In today’s data-driven world, seamless data integration is crucial to ensuring the smooth operation of modern systems. With the growing complexity of distributed data platforms, businesses and developers are seeking efficient ways to move, process, and transform data. Apache Kafka has become the de facto standard for real-time data streaming, and Kafka Connect plays a key role in facilitating the integration of Kafka with various data sources and sinks.

Somehow, another year has passed and we’re back again to deliver our Trends Outlook for 2026. As Qlik’s first milestone of the year, it’s a busy but exciting time that hugely energizes me after the holiday break. We weren’t short of inspiration. The world has given us a far from a blank canvas on which to illustrate our Trends and in particular, conversations around AI have firmly evolved from future-gazing to wrestling with the formula for harnessing its power.

When you look at the pace of change in industrial AI, one truth stands out: no single company can do it alone. The complexity of power grids, transportation networks, and manufacturing systems demands collaboration — and that’s exactly what analysts are watching closely.

A new CLI command that scaffolds AI-ready Connector SDK projects in seconds.

How AI pair programming changes the way developers design, build, and ship data connectors.

The new fully managed remote BigQuery MCP server makes it easier to build intelligent data AI agents.

For many finance leaders, 2025 was a year of upheaval, chaos, and uncertainty. Between supply chain disruptions, tariffs, interest rates, and other challenges, plenty of leaders spent their time just keeping the team afloat. As 2026 begins, it’s time to shift to a better perspective. With the right tools and attitude, finance professionals can set and meet goals that are more than just keeping your head above water.

Why the catalog matters, how to configure it with popular query engines, and the essential best practices every data engineer should follow.