Driving AI-Powered Analytics with Mike Potter of Qlik

In this interview at Tech Field Day during Qlik Connect 2025, Stephen Foskett interviews Mike Potter, Chief Technology Officer at Qlik, discussing the company’s latest advancements in integrating AI into its analytics platform. Potter emphasizes that Qlik’s vision is to manage the entire data lifecycle—from ingestion and transformation to analytics and actionable insights. Qlik’s introduction of the new agentic framework and enhancements such as intelligent data cataloging and business glossary automation are designed to help users turn complex, unstructured data into structured insights. The goal is to shift the focus from technical hurdles to business value by automating routine tasks and creating a more governed and scalable data environment.

A major challenge Potter highlights is that while organizations often have the intelligence they need, they struggle with executing on that information in real-time and at scale. He explains how Qlik’s AI-driven tools—such as Qlik Answers, which allows users to query data in natural language—are democratizing access to analytics. By equipping non-technical users with capabilities traditionally limited to data specialists, Qlik transforms decision-making across entire enterprises. These tools not only facilitate quicker insights but also align with enterprise needs for reliable, referential data by blending deterministic analytics with generative AI to strengthen context and relevance.

Potter also reframes the ongoing debate about cloud adoption, pointing out that most organizations are no longer deciding if they will move to the cloud—but rather how fast they can get there without sacrificing their existing investments. Qlik’s partnership-driven ecosystem, support for open standards like Apache Iceberg, and recent acquisitions further enable seamless cloud migration and integration with both cloud-native and legacy systems. With flexible architecture and strategic alliances with providers like AWS, Qlik ensures customers can innovate on their terms while maintaining agility and enterprise-grade governance.