Informatec becomes Qlik Managed Services Provider (MSP)

Media release

The new MSP programme was announced by Qlik during the global Qonnections Partner Conference in April 2017.  The pilot programme was launched in September and will be available to all end clients from January 2018.  Qlik only selects partners who have 360-degree Cloud services as managed services providers (MSP) – for example, those who have Qlik software together with an optimally matched Cloud infrastructure and fully managed services. 

INFORMATEC IS THE ONLY SWISS QLIK-PARTNER ON BOARD

On the basis of their many years of experience in the Qlik environment and thanks to their Swiss BI Cloud and iVIEW-based BI services, Qlik admitted Informatec to the exclusive circle of Qlik managed service providers. A select group of 37 partners were chosen worldwide (18 from the EMEA area, 11 from AMER and 8 from APAC). Of these, only three partners were selected from the D-A-CH region and Informatec was the only partner chosen in Switzerland. 

The MSP programme is an important milestone for both Qlik clients and business intelligence users in general.  The focus is on the realisation that Cloud business is playing an increasingly important role on the BI scene.  According to Gartner studies, the total addressable market (TAM) for 2018 is $18 billion, 20% of which will be generated in the Cloud. 

This trend meets client needs for scalable, flexible and secure operating environments where BI users really only need to focus on the results of their dashboard. Informatec expresses this central benefit in a nutshell: "Qlik managed services in the Swiss cloud BI: your headache relief". 

As a managed services provider, Informatec takes care of the complete BI infrastructure and all the corresponding services:

• Hardware and infrastructure
• Administration of the entire BI environment
• Secure and professional hosting with high availability
• Software and licences
• Deployment of the solutions
• Security and all safety aspects
• Updates & upgrades of all components
• Monitoring und support
• Troubleshooting

Managed Services

ADVANTAGES OF THE MSP PROGRAMME FOR BI USER COMPANIES

The MSP partners provide a completely worry-free, comprehensive package that includes hosting in the Cloud, installation of Qlik software, licensing, invoicing on a monthly or annual basis, a client apps service and everything else, right down to first level support. 

For companies that choose Qlik as their enterprise solution, the MSP programme offers clear advantages:

• High investment security: The budget is defined for 12 or 24 months. Both deployment in the Cloud and licensing of the software follow a clear plan.  The model is scalable both upwards and downwards. The more users who are licensed, the lower the average cost per user.
• Extremely quick:  With the help of their MSP partner, user companies are up and running in record time in terms of business intelligence.
• Reduced workload for internal IT department and risk reduction:  The entire BI environment is provided ready to use and "fully managed". The MSP partner takes care of the technical requirements for the Cloud and software before and after installation, including updates and support.
• Extension of the offer: From 2018, it is possible to open the Qlik resource in the Cloud to third-party users and to thus create a BI environment in which users from different organisations can work in the Cloud on a role and workflow basis.
• Massive simplification: The client simply has to choose the MSP partner of his or her choice. The client receives a single point of contact, an order and a contract.
• Sound experience and know-how transfer: Both the provision of the Cloud environment and the installation of the software are handled by experienced BI specialists. For the MSP programme, Qlik has selected only Qlik providers who already have proven and solid expertise in Cloud deployment. Qlik has also built up an MSP community to share experiences and best practice tips among MSP providers.

WHAT DOES INFORMATEC OFFER AS AN MSP PARTNER?

For Informatec, Qlik's MSP programme is the concretisation of their Cloud capabilities, which they initiated in 2016 with their "Swiss BI Cloud" service. These include the following models:

• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) – Informatec provides the fully managed Cloud infrastructure regardless of the client's BI technology (Qlik, Tableau, Jedox...).
• SaaS (Software as a Service) – Informatec provides the fully managed Cloud infrastructure and takes care of the entire installation of the customer's Qlik software.
• BIaaS (BI as a Service) – Informatec provides a fully managed Cloud infrastructure, takes care of the entire installation of Qlik software and, in addition to fully managed services for the Swiss BI Cloud, offers a BI services package for the client's business intelligence recourse (from the support of ETL processes across the entire administration to release management).

Of course, the Swiss BI Cloud also hosts self-service BI applications based on Informatec's iVIEW.

Swiss BI Cloud   Qlik Managed Services

ROLL-OUT OF THE MSP PROGRAMME

In the current pilot phase, Qlik Sense Enterprise is now available in the Cloud with managed services. Users simply have to select the appropriate Cloud package and define the desired number of users.

Additional Qlik products will be available as part of the MSP programme from 2018. Informatec already offers all Qlik products in the Swiss BI Cloud on the basis of a “perpetual” licensing model (hosting in the Cloud with fully managed services plus purchased Qlik license plus BI support package).