Balkan Services has successfully implemented the Qlik Sense business analytics software at its long-standing client Black Sea Gold AD. The Bulgarian wine, brandy, and brandy producer has been awarded many times over the years, has won numerous Bulgarian and international awards and medals, and celebrates its 90th anniversary at the end of 2022.
The growth of Black Sea Gold's business
Back in 2007-2008, the company reached a stage where the volume of information that needed to be processed grew significantly. This led to delays in timelines, and inaccurate and incomplete information, making the work process more difficult. At that point, Black Sea Gold decided to implement the QlikView Business Intelligence (BI) solution, and our company was selected as the implementation partner.
As a natural extension of its technological development, the company decided to switch to the latest generation of software. In its selection, they again opted for a software solution from Qlik, the long-standing partner of Balkan Services, and recognized as a leader for the 13th consecutive year in Gartner's BI and data analytics rankings.
Following the example of its partners and contractors, Black Sea Gold chose the cloud version (SaaS) of the Qlik Sense BI software over the option of on-premises, client-managed installation.
The company preferred the first option as the best for their business. The advantages of cloud installation are the up-to-date version, accessibility from any location and device with the Internet, minimized costs in terms of hardware, and maximum guaranteed security.
Implementing Qlik Sense software
"Black Sea Gold has two applications. The first application is for sales analysis and the second is for distributor analysis (Sales Out).
The implementation of these two parts of the project took three months. Currently, work is underway to upgrade the business intelligence system.
The timing of the BI system development and implementation is dynamic and coincides with a period when Black Sea Gold is much busier than usual in terms of work. This in turn speeds up the implementation process and leads to a rapid take-up of the system. Proof of this is that just two days after switching to Qlik Sense, all managers in the company with access to the BI system returned feedback that they were working functionally with it and did not need any additional training or features.
Working with the new software
The BI solution is used by all company owners, as well as its managers and executives. Although other software solutions are available in the company, with their ease of use and completeness, Qlik Sense is becoming a staple system for Black Sea Gold.
With it, the company's management and owners can analyze Black Sea Gold's sales better than in the past. They can use the BI software both on a computer and on portable devices such as a smartphone and tablet. Qlik Sense functionality allows them to generate reports themselves.
Security, speed, and flexibility
Most significant for the company are Qlik Sense's sales analysis capabilities.
The cloud-based BI software allows Black Sea Gold's management to look at the same data from multiple perspectives to give it different decision-making options going forward, all in real-time. Qlik Sense saves a lot of time for the company's team. The reports that the management needs are generated in under two minutes, whereas before the software was implemented it took two to three days.
A huge advantage for Black Sea Gold is the accuracy of the data in Qlik Sense. With the BI tool, the company's management can make decisions with peace of mind as they have 100% confidence that there is no distortion or inaccuracy of the information in the system.
The system's business analytics capabilities allow sales to be monitored in real-time.
Project success factors
- The clarity and articulation of the exact needs, of the company.
- The quick response from Balkan Services.
- The cooperativeness of the Black Sea Gold team.
- The methodology Balkan Services uses to manage projects and the role of the project manager.
In conclusion, Balkan Services and Black Sea Gold have a long-standing business partnership, with the relationship between the two companies getting better over the years. Both teams are adamant that working together has been a pleasure because of the professionalism of both parties.
