Modernizing BI and Reporting at PHC Group

Incorta has significantly streamlined operations at PHC Group, reducing technical support needs, accelerating data processes, and enabling broader integration across various business units, empowering users through self-service access and detailed data insights.

  • 2 Min

    11 million rows of data from SAP

  • 10 Min

    80 million rows of data from Netsuite

  • 11 Min

    70+ million row of data from finance system

THE CHALLENGES

Siloed data access

PHC Group, a conglomerate of companies, sought to unify their disparate data sources for better insights. Without visibility into booking, billing, and backlog data spread across various ERP and CRM systems like SAP and Netsuite, they faced challenges. Legacy systems lacked agility, leaving gaps in answering critical questions. Manual data extraction into Excel led to inefficiencies, eroding confidence in data accuracy. The reliance on single-use technologies increased costs and complexity, especially post-SAP migration, requiring additional IT learning and consultant support. Streamlining data access became imperative to reduce expenses and enhance operational efficiency.

 

THE SOLUTION

Rapid growth, time savings, and streamlined analytics

PHC Group, with many skilled engineers and architects, had developed individual data marts over a decade. However, these marts, like Epredia’s Azure-based one, faced issues due to Azure’s core technology and SQL server reliance for ETL, leading to outdated BI. Recognizing the inefficiency of disparate marts, especially for Epredia accessing SAP data, the IT team explored solutions like Snowflake, Azure products, and Incorta. Despite bandwidth limitations, Incorta stood out for its user-friendly interface, requiring minimal technical support.

Choosing Incorta, an operational lakehouse, bridged the gap between business users’ self-service needs and IT’s demand for reliable data. This decision empowered both teams to achieve more with fewer resources. Standardized scripts reduced reliance on support staff and consultants, while empowering business users to modify tables independently, boosting productivity through easy, self-service data access.

The strategy

Incorta simplifies corporate reporting and analytics for PHC Group, replacing Excel, PowerBI, and outdated applications. Data extraction, previously cumbersome, is now streamlined. Incorta acts as both storage and analytics engine, reducing the need for manual building and accelerating data access.

Through logical field renaming during data ingestion, Incorta ensures consistency and ease of use. Integration with existing SQL servers allows seamless migration of data and workflows, maintaining performance and preserving historical data.

The recent integration of the Incorta Excel plug-in empowers sales reps to access customer information and purchase orders effortlessly. They can utilize Excel’s familiar interface or directly query data in Incorta, enabling self-service analysis without technical expertise.

This level of self-service reporting, not achievable with Tableau or PowerBI, liberates IT teams to focus on technical innovation, empowering business development and product teams.

The Returns

Incorta empowers PHC Group’s IT team to achieve more with less. They’ve reduced the need for technical support, streamlined data processes, and accelerated delivery while minimizing errors. Integration with SAP, Netsuite, and other sources has enhanced access to finance and supply chain data. Tasks that once took hours now happen almost instantly, simplifying complex infrastructure and paving the way for further consolidation. The transition from SQL servers to Incorta remains a long-term project, but ongoing efforts aim to expand Incorta’s usage across business units, providing users with easy self-service access and detailed transaction-level data.