Inphinity, a UK-based global distributor of Qlik software technology and a Qlik technology partner, has teamed up with iOCO Qlik to roll out its data analysis solutions in the South African market.
These include data capture and write-back capabilities, process management tools and the ability to analyse unstructured data.
EOH subsidiary iOCO Qlik, an Elite Qlik partner, will focus on the rollout and adoption of the Inphinity Suite, in particular three extensions to the Qlik Sense platform: Inphinity Forms, a write-back extension; Inphinity Flow, a visualisation and process performance management tool; and Inphinity Mole, which turns unstructured data into structured and makes it ready for analysis.
The addition of write-back and chat features enables immediate feedback, while planning and modelling features facilitate activities such as forecasting and document workflows with the ability to add comments and approvals. Data intelligence tools allow businesses to search the content and metadata of documents, pictures, and emails, extracting meaning from unstructured data.
The two companies foresee a range of use cases across industry verticals, including HR, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Kevin van der Merwe, sales director at iOCO Qlik, notes that in the past, core business processes and the insights obtained from the data they generate, along with the feedback loop of intelligence and action, were often disjointed. These aspects were spread across various software and process silos, causing inefficiencies and suboptimal decision-making.
iOCO Qlik will use its expertise in real-time data integration and analytics cloud platforms to bridge these gaps.
The importance of write-back
The two partners highlight the benefits of the write-back capability at the point of insight. The write-back function allows users to update and modify data directly within a BI application or reporting tool. Source systems and databases can be instantly updated in the same context as their analysis.
"In practical terms, this aligns with the fundamental purpose of decision support and business intelligence vision—to deliver the right information to the right people in the right format, thereby enhancing data-driven decision-making," says Van der Merwe.
He adds that context-aware information enables users to collaborate and capture feedback, resulting in a new generation of applications that speed up the time to insight and, more importantly, to action.
From unstructured to structured
With data growing exponentially, including semi-structured and unstructured sources like e-mails, videos, and documents containing rich metadata, Qlik-native Inphinity solutions aim to tap into all this data to enable analysis and better decision-making.
"Using technology for a full picture gets us closer to a 360-degree view of the subject, which traditional data analysis didn't focus on," says Van der Merwe.
Qlik sees its recent acquisition of data transformation firm Talend, along with investments in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data store automation, as yielding results, especially with the growing mainstream acceptance of AI.
"We believe that these augmentations and automations will help shift the traditional 80/20 ratio of data preparation vs. data analytics," says Van der Merwe, referring to the 80/20 rule of data science, also known as the Pareto principle: data scientists spend 80% of the time on data preparation and only 20% on analysis.
"It will move into a realm where we can reallocate resources to spend more time analysing data, ultimately leading to better decision-making for organisations, individuals, and humanity."
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