Overview, focus, and quick action

 

At ALPHA-elektronik in Næstved, which manufactures advanced electronics for the electronics industry in the medical, telecommunications, and alarm sectors, they have been using a Qlik-based BI solution from Capana for the past three years. The company uses the financial system Microsoft Dynamics AX but felt a need for visualization and insights that the system couldn't provide.

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CEO Kim Engmark explains:

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"AX allows us to see some statistics, but not in a form that shows us the real-time situation and provides a quick overview of the state of things. We needed to be able to extract our data into a meaningful visualization, and that simply didn't exist in AX. That's why we chose to implement a BI solution on top of it."

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Proof-of-Concept demonstrated the value of the Qlik system

 

ALPHA-elektronik began exploring the BI market, and to determine if a Qlik-based BI solution would be the right fit for the complex manufacturing company, Capana was invited to conduct a 2-day Proof-of-Concept session at the company.

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During these two days, Capana's BI specialists built a BI solution that included the basic components for the Finance department and part of the Sales solution. The Proof-of-Concept, which took place in early 2015, concluded with a demonstration for the company's decision-makers and an offer for a comprehensive solution that met all of the company's current needs. Just three months later, a complete Qlik-based BI solution from Capana was implemented and operational in the company.

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ALPHA-elektronik is highly satisfied with the choice of Capana as their BI provider:

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"The collaboration with Capana works really well. We have a great dialogue with Anders Frost regarding our solution, and Capana handles the adjustments we want to make in a short amount of time. They have a good understanding of our desires and needs, and in general, a very good understanding of our business," says Kim Engmark.

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Expansion to additional departments coming soon

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ALPHA-elektronik's BI solution is now used daily by 5 people in the company's management team, as well as several other users, primarily technicians, who also utilize the solution regularly.

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"Myself and the other managers in the company use the primary functions of Sales, Finance, and Order Inventory on a daily basis, and we are currently in the process of implementing the Cash Flow function. The system gives us a good overview of our business and enables us to optimize it in various ways," says Kim Engmark, adding:

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"The solution allows us to identify areas where we can focus our attention to change certain trends or optimize, for example, sales. This overview gives us the ability to take quick action in our daily operations. Therefore, we are currently discussing the possibility of extending our BI solution to more employees in the purchasing and planning departments – this is likely to happen during 2017, once we have found the right approach to ensure value creation in these departments as well."

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At Capana, they are also pleased with the collaboration with ALPHA-elektronik. Founder and Chairman Anders Frost states:

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​"ALPHA-elektronik is a great example of the value of Business Intelligence for the SMB segment. For complex manufacturing businesses like ALPHA, it is crucial to have decision support such as BI that provides insights and a 360-degree overview of the business. The ALPHA case demonstrates that BI pays off, and besides being a pleasure to work with, I am glad that they appreciate Capana and, most importantly, that their solution creates clear business value."