Success Story - Packimpex

About the customer

Packimpex develops customised, innovative relocation solutions for international companies and private clients. The relocation service providor, which was founded in 1977, is represented by ten subsidiaries in the whole of Switzerland as well as one in Germany and employs around 300 people. Over 60 percent of the Swiss top 100 companies are among the clients of the Thörishaus / Berne-based company. These are looked after in the areas of relocation, international removals, temporary accommodation and immigration.

It belongs to the business philosophy of Packimpex to increase through the ongoing development of IT solutions and other technologies continuously their effectiveness and their added value for the stakeholders.

Initial situation

Previously, Packimpex used Jet Reports for the evaluation of financial figures such as revenue, expected revenue, and cash flow from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Data from the CRM industry software Moveware, used for order data collection and invoicing, were analysed by Crystal Reports. Evaluations of clients across several countries or individual companies were virtually impossible, because the data was stored in such a deeply segmented manner that it could no longer be merged.

“Just connecting an order with financial accounting was a sisyphean task,” explains Fabian Gfeller, Head of IT, Packimpex Ltd. “The manual effort was enormous, which is why the reports were not created daily but weekly, monthly or even on a quarterly basis only. We wanted more timeliness, transparency and to be able to prepare analyses and reports more easily. Furthermore, it was important to make evaluations available to more people. We wanted the new solution to stand out for its ease of use.”

The relocation service provider wanted to increase the transparency and efficiency of their business information and processes by means of a business intelligence solution. A company-wide management reporting system was to be introduced, in which all client-related subjects could be displayed on a daily basis with updated data from all source systems.

Solution

As part of a detailed evaluation phase, the relocation specialist tested various solutions. Among others, Packimpex saw a live demonstration of QlikView in action at a major Swiss energy company - and was impressed.

“We liked the simple connectibility to any data source, the easy manageability and high user comfort so much that we wanted to test, in the context of a seeing-is-believing workshop,  whether QlikView was also the solution for our reporting requirements,” explains the IT manager.

When it came to choosing a partner, Packimpex also trusted the positive experience of the energy company and contracted Informatec for the implementation of the SIB workshops. The specialists in advice and needs-oriented implementation of business intelligence solutions, with headquarters in Muttenz, could put their skills to the test with the implementation of a challenging task: In order to increase data quality, a data model was to be developed which established client-corporate connections across all source systems.

And Informatec passed the test with flying colours, as Gfeller confirmed: “Within a few hours they linked data from the order and accounting software through an order number. For the first time we were able, without manual intervention, to assign revenue for clients or client groups, to retrieve expected revenue or to see whether we had remained within budget. And we could already see that automatic analysis on revenue and contracts was also possible on various levels. For example at a total client level, for individual contracts with a client, per client location, per sales staff, etc. “

In the further course of the project the QlikView expert continued to impress with her expert financial knowledge, rapid incorporation of industry specifics and high reaction speed to new or changed requirements: Informatec favours agile project management with the scrum method. Through short consecutive development cycles and a focus on the essential key features, the necessary flexibility to respond to changes in requirements is guaranteed, while still remaining efficient. Moreover, plus points were awarded for keeping within the planned budget.