Spark Retail Stores

Spark Retail Stores have worked with our team for over a decade.

Qrious acquired NOW Consulting, the New Zealand-based data consulting division of WhereScape Software, in September 2019. This case study refers to work done by NOW Consulting prior to this acquisition.

Using WhereScape RED and NOW Consulting (now Qrious) Professional Services, they've built and automated their data warehouse and business processes.

Spark Retail Stores engaged NOW Consulting to manage the transition to new infrastructure across several environments.  During the delivery of this server migration, several complex challenges arose, which were resolved efficiently by NOW, resulting in the project being delivered on time.

NOW Consulting also showed initiative by up-skilling a key member of Spark Retail Stores’ team who is involved in the daily data warehouse operations. Over a six-month period, NOW provided RED training as well as mentoring in data warehouse best practice and technical skills.  This has been particularly valuable to Spark Retail Stores because it increased their autonomy and has reduced costs.

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Difficulty of vast, manual data input

Spark Retail Stores asked NOW Consulting to improve their commission reporting for their Door-to-Door business unit, who sell Spark products and services to consumers, businesses and wholesale markets.

Precise reporting is critical for Spark Retail Stores as it enables them to communicate targets to Spark Retail Management as well as make accurate and timely commission payments.

The existing reporting system was extremely manual, labour intensive and prone to errors, so Spark Retail Stores engaged NOW Consulting  to find a solution.

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Ease of automated commission reporting

From the ground up, NOW built an automated reporting solution for Door-to-Door commissions and target reporting, using a complex set of business rules and Excel spreadsheets.

By breaking down the problem into simple iterations, NOW were able to reverse engineer the data and rules to create an accurate, automated reporting repository.

Spark Retail Store’s new commission reporting is now processed and delivered to its users automatically via the Biztrack business reporting hub.  This new solution provides management reporting as well as valuable drill-down functionality, which offers additional data visibility and easier access for business users.

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Saving time, increasing productivity and improving data

Spark Retail Stores’ new Door-to-Door commission reporting solution is delivering considerable time savings, increased productivity and more accessible, accurate data.

NOW Consulting has helped Spark Retail Stores save at least 20 hours per week of manual effort in generating reports, which has reduced overheads.  It has also increased staff productivity, giving them more time to focus on sales and delivery activities.

The accuracy of data has also improved – and all reports are delivered straight to the business owner without any additional manipulation of Excel spreadsheets, which results in a further time-saving.

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A trusted partner

Our personal approach to expertise in data warehouse solutions and analytics makes us a trusted partner to work with.  Spark Retail Stores continue to value our approach of breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks, because it means that as their business evolves, their BI solutions can evolve with it, ensuring the solution delivered aligns with the businesses needs.