Insights

As a learning organisation, element61 stimulates its consultants to further build on their already vast experiences through investments in a personal development plan and a company-wide content development initiative. Through formal training, presence at industry events, networking, recommended reading and internet based information exchange, our consultants further dive into specialized topics of their own interest.

These result in what we call "Insights", own produced research content, often complemented by personal experiences and opinions. Below you can find our currently published list of Insights.

Term without link

Off

SAP is closing the ODP door. Qlik Talend Cloud has already built another way in.

Since 9 June 2026, SAP technically blocks all third-party access to ODP-RFC. A policy documented since 2017 is now enforced. We explain who is affected, what the December 2026 deadline means, and which four migration paths are ready within the Qlik portfolio.

Stan Decoene

Jeudi, 3 septembre 2026

Why AI is raising the bar for your Data Platform

Conversational BI has huge potential for organizations to make data more broadly accessible & shared. But giving AI tools like Copilot, Claude, or Genie access to all your data is not enough & Anthropic just proved it on their own data. In this opinionated article, we share what they have learned & how we feel it teaches us something about how organisations should invest in Data & AI.

Bart Van Der Vurst

Bart Van Der Vurst

Jeudi, 27 août 2026

Microsoft Foundry Agent Service and Agent Framework: a comparison

Microsoft Foundry Agent Service and Microsoft Agent Framework are complementary, not competing. Agent Framework is the open .NET and Python developer framework for building agents and multi-agent workflows in code — the design and orchestration layer. Foundry Agent Service is the managed runtime and control plane that runs, secures, observes, and publishes those agents inside Microsoft Foundry.

Luis Valencia

Mardi, 7 juillet 2026

Should you adopt Genie One? Why the answer lies in your Data Foundation

Discover how Databricks Genie One brings conversational BI, dashboards, documents, and data assets together in a single experience. Learn why successful adoption depends not only on AI capabilities, but on a strong, governed data foundation.

Artur Tyvaert

Mercredi, 1 juillet 2026

Databricks Genie ZeroOps & Ralph 24/7: Your Data Platform's Guardians

Databricks Genie ZeroOps introduces autonomous monitoring, root cause analysis and safe remediation for Databricks workloads, helping data teams spend less time firefighting. Discover how element61's Ralph 24/7 extends this vision across the entire Azure data ecosystem for end-to-end operational peace of mind.

Pieter Van Daele

Pieter Van Daele

Mercredi, 1 juillet 2026

Here’s why Capacity-Based Licensing might be right for you

Qlik Cloud offers two licensing models: user-based licensing for organizations with stable, predictable user access, and capacity-based licensing, Qlik’s strategic model for all new subscriptions since March 2025. This article explains the key differences, benefits, and migration considerations, while sharing practical capacity optimization strategies to help organizations control costs, scale analytics efficiently, and maximize the value of their Qlik Cloud investment.

Gregory Petit

Mercredi, 1 juillet 2026

Databricks is building the Enterprise App & Agent Platform

Opinion insight on the new announcements on the Databricks Data + AI Summit 2026, written as we attend the event in San Francisco, with an honest and open view as experienced and reflected by our element61 consultants present.

Mercredi, 17 juin 2026

Introducing User-Aware Calculated Columns in Power BI

This article explores how the new Expression Context property transforms calculated columns into dynamic, personalized, and memory-efficient building blocks in Power BI semantic models.

Philippine Misson

Philippine Misson

Vendredi, 12 juin 2026

Fabric just became an application platform: what Fabric Apps mean for you

Fabric is evolving into a full application platform, enabling you to build apps directly on top of your data. With Fabric Apps, you can combine analytics and operational workflows, including real-time write-back. Use Power BI for standard reporting, and Fabric Apps for more advanced, flexible or operational use cases.

David Kaminski

Jeudi, 11 juin 2026

Fivetran + dbt Labs: Why this merger matters for your modern data platform

The merger of Fivetran and dbt Labs brings together automated data ingestion and governed data transformation into one stronger foundation for modern data platforms. For customers, this means a smoother path from raw data to trusted, reusable data products. Ultimately, it helps reduce manual effort while improving data quality, governance, and readiness for analytics and AI.

Vladyslav Ishchenko

Vladyslav Ishchenko

Lundi, 8 juin 2026