Local QlikView partner Decision Inc. has enabled steel, tube and pipe manufacturer and solutions provider, Robor, to consolidate its reporting and improve its analytical capabilities to gain insight into key business areas across its business units.

“The main issue we had was the huge library of reporting that was built up in the group. This resulted in us having dozens of reports on similar things and no efficient way to link them and see exactly how the business was performing,” says Stuart Neethling, CIO of Robor.

He says the existing systems of the company were costly to maintain from a support perspective. Additionally, inconsistencies across the business units meant the company could not get a detailed view on the quality of its data, especially on a group-wide basis.

“I noticed the QlikView business discovery platform while attending a conference in Cape Town. BusinessIntelligent (now Decision Inc.) came highly recommended from a multinational food and beverage organisation so we started discussions with the company on a solution,” says Neethling.

Robor was used to static reporting and was looking for a better way for users to engage with their information. The Decision Inc. team provided insight on the type of data required and how the information needed to be presented in order to drive better decision making within the business. A focus on the quality of the master data as well as transactional data from the ERP enhanced the success of the solution delivered to the business.

“Initially, it was a bit of a stop-start process due to the data issues we had from our side. But as soon as we got our master data into shape, the project really progressed smoothly,” says Neethling.

“Data quality is something that many companies take at face value until such time they need to extract value out of it. Given the high speed at which business operates today, the risk is such that one could lose focus because there is no clear view on what is happening inside the business. The Decision Inc. and Robor teams collaborated effectively to address these issues and ensure the implementation was a success,” says Nick Bell, CEO of Decision Inc.

Neethling agrees.

“Using QlikView, Robor is now able to pick up any problems in its data and address them more effectively than before. The system enables us to view trends in the market and help us analyse what Robor needs to do as a business to be more competitive in the market.”
According to Neethling, management reports that used to take a few days to prepare can now be generated within minutes, delivering a 200% improvement in the cost of reporting to the business. Robor employees are also realising the power of using the data more effectively. He says that staff can work more dynamically in terms of integrating information from different divisions.

“The importance of quality data is critical to any organization that is looking to use information as a competitive advantage. The QlikView solution Decision Inc. has built for Robor not only assists them in identifying challenges within their data, but has provided them with a significant advantage by driving greater efficiencies within the business,” concludes Bell.