Qlik Acquires Data Manager

Big data vendors seeking to diversify keep getting bigger, the latest example being data analytics vendor Qlik’s acquisition of enterprise data management startup Podium Data.

Qlik, Radnor, PA, said this week the acquisition of Podium Data would accelerate its shift beyond data analytics as it pursues a multi-cloud strategy aimed at helping customers squeeze more value out of data that can then be used across organizations. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“You can’t be a leader in business intelligence and ignore the complexities of data management,” said Qlik CEO Mike Capone. The Podium Data acquisition “furthers our goal of being the partner to handle a customer’s most difficult data challenges, driving both their analytics and data strategy.”

Boston-based Podium Data specializes in converting data lakes into self-service data resources that among other things reduces data preparation time, automates data processes and delivers data faster to business users.

Data preparation is increasingly seen as one way to reduce the amount of bad data that can end up costing companies millions of dollars. According to one estimate, bad data resulting from poor data preparation costs U.S. companies about $3 trillion a year.

Hence, traditional data analytics and business intelligence vendors like Qlik have been snapping up data prep startups in hopes of offering new tools designed to maximize the value of their customers’ data.

Qlik said it is combining is multi-cloud approach with an upcoming “Associative Big Data Index” that together are designed to help users organize and explore ever-larger data sets.

Podium Data’s customers include Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR), health care provider Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI)

and TD Bank (NYSE: TD). The startup specializes in automated sourcing of data along with cataloging, profiling, preparation and data publishing in the cloud or on-premise.

Qlik said Tuesday (July 24) that Podium Data would serve as the foundation of its “data hub” that would extend beyond storage, preparation and metadata repositories to include new capabilities. Among them are an “intelligent data profiling and onboarding” tool for profiling and registering enterprise data.

Another feature of the data hub is an automated data quality capability for improving incoming data through steps like formatting and encryption. Meanwhile, data preparation and publishing features seek to upgrade data without additional programming so it can be readily used by data scientists, analysts and business intelligence users.

Qlik was itself acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo in June 2016.

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