Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

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.

Human Resources is rich in data but often struggles to make it accessible and actionable. As a profession we also live in the ‘grey’ – of course recognizing that People are by very definition different, unique and often require individual approach.

When recognition comes directly from customers, it feels different. I am very proud that Qlik has been named a Customers’ Choice in the 2025 Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms. This is the second year in a row that Qlik has received this distinction. It is based entirely on feedback and reviews from verified users of Qlik solutions around the world.

Gartner has once again named Qlik a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools, a position we have held for a decade. In that time, the landscape around data integration has shifted. Hyperscalers are moving up, large vendors are tightening their stacks, and acquisitions are reshaping customer choice. For CIOs and CDOs, that consolidation changes the question. It is less about who sits where in the quadrant, and more about how much control you still have over your own data and AI strategy.

When I talk to customers about privacy and their data, the topic is data sovereignty. More and more organisations want their data to stay in a specific jurisdiction, with no transfer to, or access from, another region. A few years ago, this was something for lawyers and compliance teams to worry about. Now it is a regular item on the C-suite agenda because it touches cloud strategy, innovation projects, and how you run the business day to day.

As the lead sustainability officer at Qlik, I've had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the collaborative spirit and escalating urgency driving climate action today. Events like Climate Week NYC, the C40 World Mayors Summit, and COP30, highlight a clear reality: commitments are essential, but implementation and accountability matter more — within private and public sectors alike. And at the heart of this transition lies a powerful trio: data, collaboration, and AI.