Elif

Associate Vice President of Qlik Research

Elif runs the Qlik Research team in R&D, a committed group of engineers and scientists who have an exciting mandate: bringing an open and unconstrained approach to research at Qlik. She works remotely from Madison, Wisconsin, connecting a global research team...

What were your perceptions of Qlik before you joined – and did we live up to them?

"I was interested in Qlik’s product. It’s unique technology that really enables users to solve challenges and business problems with data and analytics. The idea of innovating and pushing the boundaries to make the world more data literate really appealed to me. The reality actually surpassed the expectations!"

Tell us about your journey so far?

"I joined the team as a Technical Advisor, and my roles so far include Technical Product Marketing Manager, Product Manager for Analytics Scenarios, Senior Product Designer and now I’m Director of Qlik Research. It’s amazing how far you can go and grow. Whether you’re into Big Data, AI, machine learning, if there are conferences or training on the latest thinking, it’s always worth asking for support to develop your skills and knowledge."

So what are you working on at the moment?

"The R&D team works with the latest technologies to generate new ideas and incubate new innovative analytics solutions for our users. Selected ideas move into technical and business feasibility where we prototype the ideas to see potential. Then we’ll work with select customers and stakeholders – like product managers, product designers and architects – to prove and develop ideas.

We work agile, move and fail fast, learn and iterate. It's about connecting ideas, showing their potential, and exploring the use of emerging analytics technologies. And having fun. We definitely have a lot of fun along the way."

What’s the most remarkable thing you have worked on directly?

"Qlik has so many talented and brilliant engineers with awesome ideas. In my current role, I have the chance to see the ideas sparkling across the R&D organization and assist the teams to make ideas a reality.

I love to see the team innovate new features for our users, like Associative Big Data Indexing, which identifies the relationships across the data sources so our users can discover their most powerful connections. Another project was Qlik Cognitive Engine. This is Qlik's AI framework, which works with the associative engine. The technology augments the users with the use of algorithms and assist them finding insights in the data."

Where do you see yourself in a few years time?

"Running the Qlik Research team with the aim of becoming known as the most innovative data technology labs in the market. As a business, I hope we’ll be the #1 data analytics platform for enterprises and the analytics tool that will enable data literacy for everyone. It’s an exciting future, for sure."

If someone was thinking about joining the team, what would you say to them?

"If you want to change the world with data analytics and innovate technology with the power to make every human data literate, Qlik is the place to be!"