Over the years, Huge TNS had acquired numerous additional licences in an effort to expand the product’s reach across the organisation. The pinnacle of this expansion occurred during a country-wide project to change its technology supplier. To do this required the coordination of hardware changes at around 16 000 client sites.
To implement this massive change, all departments relied on QlikView’s capabilities to visualise complex data sets in order to understand the complexities of the operation and coordinate activities. With QlikView’s assistance, the project was completed in only three months.
However, once the project was completed, there was less need for widespread use of the software, and only key staff and management remained as regular users.
“We realised that there was a disconnect between the active users and the cost of all the acquired licences,” explains Johnson.
The Solution:
Deployment time:
It’s important to note that this was not simply a push of a button, or a “lift and shift” exercise but rather a combined effort between Huge TNS and its selected BI partner, iOCO.
Result:
Access to the latest version of the software at all times while reducing operational costs.
Operational Benefit:
Greater scalability of solution as and when required.
Cost of Ownership:
Immediate reduction in indirect costs (setting up and maintaining infrastructure and managing software updates).
Why it was chosen:
To reduce fixed licence and infrastructure cost and enable scalability when required for large projects.
What was chosen:
Qlik Sense Software-As-a-Service(SaaS)
With the assistance of iOCO, activating the cloud tenant was quick, literally taking minutes. Some configurations still had to be set up, including security, roles and how entitlements(licenses) were distributed.
“In the initial configuration, I was provided with options on how we would like to access our data. This was done from a Management Console which does indicate that from a Software as a Service perspective there is still a management component that you as a customer control,” says Johnson.
He points out that when looking at SaaS solutions, it is necessary first to review one’s own data strategy. Important issues to resolve would include: How should people consume, access and move data? Will the data reside on premise, or will we allow it to move into our cloud tenant?
“Fortunately, Qlik provided alternatives that allowed us to test and implement the various options,” he says.
When it comes to calculating the total cost of ownership, Johnson says it is crucial to factor in indirect spend plus a focus on infrastructure costs. Huge TNS was quite surprised when the TCO of the old on-premise environment was compared to the Cloud SaaS solution. The cost and headache of managing an infrastructure that included a data centre, multiple servers and so on, and the ongoing software updates, is eliminated. In addition, Huge TNS now has access to the latest version releases and their new capabilities and functionalities—with no downtime or weekends spent implementing upgrades.
“One can see an immediate saving on indirect costs, but in addition we now have access to functionality that was previously an add-on cost,” says Johnson.
The Business Benefits:
QlikView had already become an essential tool for analysing data to derive business insights, but moving to Qlik Sense SaaS meant that the company can benefit from the latest improvements as they are launched. This, in turn, will drive the use of data to support decision-making across the organisation, while the SaaS model makes it easy to accommodate additional users as required.
The SaaS model makes it easier to manage costs and shifts expenses from the capital balance sheet to the operational one.
For Huge TNS, the imperative was to reduce its ongoing licence costs while retaining its intellectual property, logic, and reporting within the Qlik. Johnson and his team took the problem to iOCO Data Analytics Solutions, a Qlik Elite Partner in Africa and Huge TNS’ long-standing partner.
After discussing the options, Huge TNS elected to move to Qlik Sense, which offers a cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Because it is cloud-based, Qlik Sense SaaS offers maximum flexibility and scalability when it comes to storing, transforming, and analysing corporate data. In particular, SaaS would allow Huge TNS to scale up use of the technology for future big projects without having to purchase new licences.
A major advantage for Huge TNS was that while the new solution meant it was accessing the latest version of Qlik at all times, the back-end logic and overall user interface remained familiar.
Johnson says that access to the latest version of Qlik in the cloud environment has solved many of the issues the company had previously experienced using a less-current version on premise. His overall conclusion is that while the shift to the SaaS model was not without its challenges, the benefits continue to be substantial. In particular, the recent introduction of Tabular Reporting has made standard reporting much easier and fulfils a requirement for those employees who need to generate simple reports without analysis.
Conclusion:
Huge TNS now has a convenient and cost-effective way to consolidate, store and analyse its growing body of customer and operational data, and to make insights visible and easily actionable by managers. By moving to Qlik Sense SaaS, it is able to manage the ongoing costs of what has become an essential software programme, while ensuring it can scale up users when a large project requires it.
Going forward, Huge TNS envisages that, thanks to the adoption of the SaaS model with its innate flexibility, Qlik will grow in importance to the company. Because it will now have automatic access to the latest versions of the software, and as more intelligent data models and applications are launched, it will become progressively useful to a wider spectrum of users across a range of device types.
About iOCO Data Analytics:
iOCO Data Analytics Solutions is a Qlik Elite Partner in South Africa and Africa, and winner of the “Best Performing Qlik Partner of the Year 2021” award for the region. It is a division of iOCO Qlik, which provides an end-to-end, real-time data integration and analytics cloud platform to close the gaps between data, insights, and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik does business in more than 100 countries and serves over 50,000 customers around the world.
ABOUT iOCO:
iOCO is the core technology company within the EOH Group and is one of the largest end-to-end technology solutions providers in Africa. We have a compelling record of successful delivery of Information (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) services to customers across diverse industries.
The ability to scale, solve business problems through technology execution and provide leading solutions spanning IT and OT domains, are all market differentiators for iOCO.
We specialise in the design and management of IT operations, workspaces, and services, plus hybrid technology infrastructure. iOCO collaborates with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers to enable delivery of world leading technology solutions to African markets.
We offer comprehensive IT services that encompass transformation, modernisation, and the security of digital platforms and ecosystems. Additionally, our digital
enablement solutions are delivered via multi-disciplinary teams with expertise in software development, data analytics, intelligent automation, cloud services, security, testing, quality assurance, and proprietary applications.
In the OT arena iOCO transforms, modernises, and secures platforms and ecosystems for industrial enterprises, mining groups, and cities. Our range of technology services enable CIOs and chief engineers to make informed decisions, leveraging data for enhanced operational efficiency.
Our ethos centres on solving challenges for customers and adding value to the greater community. We provide thought leadership on emerging technologies and support entrepreneurs across Africa with start-up services. Holding the leading market position in South Africa, iOCO is also expanding globally by offering digital enablement solutions across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
