The Data Warehouse is conceptually divided into one ETL backend, and frontend viewers. One of those viewers are Qlikview. We run Qlikview as web apps. The Qlikview web environment is device sensitive or adoptable, which means that you can run QV apps on a 27 inch hi resolution screen or a smartphone, you just need a web browser. Of course the user experience is much better on a 27 inch screen, but Qlikview does a good job of right scaling the app. We had the infrastructure for mobile BI in place for years but little or no interest from the users. But this is changing, lately mobile BI has got a lot of traction in the company.
How useful a BI app in a smartphone is remains to be seen. I feel it is more a gimmick than serving a useful purpose, the screen is too small. But for a dexterous person with small hands it might come handy on the road. My prediction is most likely wrong, in just a few years we all will run a lot of apps in our smartphones actually I’m doing it already. One thing that surprises me is how performant the Qlikview apps are in my smartphone, with 4G I have really good response times.
Security is a big concern for mobile BI.
As you can see below I pixelated parts of a smartphone BI screenshot, BI information is trade secrets, I have chosen a ‘harmless’ app, but I hide some of the information just to be on the safe side. BI is to analyse and compare the business, going outside of the firewall with this kind of information is not without risks. Curious guys are on the net fishing for information. National organisations like NSA, Unit 61398 or FRA, all such organisations are probably involved in industrial espionage to some extent, not to mention competitors and criminal organisations. You should protect BI information as the confidential business assets they are. Going mobile is a risk, and you should be aware of that.
A Qlikview small device screenshot:
Mobile BI - in action on my Samsung Galaxy S4
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