Windows Entra identity provider timed out for a client. I had no way to test a recovery operation in my tenant and had to do this for the first time in a meeting with the CTO.

The Standard subscription are missing many features an administrator, developer and consultant must know, and that knowledge needs to be up to date. Maybe there are workarounds, extension of trials etc.. but I cannot motivate investing more time and effort in Qlik Sense with how inaccessible the platform have become.

[stevedark]

Hi @jonashertz 

I wish I could argue some of these points with you, but I am in total agreement.

In order for a client to have a sensible UAT/Test environment they need to purchase another tenant with sufficient licences on to sandbox things. This is fine when you are a large organisation, but it is a big ask for most of my clients.

The packs of ten licences on Standard is great value if you need ten licences, but I have customers who don't have that many staff, let alone analysts.

Most of my clients will pay for me to have a SaaS licence to develop apps and administer their tenants, but very few have sandbox environments. As a partner I can get trial environments spun up, but that isn't possible for everyone, and the delay in getting these online can be problematic.

I have asked about the possibility of a licence type being added, however expensive, that will allow a licenced user (i.e. me) to use my login on a number of tenants and not use that tenant's licence or capacity. This would save the awkward conversation when the customer says there are three of us so we need three licences, and I have to remind them that they need to add one for the consultant. I've been told this might happen, but I've yet to see evidence of it.

Qlik has such a great platform and product, but whilst Qlik's eyes are on the Enterprise prize (Enterprize?) it is becoming more difficult at the other end of things. Looking at the alternatives though, I still have no problems recommending Qlik to any size of organisation, it's just that sometimes lands on deaf ears.

Cheers,

Steve

[jonashertz]

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@stevedark wrote:

....

Qlik has such a great platform and product, but whilst Qlik's eyes are on the Enterprise prize (Enterprize?) it is becoming more difficult at the other end of things. Looking at the alternatives though, I still have no problems recommending Qlik to any size of organisation, it's just that sometimes lands on deaf ears.

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Hi Steve thank you for the input! 🙂

If it were not for the pricing model and Qlik's obsession with large customers Qlik Sense would be amazing for small businesses! The relational model is outstanding and I will miss it in the future. For small businesses, sensitive to costs, it is such a time and overhead saver to have a single person or set of skills that can manage the entire analytics system. I'd argue that alone makes it a good deal compared to the alternatives that might be cheaper per license but requires more than one skillset to manage. It's just a bit more difficult to sell something based on a promise compared to price.

But more to the point: selling something I have no way of trying, testing and learning is a non starter. Unfortunately.

[GillianPeters]

Man, I totally get where you're coming from. Dealing with those Qlik hurdles can feel like banging your head against a wall sometimes. As a fellow freelance consultant, I've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.
It's frustrating when you're trying to help out small businesses but hit roadblocks like the minimum user requirement for Qlik Sense Cloud. And paying 200 bucks a month just for a test environment? Ouch, that's a tough pill to swallow, especially when you're still waiting on that partnership reply.
But hey, here's a little nugget of wisdom I stumbled upon recently: the Me-Pos system. It's not a silver bullet for your Qlik issues, but it's like adding a turbo boost to your business operations.

[igoralcantara]

I agree. A student type of subscription that limited only the size of files and number of ML models deployment (something on that nature) will help the whole community.

Microsoft and other companies have proved over the years that you invest in learning to grow the community. One day those students will hold management position in companies. If they know Qlik, the chance of their companies using is much higher.