Whilst not officially confirmed yet, we have heard from a number of sources that when the July price list comes out QlikView Small Business Edition Server will not be on it. This will make the entry level QlikView Enterprise Server – at four times the cost.
The Current Situation
At present any company who requires twenty five or fewer Named CALs and one hundred or fewer Document CALs can opt for the Small Business Server. This makes the cost of entry for QlikView quite reasonable. Organisations wanting to cluster, use ticketing, have more users or use Session CALs would need to go for the Enterprise Server.
This lower cost entry point for the server fitted perfectly with the ‘land and expand’ mantra that Qlik had for when sending their sales teams and partners out selling. It is a solution that fits many of our clients very well – some of whom don’t have more than twenty five staff so will never need any more licences than will fit on a Small Business Server.
So, Why The Change?
The knee-jerk response to this news is that Qlik are getting greedy here, and hiking the price in order to extract more money from new customers. With the company being increasingly ‘large enterprise’ focused over the past few years there is going to be a little truth in this.
However, I believe that the move is more driven by the desire to get more customers, particularly smaller ones, using Sense. With there being no cost to Qlik Sense Server, and a relatively small minimum order quantity on Sense Tokens, there is a much lower cost of entry with Sense.
This is then better for everyone, as new users get to use the latest and best software, at a price point that is attractive. However…
The QlikView vs. Qlik Sense Dilemma
There is much being written at the moment, on this blog and elsewhere, about the relative merits of Qlik Sense vs QlikView. It is clear that Sense is the more modern tool, is getting the flashest new features and is where future direction lies. The problem is that there are some things that QlikView can do that Sense is just not quite there with yet (that is without having to plug gaps by using QlikMarket apps).
If you are not constrained, however, by preconceptions of what you should be able to build from what you have done previously in QlikView, then Qlik Sense is in many cases the better option.
Getting The Right Mix
The challenge is getting the right mix between Self Service for non technical users and the creation of complex analytics by those who are skilled enough to create them.
With QlikView Small Business Server not being an option for new clients from next month, a good mix for some companies may be to have QlikView Desktop licences for those analysts who need to build highly customisable apps to dig deep into data. These can then be used as the template to build similar apps in Sense (for distribution via the Server) which benefit from the fresh and responsive UI and design.
The way that the back end and script is shared between the two products makes this a potentially sensible move, and one that we will most likely promote to prospective clients.
Where To From Here?
Obviously we will need to wait for the July price list to arrive to see if this change does materialise. There may be other changes also that affect what can be offered to new clients. I will update in the comments as things progress.I would be very interested in hearing other peoples opinion on the subject, so please do comment below.
another Dilemma no?
Getting more people to use Sense, particularly new users, is definitely a good thing. Whether this is the right way to do it remains to be seen.
We have received official input that confirms your (and our) concerns !
Not happy at all !
Killing the main selling product (both license and service wise) and increasing the entry point for the new wannabe Sense doesn’t make much sense, on a middle term perspective, at least for us, as a partner, in an emerging market, where all our Qlik sales started around an SBE.
On a very short term, it will boost sales in Q2 2016 (that probably helps Qlik for the acquisition financials)
On a long run, it’s clear Sense will be the future, but we are still missing some major abilities QlikView has… Especially the speed of navigating and developing it’s lost, in my opinion.
I feel Sense it’s like Windows 8: primarily for mobile, while users are still using it primarily desktop.
We always look at selling a solution and not just a product. If the requirement is for something to be built by us to address a requirement then the best approach will still be QlikView most of the time, speed of development and ability to highly customise being the two main factors.
If we were just shifting units for people to go away and learn then Sense would be the better option, because of the intuitiveness of the tool – and the route both products are likely to take in future.
Having the choice of which approach to recommend removed does feel counter productive – but if it speeds up adoption and development of Sense then that is a definite benefit.
Also no integration with nprinting, unless that’s covered with the latest version of QS
As far as I am aware it is on the road-map, but I have not seen a date for NPrinting for Sense. With NPrinting you are best getting a Desktop licence of QlikView anyway. Small businesses may have to look to a small number of QlikView Desktop licences and NPrinting to push PDFs and spreadsheets out to more users for further analysis.
Regarding Elaine’s comment – our understanding is that nPrinting integration with Qlik Sense will arrive at the same time as Sense 3.0.
Opinions are my own, things in the future can change etc etc etc…
That is great news (or potential rumour of news, at least). NPrinting integration is another thing that could drive the adoption of Sense further.
Regarding NPrinting for Sense it does appear on this Press Release from Qlik http://www.qlik.com/en/company/press-room/press-releases/0503-qlik-introduces-qlik-sense-enterprise-3
This states it will arrive along with Sense 3.0 (it does also have the same caveats as Dave’s comment though).
Many functions we use in deploying QlikView are missing from Sense – the ability to layer and conditionally hide objects; Containers; Trellis charts, Control of colours, Control of fonts & size, Fine control of object size and position etc.
Currently Sense is like working with one hand tied behind your back.
Hopefully it will get better.
To remove these options for SBE sites and force them to either use Sense with its limited functionality, or QV Enterprise with its increased costs over SBE, is not an option that will help us “land and expand”.
I do enjoy developing in Sense, there are a number of features that exceed what can be done in QlikView – the one I spotted recently is the ability to change load script code whilst stepping through in Debug mode and those changes being executed when stepping through (nice!). Sense has a lot to recommend it, but I do get what you are saying, as I can’t turn around the volume of analysis that I can in QlikView in the same amount of time – Cycle Groups and Actions not being present being the main reasons for that.
Hi Steve, That’s a good tip on updating code whilst stepping through in debug mode.
Until Sense does what QlikView can do I think this is a big mistake.
Very mixed feelings on this overall, Steve.
From a positive standpoint, this is probably the forced nudge that is needed to make Sense the primary product to sell. Probably that’s a good thing overall.
But, honestly? I feel this is forcing all QlikView apps to be replicable in Sense, and i have big concerns about that. Removing the entry level QlikView server product removes the most common entry point (by far, from my experience!) into the product. Additionally, it places an immediate burden on partners to not only be Sense experts, but also develop the API, extension and mashup technical skills needed to fill the technical holes already mentioned when moving from QlikView to Sense.
As we move into the Sense era more deeply, it’s becoming increasingly clear that not all functionality will be included, and that mashups and using JavaScript will be a necessity to be able to complete the kind of solutions that customers need. Considering there’s been no real effort or formal training to bring the Partner community up to speed on these crucial technical tasks, my biggest concern is that a lot of partners simply will not have the technical knowledge in these areas to build equivalent solutions in Sense off the bat.
Finally, this signals the first steps of the paradigm shift it will require to continue to be a Qlik developer. It seems obvious that this is the start of a longer term phase out of QlikView, and that the Sense skills mentioned already are going to need to be core skills of a dev going forward. That’s quite a change.
So whilst it seems like this is just a change to a price list and removal of product on the surface, the harsh reality of it is that it’s going to be a steep learning curve for us all to become Sense gurus almost overnight.
When Donald Farmer was talking to the Qlik Dev Group in London some time ago, he was talking of a very bright future where anything was possible on the Qlik Platform – due to the large number of highly skilled Java developers out on the marketplace. Qlik Branch also means that things will be possible that the design team at Qlik had not even considered – I know you have created some excellent extensions, for instance. Whilst this is all true, it does leave a bit of a gap with regards to consistency and robustness of applications using these extensions (not yours though, obviously!). Something I have always felt is that it should be much clearer when looking at Objects in Sense which ones are stock objects and which have been added in – presently there is no way for an end user to know which objects are Qlik certified and which have been found on the net.
I came from a proper programming background, and still have reasonable skills, but one of the reasons I went towards QlikView was that the heavy lifting coding was done for you – so you can get on with design and delivery of stunning apps. I do feel that I now need to be brushing up on some of those skills (particularly to make use of the web mash-up abilities of Sense), this wasn’t on my original game plan though.
Not really happy bit i do understand the whole Sense driven mantra. My biggest hope is that the re price Enterprise. So that this should be affordable if you don’t want to cluster servers and still have 25 Named cal’s. So basically restructure the whole pricing of Enterprise.
As I mentioned it will be a case of wait and see. Keep checking back on the comments of this blog for more news.
I would not hold the breath for a price lowering, though. For what it worth – in Russia QlikView SBE was discontinued in October 2015. No price restructuring for QlikView Enterprise so far. Rather some rumors about across the board price rising for all Qlik products.
Pricing is always an interesting one with Qlik. It seems that deals are there to be done, on certain products, at certain times. It would be much easier if the best possible price was the one on the price list and that was that. I suppose that is not the way that the industry works – but it can be infuriating as an analytical person rather than a sales one.
Hi Steve, I must confess it was disappointing to read that Small Business Edition had been removed for most markets except …”This product will not be available to sell after July 1st. However, SBE Server will be available in Japan based on the current Go-To-Market strategy for this territory”.
This was taken from a letter that was forwarded to our region…M.E.A and its official.
And to make matters worse…the prevailing and current exchange rate with the dollar isn’t helping either in our region.
Though I see that Qlik is trying to promote Qliksense instead of Qlikview but also brings to mind the fear of what the future lies for Qlikview? Does it mean that this might be the beginning of the gradual ease out of Qlikview as a product….????
Anyway….like in Barry Harmsen’s post about the acquisition of Qlik by Thomas Bravo….seems qlik are really getting greedy and trying to vamp up their profits…which is fair but not at the expense of new customers….Barry also painted a good analysis on their financial statements…which I believe has made them begin such decisions….my little thought anyway
Regards, Ayodele
Qlik are committed to supporting those people using QlikView for the foreseeable future. There are still releases coming out for QlikView, in fact two in a week recently for 11.2 and 12 respectively, so it is not all doom and gloom for QlikView users yet.
Right decision for the long term I reckon, but WAY too soon. I have challenged Qlik many times to be more up front with their retirement plans for QlikView and have always received the official line of continuing with both products. Given that SBS was by far the best way to “land” with QV, it’s obvious they are really very keen to halt QV’s success and force people to use Sense instead.
But as many people have said already, Sense as a product is not ready for this, and I agree with Brian that most partners will also not be ready. We have added this capability as a firm, but it’s still bedding in, as it must be for everyone else who also has.
This needs time to work safely for our clients. Yet again, it is too much too soon from Qlik.
Oh happy days.
The discussion at the Qlik Dev Group on the topic has been ‘interesting’ at the last few meetings. I seem to recall you prompted a rather direct line of questioning on the subject last time? Talking to a certain well respected Qlik Developer (and guru) at the same meeting I was surprised to learn he has yet to do his first Sense implementation.
Not sure I will be able to make this Dev Group, going to be delivering a workshop session on Sense outside of London. It’s whether I can convince the client that cutting that short and joining me at a Dev Group meeting is a good idea.
Hi Steve,
I guess the same will apply to Nprinting licences.
Just had the approval to order the Nprinting SMB license today.
Possibly just in time.
Mark
It could, in a way, drive more usage of NPrinting. Pleased to hear you are moving ahead with using that product. It opens up a number of opportunities for delivery of solutions that are not there with QlikView and QlikView Server alone.
“It’s a bold strategy Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for him.”
This is definitely to nudge people to Sense and I think it is a risky move.
As Brian mentions, there is not yet feature parity between View and Sense. Of course, a lot of it can be fixed by extensions and mash-ups. The thing is though, the moment I mention “custom development” to clients their perception of the project (and product) risk changes immediately. “Drag and drop”, “out of the box functionality” sounds safe, easy and predictable. “Custom development” does not. So, they stick with QlikView for now, or worse, start evaluating alternatives that do not have this ‘issue’.
Or as one of my clients put it “Why put an aftermarket turbo on a new car when I can just buy a new car with a turbo?”
For new clients this might matter less as they probably do not know what QlikView can do, but I can still imagine that “Yeah, you need to build a custom mash-up for that” might make the sales process a lot less smooth.
Too soon…
Hi Barry. Your comment about new customers not knowing about what QlikView can do is a critical point. I have to bite my tongue so frequently when doing Sense development, to not let on that what I am having to spend a lot of time working around (or even what I am not able to do) would be simple if they were using a different tool. But I suppose that there are things in both directions though, with QlikView not being able to do some of the neat UI tricks of Sense.
If true, it seems a risky strategy to me… With question marks over the long-term purposes behind the acquisition, I think a lot of people who are already in the BI space might think twice about heading in Qlik’s direction for a while. While I am fully converted to the company’s products, I’m not converted to their decision making and for that reason, I’m always keeping my eyes on competitive products, so that heaven forbid the time Qlik’s demise became meteoric, we’re not caught with our pants down…
Hi John, I think that in focusing efforts on a single new improved best of breed product Qlik is actually ensuring that it is not going to suffer any kind of demise. There are feature boxes that need to be ticked with Sense though – and I don’t mean having a gloopy bubble UI for joining tables. With Qlik Sense 3.0 imminent hopefully many of these boxes will be ticked.
I also think that Qlik runs a risk strategy now with the new pricing. If Sense functionality does not match QView functionality or development will become more difficult, our company will probably look for alternatives. Say there will good reason to switch to Tableau now… Sorry Qlik…
There is no indication that there will be any impact on existing users or maintenance fees, nor on the cost of adding CALs to an existing SBE Server. This means that there is no need to switch anywhere else until such time that Sense is a good fit for you.
Also, with Sense Server not having a cost associated with it (other than the hardware) and that, I believe, that you can still switch QlikView CALs for Sense Tokens – migrating from one product to the other at the appropriate time should not be too painful from a licencing perspective.
YES, there is indication about cost changes when buying new CALs, a 10% increase in all prices from 1st July on.
Our main customers are medium size industrial companies, which requires us to combine in our developments even graphical components as large tables with calculated columns. I don’t see how we could implement this kind of tables in QlikSense, we could say QlikSense is not a product designed for this type of needs. Very attractive to the eye, but doesn’t engage some customer needs. It looks like marketing should have more to say than business experts.
We are seriously evaluating Tableau. Agree with Marcel: sorry Qlik, we WERE happy with you!!
This price rise has not been communicated to us in the UK, so it may be different in different jurisdictions. I will certainly be asking about it though. Thank you for the heads up.
Hope that you can find the licence mix you need to make Qlik work for you – it is always a great shame when an investment in building things in one product is lost because of a migration to another product.
Steve, I can also confirm that my view from Qonnections is that Nprinting supported by/for Sense will be released when 3.0 will be available.
According switching from QV to Sense and tokens is possible but you will have the same maintainence including the “value” of the QV servers. So if you have a QV SMB and publisher and a limited numbers of cals it can be better to buy new tokens instead of converting the cals.
According increase of prices these are regional and guess are connected to currencyrates.
I can see that many people in your comments feels that QS cant do the stuff QV can. Sure but you also have strong values QS can provide that QV are struggling with. Mobility, SAML suppot/LDAP integrations, extended security, embedded analytics with mashups, communication with QIX engine etc is something we can see are really powerful values.
> I can see that many people in your comments feels that QS cant do the stuff QV can. Sure but you also have strong values QS can provide that QV are struggling with.
I believe that remark would be more relevant would Qlik currently been discontinuing Sense, not QlikView SBE. I never saw QlikView proponent saying that Sense has no value at all, or Sense does not have anything new, comparing to QlikView. But some of the partners and end users, after serious considerations, come to the conclusion that at the moment QlikView’s set of strengths and weaknesses is preferable to Sense’s set. Not surprisingly that is especially the case when we are talking about guided analytics.
Effectively Qlik has decided that opinion of that group of partners and customers – the opinion that expresses itself in what customers actually want to buy and in what technologies partners prefer to invest resources – do not matter. They are told to buy and invest in the direction that seems to be right to Visionaries.
We’ll all see as it will work.
Hi Joachim – I have been able to confirm today that there are no price rises in the UK, so it certainly follows that FX is the factor here. That’s an interesting point regarding swapping CALs, and not one I had appreciated previously. As you say investing in new CALs is definitely the better bet. Completely agree about some of the flash features that Sense has, the new UEAFA Cup app showcases some of the web app integration, and the ability to call the API directly are all really exciting. It’s just the steep learning curve that is required to really make use of these that is the issue. I am looking forward to even better features in the future!
Hi Steve,
For the last year and a half I’m almost exclusively implemented QlikSense but I have to say, it’s no drop-in replacement for Qlikview (yet). I agree with the sentiment that it’s too soon.
Hi Dave – that is great to hear that someone has managed to transition over to Sense fully and successfully. Thanks for adding your thoughts.
Firstly let me say we very much welcome the discussion and feedback from both customers and partners as we seek to refine our strategy. This is important to us and the communication of these changes, as and when they occur, is also something we take very seriously and I would like to take this opportunity to respond to a number of the comments and questions raised here. In order to do this I have posted a short FAQ on Qlik Community (https://community.qlik.com/docs/DOC-16833) where we will also endeavour to answer additional questions.
Regards, James
Hi James – thank you for sharing this document with the Community.
It certainly has some welcome news in there, to soften the blow of SBE being removed. The ability to add additional CALs to a SBE Server (and to for existing clients to purchase Test SBE Servers), means that we don’t have to sound like dodgy door to door salesmen trying to get our existing clients to buy more licences within an unreasonable time frame before the window of opportunity closes.
The acknowledgement that there are some QlikView features that are needed in Sense quickly is good also – the one I find hardest to justify to clients is the lack of a trend line option on charts. As I didn’t make it to Qonnections I am looking forward to seeing what is in the new Sense Hub as well.
Thanks again,
Steve
Hi Steve,
For better or worse, Qlik has chosen to go all in for Sense. You mention “commitment to supporting QlikView”, I think we can understand “support” to mean bugfix, not grow or enhance. There are many exciting improvements to QlikView that have languished in the Ideas queue for years, going nowhere.
I view the SBE announcement as simply a marketing strategy to steer new customers to Sense over View. It’s Qlik’s ball and they are setting the game.
I think what is so unsettling to us consultants is that Sense targets a new market, perhaps not the same customer we are used to serving with View. Sense currently fits the edges — simple self service and the sophisticated embedded analytics. The “middle” customer — the non-IT departmental implementation looking for everything in one box — is not yet well served by Sense.
Thanks Rob,
I believe that they certainly should go all in for pushing Sense. It would seem a bit weird if they didn’t. Hopefully there will be some new features in QlikView – but I agree with you that we should not expect too much.
I agree that there are two markets for these tools, and the initial spin was encouraging – the “guided analytics” vs. “self service” approach. Pulling the rug out from under those that need the guided analytics, built for them by experts, does not seem like a sensible approach for the future.
Hi Steve,
This situation has been a little confusing since the beginning, hasn’t it? There are a lot of mixed messages out there and the Thoma Bravo issue just added a little bit of spice / uncertainty to the Qlik ecosystem.
Qlik has repeatedly stated that both, QlikView and Qlik Sense will be supported and continue to grow, but their efforts are clearly focused on one side (which is understandable, but there’s a lot of people who will be happy to see some improvements in QV as well).
Also, while the marketing team is promoting QlikView as a powerful, traditional BI tool and Sense as an innovative platform with self-service capabilities, the commercial team kills the SBE Server, which in several markets (and especially in Latin America), was a pretty popular choice. Does this mean that Qlik believes that small and middle-sized companies can’t benefit from guided analytics? Is self-service / data discovery the only way for them? Is traditional BI only suited for large deployments?
Do you remember those old product presentations where QlikView’s top benefits were that it was a single-product solution and the land and expand strategy? It looks like this has slightly changed in the last few years! Forcing Sense to be an entry platform and leaving QlikView only for enterprise-level customers hinders the flexibility and scalability we used to love in these products. Besides, I think most of us share the opinion that Sense still has a lot of room to grow before we can forget about its predecessor.
Now, it looks like the real decision has more to do with the size of the investment and not so much with the customers’ real needs… Anyways, let’s see how the market reacts!
Thanks Julian. There definitely seems to be mixed messages, and different arms of the business have different views of how things should progress. I guess the message of ‘lead with Sense’ that they have been pushing to partners since it first appeared wasn’t being listened too – so they have decided to force the issue. For better or for worse.
Hi Steve, the situation reminds me of the car industry. Nissan have brought out the Leaf electric car, clearly a wise investment on their part and many people find it ideal for their needs. However, until it can do 300 miles on a single charge and tow a large caravan it would not be wise for them to stop investing in petrol cars or to stop selling cars in the same price range. They certainly have not done that because people would just buy other makes of car instead. Qlik should be careful that they do not try to force people to adopt a product before it is ready for everyone’s needs.
I’m just glad we were able to get the QlikView Small Business Server when we did! If we had to choose a different product because of pricing, we would be using a much inferior product. Our decision to implement was based on EASE of USE and Features; ability to execute our company’s needs with NO development expense. Once the first QVD was live (within a couple days because of waiting on the server to be set up) adoption is organic. Little to no user training required along with easy changes as people realize that they can really have anything they want increases user demand. We have since upgraded to the Enterprise server because of tripling the number of users (anyone can use it). To me that sounds like a winning sales strategy. Why Qlik would choose to ignore real business needs is disheartening.
There are many vendors today that would like to kick Qlik to the curb, but it’s very hard when their software is so much harder to implement and use. Take away the ease of implementation and use and it’s just another product companies buy less of and implement partially, never becoming the success it should be. I believe we are getting 100% of our investment out of QlikView. How many other customers using other vendor products can say that?
So, until Qlik Sense includes all the very cool scripting and expression features that QlikView has, we are firmly staying on QlikView.
Thank you for your comment. Hopefully these sort of messages will filter through to the people at Qlik who make the decisions. It is the start small and grow it once confidence has been built approach that has put Qlik where it is today. Remove that adoption avenue and things can all too quickly be reversed in the software arena.
Sadly, this means I’m now looking more to Tableau for the DW / Reporting environment we’re currently planning.
Hi Stephen – thanks for your comment, I know exactly where you are coming from. The cost of entry for QlikView is now too high for most customers, but Sense is an excellent alternative. Whilst much is made of the functionality that QlikView has that Sense doesn’t there is still a lot there to like. The data load script and associative engine is identical between the products, and this is where the power of Qlik products lie. Many of the front end features of Sense were created as a direct response to the threat of Tableau – and supersede them in many cases.
The cost of entry for Qlik Sense is free (for the Desktop edition) so I would strongly recommend getting a copy and giving it a try.
I did my first Seeing Is Beliving workshop last week with Qlik Sense, and i have to say that i am shocked about the lack of functionality in Qlik Sense.
I never had to say “not possible” to a customer this often in a workshop before.
Yeah, sure i know there are extensions and so on, but what’s the point in buying a software when I have to put a lot of effort in it by programming extensions to recreate basic features.
There is not even a descent option to print anything out of Sense….
Retireing the SBE does so many harm, especially in the segmant of small and medium businesses my company works with. Makes it almost impossible to sell the solution. Especially Sales reps and other users don’t need the functionality of creating own Dashboards and so on. They need predefined views, someone prepares for them, and the ability to make some filters. But now this kind of users is to be forced to rely on Qlik Sense for a much higher price for functions they don’t need…
I am really curiuos about how sales figures will develop for Qlik without the SBE….
Also what really annoys me about sense, that there is no roadmap on future releases and what these releases will contain. So it is hoping that features will come back ….
I have been a QlikView fan from the start, when i first saw it (did my first Project in 2008).
But to be honest, they are on the way of loosing me. Also, I am very upset, that my knowledge i build up in the last years now is not even worth anything anymore…..
Thank you for your comments. They echo what I hear a lot, and I certainly sympathise with you. One of my clients have imposed a ban on me saying “well, I could if I was using QlikView” when building apps for them.
The flip side though is that the more I work with Sense the more I like it. Some important features are creeping in (alternate dimensions and expressions being fixed in 3.1). The cost of entry needn’t be an issue either, Desktop and Server are free (though the latter doesn’t work without tokens).
I’m surprised there hasn’t been a U Turn on SBS, but we are where we are…
Good news everyone!
It’s back!
It certainly doesn’t seem to be back in the UK yet. I have heard of some good deals on Enterprise server to be had, but always at the discretion of Qlik so even as a partner we can not be sure what deal we will be able to strike on behalf of a client. Frustrating – but at least Sense is getting better and better by the version.
This is on the Partner Portal…
“Based on partner feedback, as of Jan. 1, 2017 QlikView SBE Server was added back to the pricelist and is available for partners to quote and fulfil.”
Thanks for the update Colin, yes, we have also been notified that we can sell it again and it is on the UK pricelist. It seems that other regions may have heard a little sooner than us. I’m so pleased that Qlik listened to reason on this one. We really want to get more people using Sense, but there is a massive user base for QlikView, some of whom move from company to company, and want to implement the tool they had before at their new company. Not being able to sell them an entry level QlikView server was ludicrous.