Item: Looker
Rating: 10
Author: Henri Allik

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Every team in TransferWise is using Looker which means that more than half the company is using it regularly. Our teams are formed to be independent and there is no central BI team to support them with analytics and this is why we use Looker. It helps us to dig into data and draw conclusions based on data real-time. Teams use it to monitor their key performing indicators and build dashboards to present data. Some teams also use Looker for operational work.

Pros and Cons

Build it once - The reason why we have so many Looker users in TransferWise is because it is easy and fast to use. If tables have imported and modeled then everyone can quickly pick the fields and run they query.
Simple - average users don't need to know SQL or have technical skills to use Looker.
Automated reporting - Looker allows you to schedule emails for daily/weekly/monthly reports or send alerts if there are anomalies in data.

Missing some more advanced visualization options, for example Trellis Line Graph

Alternatives Considered

Tableau Desktop and Microsoft BI

Looker is relatively reasonably priced.
No setup for end-user.

Data Integration

In Looker it is relatively easy to connect to different databases, from our experience there has been no extra hassle. Looker seems to support all major SQL dialects. Maybe the only thing that is missing is to get data from alternative sources, such as Google Sheets or CSV/Excel.

Collaboration and Sharing

It is really easy to share Looks(single query/visualization) and Dashboards built in Looker. It is possible to this via URL so you don't even need to save them or send the results directly to someone via email. Looker also has a Slackbot, but unfortunately have not used it yet. Looker also supports embedding you Looks and Dashboards.

Likelihood to Recommend

Looker can be used for almost everything, but the solution might not be the most straightforward in more technical cases. With the latest upgrade to Looker 5 it is super simple and fast to build dashboards. Looker is great for automated reporting using scheduling feature. Looker is not so great for ad-hoc complex queries as you would need to build it in LookML first - however, this can be now solved using SQL runner built-in Looker and create temporary Explores

Looker supports data self-serve - everyone can use it!

Overall Satisfaction with Looker