Johannesburg, 07 Nov 2012
QlikView, the Gartner-rated business intelligence leader, continued to pull crowds at the 2012 QlikView SA partner conference, amid much excitement as the vendor rewarded its top-performing partners.
Capacity turnouts
As with other years, QlikAcademy 2012 was held in Johannesburg in the last week of October. This year, QlikView SA welcomed 180 delegates over two days of certification and refresher training, culminating in a gala awards evening.
QlikView SA managing director Davide Hanan says, after a packed user conference in April, there was no doubt that QlikView is firing on all cylinders.
Continued popularity
"QlikView continues to focus on quality in accreditation to match the quality of the product," he says.
The tool has caused a stir in the marketplace and industry with its user-driven analytics. Gartner's 2012 BI Magic Quadrant commends QlikView for its "intuitive, likeable" user experience and rapidly developed analytic models.
As competition heats up in the now-dominant business discovery niche that QlikTech pioneered, the company has upped its game with new collaborative, mobile and unified management advances that allow it to hold its rating and popularity. "We are gratified that our South African popularity reflects global sentiment and uptake," says Hanan.
Partners of the year
After two days of enthusiastically supported training, QlikView SA crowned its Partner of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and the eagerly-awaited new category of OEM Partner of the Year, on 17 October.
Partner of the Year
Partner of the Year was again won by Durban-based BI consultancy Insight Consulting, after the company bagged the award in 2010.
Sean Taylor, director at Insight Consulting, says the firm continues to share in QlikView's success, thanks to a steady rollout of market-leading innovations.
"There have been significant developments in BI, but we're confident that we continue to back a winner, and it's validated by the instant recognition we're seeing on customers' faces today."
OEM Partner of the Year
The inaugural OEM partner of the year went to Metrix Software Solutions.
Hanan says bundling QlikView BI with OEM software applications is a growing and exciting direction for the vendor locally and globally. "It's still in a growth stage in South Africa, but we've had a lot of interest from development firms. Metrix has shown the way with its successful marketing and support of our combined toolset across Africa over the past year, and is now taking it into Australia, Chile and the UK."
Rigby Stott, head of BI at Metrix, says the addition of QlikView to Metrix's governance and compliance software solutions has allowed it to deliver a world-class solution in a very short time-frame, and it has been a catalyst for its rapid and continuing growth.
"In our first full year of being an OEM partner, we've added 24 new clients and 4 200 QlikView user licences. It's obvious that this is a growth direction for both companies."
Positive outlook
As the current wave of growth and good ratings continues for QlikView, the outlook is extremely positive for customers and partners who are coming on board with quality tools and support.
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