Qlik Connect 2025: What Writeback, Agentic AI & the Open Lakehouse Mean for Real-World Business Applications
- sebastiannaedtke5
- Jun 10
- 3 min read
— by Sebastian Nädtke
Qlik Connect 2025 delivered more than just announcements. It confirmed what many of us already see in our daily work: Business intelligence is transforming – into business applications.
Here are my three key takeaways, and what they mean for your daily operations, your architecture, and your strategic roadmap:
1. Agentic Experience & Qlik Predict:
From Reporting Tool to Active Business Partner
What was announced?
Qlik introduced its new Agentic Experience: AI agents that take active roles across the data value chain – from raw data to insights and even decision-making. It also upgraded Qlik Predict (formerly AutoML) with new features for time series forecasting.
What does it mean for your business?
BI is no longer just about showing numbers. With these tools, Qlik becomes a thinking partner – integrating data pipelines, metadata, automation, and predictive insights into one coordinated digital copilot.
Instead of “I’m looking for X,” users will soon say:“Compare sales and gross margins for our top three products in DACH, Benelux, and the Nordics – including active projects and external market trends.”
And the agent will deliver. Fast, transparent, contextual.
Our take:
Start experimenting – working PoCs can be built in 5–10 days.
Use unstructured data to design smarter processes – like for quotes, RFPs, or investment cases.
Today’s Qlik Apps can already provide suggestions, predictions, and even embedded guidance.
In real-world planning scenarios, we’ve already combined Qlik Predict and Qlik Answers to enable AI-driven forecasting and contextual Q&A — directly in financial workflows.
2. Writeback is Official – Native "Write Table" Announced
What was announced?
Writeback is now a core platform feature in both Qlik and Microsoft:
Microsoft: Native writeback for Power BI
Qlik: New “Write Table” object in Qlik Cloud
This is a game changer: Writeback is no longer an add-on or workaround – it's part of the official roadmap. Business users can contribute data, not just consume it – across CRM, planning, master data, shopfloor, and more.
What can the Qlik Write Table do (so far)?
Inline editing of numbers, text, and dropdowns
Real-time collaboration with row-level locking
Cloud-only (Qlik-managed MongoDB, 90-day storage limit)
API-only access to writeback data
Target release: Late 2025
But… no complex logic, no dependent fields, no validations.
That’s where Data+ comes in.
When you need:
Forms, tables, flows, Gantt charts
Validations, dependencies, branching logic
Role-based security and workflows
Full API access, versioning, audit trails, and more
Data+ is your upgrade path.
Customers are using the Data+ Suite to turn Qlik into a true business application platform — often replacing legacy tools and saving costs.
3. Qlik Open Lakehouse – A Future-Proof Architecture
What was announced?
Qlik Open Lakehouse (launching July 2025) is a new architecture built on Apache Iceberg. It combines real-time ingestion, open standards, and scalable storage — and integrates tightly into Qlik’s Talend Cloud.
Why it matters:
You no longer have to choose between fast & expensive or cheap & slow. You get both: agility, performance, and openness.
The Qlik Open Lakehouse offers the best of both worlds:– The flexibility of QVDs– The scalability and interoperability of modern data lakes
Real-life examples:
Customers are migrating from QVD to Parquet as a first step
Workflows remain inside Qlik while enabling future-proof data staging for Python, Spark, and more
Our advice:
Review your DWH architecture – where does it block innovation?
Start with Parquet – better scalability, Iceberg-ready
Use Qlik Talend Cloud to build near-real-time pipelines
Embrace experimentation – fail fast, learn faster
Bottom line: Qlik isn’t just a BI tool anymore
Qlik Connect 2025 showed us what’s next:
Agentic AI brings context and intelligence
Native Writeback turns dashboards into apps
Open Lakehouse builds the future-proof data backbone
At Leitart, we help organizations turn Qlik into the center of their business processes – with planning, collaboration, and custom apps that scale.
Let’s talk if you’re ready to take the next step.