What Is Looker? Everything You Need To Know

April 16th, 2024
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This guide- what is looker- is all about Looker, including features, looker studio, etc.

What Is Looker

Data analysis of business information must be done on time and by leveraging the right means. Appropriate business intelligence tools must be implemented to help decision makers be certain of the steps they are taking. This is where businesses get inclined towards using Looker- a leading BI tool for companies of all sizes and nature.

This blog will pave a roadmap for you to understand what is Looker', its features and why businesses use it. Here is an introduction to Looker that gives you a crisp start.

Introduction to Looker

This is a world where every decision needs to be taken rapidly, the data must always be acted upon when fresh and apt tools should be implemented. Each of these pointers are rendered doable with an BI tool like Looker.

This tool is on its toes when it comes to creation of reports before the data becomes obsolete. It does this by offering a flexible data platform, which facilitates various teams throughout the business working to visualize data and even collaborate on insights.

One of the biggest reasons why this tool is a favorite amongst businesses is because it enables various developers to work on a model simultaneously. Before we move to more reasons for its popularity among organizations, here is an introduction to what it is and what are its features.

Explore igmGuru's Looker training program to acquire most promising skills.

What Is Looker?

So, what is Looker? A cloud-based BI tool, Looker is one of Google Cloud Platform's greatest offerings. It aids developers in exploring, sharing and visualizing data to induce better business decisions. Anyone in the business can analyze data sets quickly and gain insights. This easy-to-build data exploration platform makes the data available to the entire organization in an intuitive and meaningful manner.

What Is Looker Studio?

The most straightforward explanation to Looker Studio is that it is simply a dashboarding tool. That's it! 

While Looker can also do dashboards, it is not its key area of strength. But in the case of Looker Studio, its entire existence revolves around dashboarding. Formerly known as Google Data Studio, Looker Studio is a mesmerizing tool. It has the potential to be connected with 800+ data sources and pull in the desired information.

Once collected, the data can easily be transformed into interactive graphs and charts for reports and dashboards. For Looker Studio, no coding modeling language is required. This makes it highly convenient and doable for general users to handle data.

Features of Looker

Looker is a tool that is full of amazing features and some of those are-

1. User-friendly Interface

Looker offers intuitive data exploration capabilities with functionalities like drag-and-drop. This enables users to perform complex analysis effortlessly.

2. Flexible & Unique Data Modeling Layer 

This layer facilitates enterprises defining their data calculations and relationships. It aids users in creating customized dimensions and metrics to ensure data accuracy and consistency.

3. Integration with GCP (Google Cloud Platform)

With Looker being integrated with the Google Cloud Platform, many advantages are unlocked. This includes data integration capabilities, better governance and security, scalability, collaborative environments, ML and AI learning services and ecosystem integration.

4. Enables collaboration

Different teams are able to communicate and collaborate better with Looker and shared data experiences. It enables creation and sharing of interactive visualizations, dashboards and reports, making cross-functional data exploration possible.

5. Great data security & governance

Data governance is paid high attention to by Looker. Features such as data permissions, auditing capabilities and centralized access control are features that make sure all sensitive data remains secure.

You May Also Read- Looker Tutorial- How To Become A Successful Looker Developer

Why Do Businesses Use Looker?

Now that you know what is Looker, it's time to see why businesses use this tool. Here are some of the key reasons behind Looker's popularity.

  1. Its Architecture

Like other Google tools, Looker is completely cloud-based, saving the client a good amount of money otherwise associated with software installation. Overhead expenses are reduced and the updating process becomes easier by connecting directly to the data warehouse.

  1. API First Methodology

Its API-first methodology ensures all of its aspects are readily and easily accessible programmatically. Clients looking for tailored data experiences benefit the most.

  1. Data Integration & Activation

With an alerting engine, its alerting systems enable users to set personalized thresholds for data metrics. Notifications are sent in case they are reached or breached. This feature allows instant reaction to any changes with real-time monitoring.

  1. Better Collaboration & Security

Looker has a highly granular role management system, which enables in fine-tuning various options around data control and access. Sharing and collaboration is a breeze, while ensuring utmost security.

  1. Modeling Layer

LookML is Looker's modeling layer that transfers database-language into business-language. With software development best practices, it has DRY (don't repeat yourself) principles embedded into its veins.

Wrap-Up

A lot of organizations today are looking for better ways to carry out data analytics. Since the imperativeness around making the most of data is increasingly being realized by organizations, BI tools like Looker are gaining traction.

This blog has not just covered 'what is Looker' but also its business uses and features. Looker Studio has been explained to erase any signs of doubt between the two.

FAQs on What is Looker

Question 1. What is Looker used for?

Looker is a leading power tool for business intelligence that is widely used for analyzing data in real time. Different types of dashboards and reports can be created in Looker.

Question 2. Is Looker easy to learn?

Anyone with an existing skill set and knowledge base in SQL will find it easier to learn Looker. This is because it has its own dependency language, LookML.

Question 3. Is Looker costly?

The standard user license for Looker costs $60 USD per user, per month. It gives access to various features such as drill-to-row-level-detail, dashboard creation, data filtering, view-only access and data downloads, among others.

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