Google Cloud has unified all its business intelligence (BI) products under a single banner: Looker.
Founded in 2011 as an independent company, Looker is a leading BI platform that Google Cloud acquired in 2020 for an eye-watering $2.6 billion.
Ever since Google has invested heavily in integrating Looker with other capabilities in its cloud stack. Now, it is ready to connect all Google Cloud solutions and front up its data and analytics strategy.
Speaking at Google Next, Kate Wright, Product & Engineering Exec, BI & Analytics at Google, said:
Looker has a genuinely unique opportunity to borrow and leverage data from hundreds of Google’s best-in-class products… and this is only the beginning.
In line with this, the following visual highlights all the Google entities with which Looker has become – or started to become – integrated.
[caption id="attachment_46293" align="alignnone" width="560"]
This image was shared at Google Next and shows all the possible integrations for Looker[/caption]
As such, Looker has become a central cog in Google's aim to “organize the world’s information and make it useful.” This is its vision for the new era of business intelligence.
In doing so, Looker has swallowed up Google Data Studio. Yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
What Did Google Announce?
Alongside a new vision for Looker as a central hub for its data and analytics offerings, Google announced additional capabilities for its newly named Looker Studio.
These include the ability to blend ad hoc data sources and Looker data within a modeling layer – bringing new insights to the fore.
For larger enterprises, Google also launched Looker Studio Pro, which includes new collaboration and enterprise management features. As such, Google streamlines data sharing and facilitates more self-service BI workflows.
Moreover, Google plans to integrate Looker Studio Pro with Dataplex - its “intelligent data fabric” – to surface more metadata and add context to business insights.
Yet, perhaps most eye-catching announcement is the launch of “Looker (Google Cloud core)”.
Not only is it eye-catching because of its – to be frank - strange name, but it is built entirely on Google Cloud infrastructure. As such, it is available as a Google Cloud service, which users can harness on the Cloud Console.
As a result, it deeply integrates with Google’s acclaimed security and management services.
Google also announced plans to develop new visualization tools for Looker Studio – supposedly similar to those that market leaders Microsoft and Salesforce offer.
