Qlik Acquires Partner Industrial CodeBox

As more users shift their analytics operations to cloud platforms, larger analytics vendors are eyeing startups providing them with quick access to emerging capabilities that can help plug gaps in their technology portfolios.

The latest example comes from visual analytics vendor Qlik, which announced Monday (May 2) it is acquiring technology partner Industrial CodeBox, developer of a tool used to feed data from cloud sources such a social media into their analytics applications. Orlando-based Qlik (NASDAQ: QLIK) also said the startup’s QVSource tool can integrate software-as-a-service applications along with web-based APIs into it analytics platform.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Industrial CodeBox and Qlik have been partners since 2011. The QVSource tool provides more than 40 connectors to specific applications used with web-based services such as Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). It also connects user to cloud-based applications such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SugarCRM.

Qlik said the acquisition would help boost the return on investment in its visual analytics platform “by enabling customers to quickly setup and include data from cloud-based sources….”

The company noted that customers for its visual analytics platform increasingly require a single means of connecting to cloud-based services such as Google Analytics or Salesforce.com. The interface is designed to make it easier to communicate with a growing number of data sources and online services along with on-premise databases, applications and spreadsheets.

The acquisition of the QVSource tool also is intended to make it easier to feed external and internal data in the Qlik’s visual analytics platform, the company said. The deal underscores the fact that more on-premise operational systems are being replaced by cloud services, especially at the enterprise level. The new connectors dynamically mine social media and cloud-based applications that can be fed automatically into its analytics platform.

The connectors are also touted as allowing customers to automate and schedule the importing of data into the visual analytics platform, a capability designed to improve the consistency of data analysis while providing a real-time analytics capability, the company claimed.

Industrial CodeBox developed their integrations to the Qlik visual analytics platform as a technology partner. It currently has hundreds of Qlik customers using the products. The partners said all released QVSource connectors would continue to be supported.

The U.K.-based developer of desktop and web-based applications has focused primarily on integrating its partners’ QlikView search and analytics functionality into cloud applications via its QVSource API connector.

Prior to this week’s acquisition, the partners’ strategy focused on developing capabilities to combine data residing in disparate locations and then mining that data before feeding it to the Qlik platform. Industrial CodeBox released its latest version of QVSource last week.

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