Leong Jin Corporation is a Singapore-based specialist provider of steel and, over a history spanning more than 30 years, has carved out a reputation as a one-stop procurement centre for steel solutions.

The company provides a wide range of products and services including a comprehensive stock of specialty steel and state-of-the-art cutting and premachining facilities.

Given its position in a highly-competitive industry, Leong Jin needed a business intelligence solution that would allow its senior managers to respond immediately to ever-changing market dynamics. It selected iQ4bis as the BI solution with the right mix of usability and analytic muscle to meet its needs.

“Before we implemented iQ4bis, our executives couldn’t get the up-to-the minute sales and customer information that they needed to make quick decisions,” says Bobby Hoo, MIS manager for Leong Jin.

“Sure, we could run reports that either gave summary information or data on individual customers, but it was difficult to compare and contrast the information and it took time to prepare the reports,” he says.

“We needed facts at our fingertips. So we began investigating which business intelligence solutions could give us the capabilities we required.”

Leong Jin had recently implemented Microsoft Dynamics NAV so it was imperative that any BI solution would have to be 100 percent compatible with NAV.

“We looked at most of the big name BI packages on the market,” continues Hoo.

“Some were extremely powerful but they were just too complex for the executive team to use on a regular basis. Others, while more user-friendly, just didn’t have the analytic capabilities. So we kept looking.”

A favourable first impression
At the Microsoft ‘Heroes Happen Here’ event in Singapore, Mr Hoo saw the iQ4bis BI solution.

“I was quite impressed,” says Hoo.

“On the surface, iQ4bis did everything we wanted - it was optimised for Microsoft, it looked intuitive enough for our management to use themselves and it was well within our budget. I spent an hour talking to the people from iQ4bis and decided to go ahead with a ‘Proof of Concept’ demonstration using our own data.”

Things moved quickly after that.

“We remotely logged into their server in Singapore from our headquarters in New Zealand, installed the software and created two ‘cubes’ and associated ‘views’, one for sales and one for finance,” says Kaz Handa, vice president sales - APAC for iQ4bis.

“These are standard features of iQ4bis and, because their Dynamics NAV data was in order, the whole process only took two days. We then showed Bobby, via a remote session, exactly how iQ4bis was set up and how to navigate the interface,” Handa says.

“Two days from initial request to live demo was impressive,” says Hoo.

“But what was even more convincing was how easy it was for us to use iQ4bis. Once I familiarised myself with operations I demonstrated it to our management team. We quickly ascertained that iQ4bis met all of our business requirements and the decision to purchase iQ4bis came shortly after.”

Fast, efficient implementation
Installation, configuration and training only took a week.

“An iQ4bis consultant came on-site to show us how to build additional cubes and create personalised views,” says Hoo.

“We designated one of my staff to learn the process and, at the end of the week, he could perform all the back-end tasks quickly and easily – in fact he has already designed and deployed a budgeting module.

This is the only enterprise solution roll-out I have ever heard of that has gone so quickly and easily. iQ4bis was up and running – full stop – in less than a week.”

The management team at Leong Jin were able to use iQ4bis immediately.

“In our sector, business moves quickly,” explains Hoo.

“We need to know spot prices, the status of orders and which clients are buying which products. We need to make snap decisions on purchases, pricing, inventories, credit and deliveries. Having up-to-the-minute information is essential,” he says.

“With iQ4bis, we can see in a glance what we need to know to run the business profitably. Because management can access personalised iQ4bis views via an internet browser, they can drill down on specific data, ‘slice and dice’ the information and query the database – all with just a few clicks of the mouse.”

Self-service analysis
In the past, to get the same information would have required hours – if not days – and required the skills of the IT team. Now, with iQ4bis, managers can perform the analysis themselves and get the exact information they need in near-real time.

“We can now identify trends and patterns in the market and act immediately,” notes Hoo.

“Our number one requirement when we embarked on our quest for a BI solution was to be able to see exactly what was happening in the business at any given moment. And iQ4bis has delivered in record time.”

Leong Jin is planning to roll-out iQ4bis to their branch offices and is encouraging their customers and suppliers to talk to iQ4bis about implementation. “We almost never have to contact the iQ4bis help desk,” says Hoo.

“The software is stable and can process our Microsoft NAV data seamlessly. In fact, using iQ4bis has helped up us clean up our data by highlighting missing fields,” he says.

“When I first saw iQ4bis at the Microsoft event in Singapore, I thought it was too good to be true. But now, after deploying it at Leong Jin and seeing the impressive results, I can readily attest that iQ4bis does everything they say and in a timely and cost-effective manner.”

For more information

Asj Smith            
General Manager- APAC
iQ4bis Management Software Limited
+64 9 366 2635
Visit our website www.iQ4bis.com

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