Looker Guide for Beginners

In today’s business landscape, where data is at the core of decision-making, tools like Looker play an essential role. Looker allows companies to dive deep into their data, generating insights through explores and dashboards. This guide introduces Looker’s data visualization features and explains why they are so vital in an analytics-driven world.

What is Looker?

A dashboard/view within the Looker platform.

Looker was created to help companies leverage the power of data, making it accessible and actionable. With Looker, you can create and explore customizable data models using the platform’s own modeling language, called LookML.

Once the data models are set up, you can create:

• Visualizations
• Dashboards
• Reports

Everything you need to represent data and generate strategic insights. Looker easily integrates with various database systems and can fetch real-time information for analysis.

Google Acquisition

In 2019, Google Cloud announced its intent to acquire Looker for $2.6 billion. The acquisition was part of Google’s strategy to strengthen its cloud, data, and analytics capabilities.

By integrating Looker into the Google Cloud ecosystem, the goal was to offer even more powerful Business Intelligence and data analytics tools. The acquisition was completed in early 2020, officially making Looker part of the Google Cloud portfolio.

This integration reinforces:

• The importance of data analytics in today’s landscape;
• Google’s commitment to advanced analytics solutions;
• And the tremendous potential of the tool.

How Looker Helps Companies Become Data-Driven

If you are considering using Looker, you are on the right track. Here are some of the platform’s key differentiators:

A Single Source of Truth for All Your Data

With Looker, your data is centralized. No more switching between different tools only to find inconsistent numbers.

Always Up-to-Date Data

Since Looker connects directly to your databases, information is always updated in real time.

Some examples of integrations include:

• BigQuery
• Amazon Redshift
• Snowflake
• PostgreSQL
• Teradata
• Athena

Your Data, Your Way with LookML

LookML allows you to build customized data models. It is like creating a tailor-made framework for your business.

Interactive Dashboards

Dashboards allow for dynamic data exploration:

• Drill-down
• Filters
• Deep dives
• Contextual navigation

Integrations with Various Tools

Looker easily integrates with:

• Slack
• Google Sheets
• Twilio
• Salesforce
• Dropbox
• Tableau
• Jira

And many other solutions.

Grows with Your Business

Looker was developed as a cloud-native solution. This means easy scalability as:

• Data volume increases;
• The number of users grows;
• Or new analytical demands arise.

Smart Insight Sharing

Found a Key Insight?
You can share dashboards with your team using:

• Specific permissions
• Automated scheduling
• Recurring report delivery

Analytics anywhere

Embedded Analytics and Integrations Looker can be integrated directly into other applications. This allows you to:

• Embed dashboards via iFrame;
• Use RESTful APIs;
• Build custom analytics applications;
• Automate workflows.

Additionally, the Looker Marketplace offers out-of-the-box integrations and a variety of SDKs.

Security First

Looker utilizes:

• encryption in transit and at rest;
• advanced access controls;
• security audits;
• compliance certifications.

In a world where data is extremely valuable, Looker functions as a highly secure digital vault.

Are Looker e Looker Studio the same thing?

Despite the similar names, they are different tools within the Google Cloud ecosystem.

Looker

Looker is a complete Business Intelligence platform. It offers:

• advanced data modeling;
• deep exploration;
• complex queries;
• robust dashboards;
• detailed analytics.

It is ideal for:

• analysts;

• BI teams;

• companies seeking advanced analytics.

Looker Studio

Looker Studio is the evolution of Google Data Studio. Its focus is on the rapid creation of:

• reports;
• dashboards;
• visualizations.

It features a simple interface with drag-and-drop capabilities. It is ideal for users who want to create visual reports without getting into complex modeling.

Key Differences Between Looker and Looker Studio

Although both are part of the Google Cloud ecosystem and contribute to Business Intelligence strategies, they serve different needs.

• Looker → ideal for deep analytics and advanced modeling.
• Looker Studio → ideal for quick reports and simple visualizations.

This division allows companies to choose the most suitable solution according to their analytical maturity and business objectives.

Want to become a data-driven company with Looker?

Looker has massive potential to transform how companies utilize data.

At Cluster, we help organizations extract the most value from the platform:

• data modeling;
• dashboards;
• UX for analytics;
• customized visualizations;
• data-driven strategies.

With the right approach, any company can transform data into valuable insights.

Let’s talk?