Overview

pRackspace, headquartered in Texas and launched in 1998, is a leading managed cloud provider, offering expertise across cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Cloud/Azure and OpenStack. With data centers operating in the United States, UK, Australia and Hong Kong, Rackspace offers services such as Fanatical Support for Microsoft Azure and for AWS, designed to help businesses to get the most out of their public cloud deployments. Juan Riojas, Rackspace’s Chief Data Officer, and his team are responsible for enterprise data and analytics. /p

Supernova Award Category

Data to Decisions

The Problem

pRackspace was dealing with multiple reporting mechanisms and analytics platforms – a “Wild West” of reporting. Each met different departmental and groups’ needs but failed to collate and blend information into a single format – one source of truth to provide users with the fullest possible analytics picture of the enterprise. /p pRackspace looked to consolidate its 300 different reports/apps, the volume and different quality of which was creating a culture of distrust in data throughout the organization. Also, without consolidated reports, Rackspace lacked the ability to measure the crucial aspects behind its NPS (Net Promoter Score) across different business lines. Rackspace needed to solve BI and analytics user adoption and trust with a single platform that would help them transform into a data-driven and customer first organization./p pGiven its thin margin business with a highly mobile customer and competitive environment, Rackspace realized every customer is essential. Improving the organization’s ability to measure customer usage and satisfaction while accurately understanding and heading off churn was central to making timely business-critical decisions. /p

The Solution

pRackspace set out to consolidate on one solution that would be the single source of truth – one that would be self-service oriented, centralized, business-friendly and drive a larger transformation within the organization. Rackspace selected Qlik Sense, and also deployed Qlik NPrinting for fast, custom and easy report creation. /p pRackspace identified a “lead from the front” strategy to match its culture and implemented Qlik Sense with executives first to set the tone. As Rackspace already leveraged Qlik in some business areas, leadership was able to demonstrate Qlik’s value to existing parts of the organization, which helped create a smooth and seamless overall transition. /p pConsolidating on Qlik Sense resulted in a massive reduction in reports/apps. Given its ability to blend multiple data sources and enable non-query based exploration, Qlik Sense provided Rackspace scalability, AI and insights that were not available with previous tools./p

The results

pRackspace has seen a large increase in data utilization in decision making, reduced duplicative, overlapping or conflicting reports, further streamlined data and analytics operations, and a standardization of key measures of business performance./p pThe executive leadership team, through Qlik NPrinting reports, now has a holistic view of the organization for the first time. The move to Qlik Sense has also enabled the consolidation of more than 70 data sources, including data warehouses and data lakes, to Google Cloud. This has driven significant IT efficiency and cost savings through a more modern analytics approach that effectively leverages Qlik’s cloud first architecture. /p pAlongside deploying Qlik Sense, Rackspace has raised the data literacy levels of its employee base by taking advantage of multiple Qlik Service and Support elements. The company has seen wide use of the Qlik Continuous Classroom, as well as Qlik Consulting and Qlik Education, which provide Rackspace with coursework and training materials to help the company’s adoption and use of Qlik Sense capabilities. The company also leveraged the Qlik Infusion Program, which provides workshops to help with initial employee onboarding which accelerated awareness and adoption through the user base. Rackspace has also benefited from having a dedicated Customer Success Manager, who partners with Juan and team to proactively monitor adoption and head off any user issues. /p

Metrics

pRackspace saw significant improvement in the KPIs by which it measures customer churn and satisfaction. /p ul liA tenfold improvement in its NPS, translating to increased positive customer sentiment and reduced customer churn./li liAbility to predict with 85% accuracy customer churn six to nine months out. /li liDramatic reduction in the number of reports/apps, from 300 to 10. /li liConsolidation of more than 70 data sources, including data warehouses and data lakes to Google Cloud, which has driven significant IT efficiency and cost savings. /li /ul

The Technology

pQlik Sense is a complete data analytics platform that sets the benchmark for a new generation of analytics. With its one-of-a-kind associative analytics engine, sophisticated AI and high performance cloud platform, it empowers organizations to make better decisions daily, creating a truly data-driven enterprise./p pQlik NPrinting is a reporting platform for the creation of reports, using QlikView and Qlik Sense data, that can then be distributed automatically in a range of standard formats./p

Disruptive Factor

pThe changing nature of the cloud platform landscape forced Rackspace to recognize that the purchase and retention of its service was evolving – and rapidly. Within a highly competitive marketplace where the need to differentiate is prized, a focus on user experience and customer service became central for Rackspace to be successful. /p pThe data Rackspace gained through Qlik Sense equipped the company to better understand its customers’ pain points, better recognize and react to market signals within the organization’s space, and create a customer service experience that was modern, agile and based on data. The real-time reporting capabilities of Qlik Sense and Rackspace’s move to the cloud made that data scalable across the entire business, positioning them to be a front-facing, customer-centric organization. /p pIn addition – and perhaps most important – Qlik Sense is enabling account managers to see the health of their customer accounts in the moment, providing the managers with complete, fully integrated metrics capturing granular and snapshot views of how that health could be improved. This means that the very daily business activity of Rackspace has been transformed. The relationship the company has with its customers can be managed rapidly, enabling Rackspace to further delight its clients.   /p

Shining Moment

pRackspace’s consolidation of reporting practices through Qlik Sense and its movement to the cloud has enabled Rackspace to be responsive to customer satisfaction in real-time and achieve a BI and analytics adoption rate and use not yet experienced in the company’s history. Rackspace is now confidently a customer-first and modern data-driven organization. /p