QlikTech expanded its presence in the Middle East through a partnership with ICS ME as an official reseller in the region. QlikTech and ICS ME marked the launch with a special event held on Wednesday, June 4 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. The event featured presentations by Lars Bjork, CEO, and Les Bonney, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, from QlikTech as well as from QlikView customers ADNOC Distribution, and Amcor Flexibles. QlikView is already used by dozens of organizations in the region, including Emirates Post, ADNOC Distribution, NAFFCO and Sharjah Airport Authority.

“The economy in the Middle East is strong and continues to grow at a phenomenal rate,” commented Björk. “In this particularly complex and competitive business environment, QlikView is perfectly positioned as a solution that can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively, giving people the fast and accurate answers they need to manage effectively. ICS ME shares our philosophy of simplicity in business relationships, making them an ideal partner to represent QlikTech in the region.”

Leading analysts worldwide have recognized QlikView, built on patented in-memory associative technology, for its ease-of-use, functionality, technical vision and customer satisfaction. QlikView customer and partner organizations have won numerous awards from the press, analysts and peer communities for innovation and ROI.

Based in Dubai, ICS ME was established in 2001 and was selected as a “Master Reseller” for the region based on its strong customer base and reputation for stellar customer service and support. “QlikView is all about fast and accurate results, and its growth in this market will be unprecedented,” said Azam Dabbagh, Managing Director, ICS-ME. “After hearing about QlikView from our existing customers, and then seeing it in action, we believe that organisations will understand quickly how we can deliver Business Intelligence in 1/4 the time at 1/2 the cost and twice the value of traditional BI vendors, and offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.”

South Africa

QlikView Ranked #1 BI Solution in South Africa

QlikView is South Africa's preferred business intelligence (BI) software according to the results of ITWeb's annual BI survey released in March. The survey showed that more companies bought QlikView last year than any other BI software. 22.3% of respondents to the survey bought QlikView, compared to 15.8% who bought the next most popular product. The news comes shortly after IDC confirmed that QlikTech is the fastest growing BI vendor in the world, attracting customers looking for both ease of use and highly scalable functionality.

“54% of the ITWeb survey respondents who chose QlikView said its ease of use was a motivating factor, whilst others cited its fast performance and product features,” says Davide Hanan of QlikView South Africa, the local representative and distributor for QlikView, "of the companies who evaluated QlikView, 89% subsequently bought the product. “If you consider only the companies who did a proof of concept with us, the percentage is even higher,” says Hanan. “We're delighted that this evidence from ITWeb's survey confirms QlikView's value proposition for South African businesses. It's a truly compelling product.”

QlikView was also the highest-scoring BI application when it came to several key benefits: 92% of respondents who had bought QlikView said it had improved management reporting and 79% said it had improved the decision-making process. QlikView was the only BI application with a high score for providing a single unified view of enterprise-wide information, with 83% of respondents saying it had done so.

The survey highlighted QlikView's high user satisfaction. QlikView purchasers identified no major deterrents to wider deployment – whereas respondents who had bought products from other vendors identified problems including insufficient return on investment, complexity, lack of skills or the cost of implementation and support.

Italy

QlikView Italy Named 2007 QlikTech Partner of the Year

Against strong competition from QlikTech partners worldwide, QlikView Italy was recognized with QlikTech’s Partner of the Year Award at the 2008 Qonnections Global Partner Summit held in South Miami Beach, Florida in April. QlikView Italy, which is the Italian competence center for QlikTech International, had the highest revenues of any QlikTech partner in 2007. It is the second year in a row that QlikView Italy earned the award.

The Italian QlikView team was established in 2002 under the guidance of Massimo San Giuseppe and Diego Leveghi, when the organization began importing the QlikView Business Intelligence suite into Italy. Strong sales performance in a relatively short period of time led to the creation of the Business Center in 2005, which then became QlikView Italy one year later when a number of important milestones were reached. QlikView Italy today supports approximately 1,300 customers.

“The peculiarity of the Italian marketplace, where small and medium enterprise is a strong market, have contributed to achieving our impressive numbers,” said Massimo San Giuseppe, “but we must not forget the product’s own potential, and its power and simplicity that enable it to adapt to the needs of businesses of all types and sizes.”

QlikView Italy has achieved an exponential increase in its number of customers, which doubled in 2006 and again in 2007 to reach some 1,000 accounts by the end of the year. The rapid growth has continued into the first part of 2008 to reach the current figure of roughly 1,300 customers, which includes such prestigious accounts as Aermacchi, Alessi, Bayer, Danone, Luxottica, Konica Minolta, Manpower, Tiscali, public bodies such as the universities of Bologna and Trento and La Sapienza in Rome, and banks such as Banca IFIS, Banca Popolare di Sondrio, and Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

“We believe that, over the years, we have managed to transmit to the Italian market the potential of QlikView’s innovative power and simplicity, while also reducing the risks normally associated with the introduction of new tools and ensuring a clearly measurable and rapid return on investment,” said Massimo San Giuseppe.

Partner support has been, and continues to be, essential to QlikTech’s partner success and growth. QlikTech International is committed to constantly improving its Qonnect partner program, which enables partners to develop business opportunities and innovative solutions with QlikView.