Streamlining BI Migration / Consolidation with Axis Group's Vortex

Common BI Migration Obstacles

Business Intelligence (BI) migration and consolidation projects are important for any company that wants to modernize their data architecture, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making. However, consolidating multiple BI tools into a single platform is not an easy task.

To understand the biggest obstacles faced during these projects, I recently conducted a LinkedIn poll; here are the results: 46% of respondents cited maintaining data integrity, 35% mentioned their team doesn't have the capacity, and 13% were concerned about the manual nature of the process. We also had several people add other potential challenges in the comments, including legacy systems and user training.

Let's look closer at each of these challenges and hear what industry experts have to say.

1. Maintaining Data Integrity

Keeping data accurate and consistent during BI migration is a major challenge. Moving data from old systems to new ones can lead to mistakes, so it's important to check and validate the data carefully. Tuulia Lintonen, an Agile Team Leader in Business Intelligence, commented on the complexity:

"Many cases the data is actually in the BI tools and no proper data modeling behind it, or it’s so complex that the whole data integrity suffers. Yes, after rebuilding several reports, the business users couldn’t trust the data."

Keith Hoffman, a Maintenance Product Manager, also noted:

"Recreating the last mile relationships and manipulations which occur in the existing tools is where the challenge resides. Someone has to do it, and it will take time and capacity."

If you’re concerned with keeping data integrity during a BI migration, I highly recommend you check out Vortex !

Vortex uses advanced AI to automatically convert data models from platforms like Qlik Sense and QlikView to Power BI, ensuring accuracy and consistency. Its automated testing features validate data integrity throughout the migration process, minimizing errors and ensuring trust in the new system.

2. Team Capacity Constraints

It was not surprising to hear that many teams were concerned about their limited capacity when undertaking a BI migration project, as teams are often stretched thin with existing workloads. Intisar Ahmed, an Agile Sr. Product Owner, pointed out the issue of limited resources:

"Bandwidth / Capacity Crunch is a major impediment to any migration or consolidation project that a team has to partake."

Teams often struggle to balance ongoing projects with the additional workload that migrations entail, leading to stress and potential burnout. There’s also often a gap in skills, since the team needs to be expert in both the source platform and the target platform.

By automating much of the migration process, Vortex significantly reduces the workload on teams. It streamlines tasks that would otherwise require extensive manual effort, allowing teams to focus on their core responsibilities and reducing the strain on resources.

3. Manual Processes

Manual migration processes are labor-intensive and prone to mistakes, leading to increased costs and longer project timelines.

Sarah Levy, Co-Founder & CEO of Euno, shared her perspective:

"Investing into replatforming while trying to support these legacy stacks leads to parallel workloads and a faster burn rate."

Bill Frank, a Client Advisor at SDG, elaborated:

"Doing this right is not an inexpensive endeavor and short term probably is more costly than status quo. Is this driven by IT or the business—and more importantly a business data strategy—supported at C level?"

Manual migration often results in increased costs, extended timelines, and the potential for errors as teams juggle parallel processes.

Vortex automates much of the migration process, handling data transformation, script translation, and UI recreation. This automation not only speeds up the migration process but also minimizes human errors, making the transition more efficient and cost-effective.

4. Additional Concerns

Organizations face additional challenges, such as dealing with old systems, meeting regulatory requirements, training users on new tools, and handling dirty data. As Susan Walsh, known as The Classification Guru, succinctly put it:

"It's all about the dirty data - inconsistencies, missing information, multiple formats... the list goes on!"

Christianne Ribeiro, a Senior Data Analyst, offered practical advice:

"Define a team structure for migration, backup, and support tasks. Ensure visibility and continuous communication across all areas. Share a clear roadmap with step-by-step updates."

Vortex addresses these concerns by rationalizing the legacy catalog and prioritizing the most impactful apps for migration, ensuring that organizations focus on the right solutions and get the most value from their BI tools. It also helps untangle complex legacy data pipelines and provides detailed guidance for transitioning to a modern data architecture.

Vortex promises to reduce migration time and effort by 70% which translates into significant cost savings and faster time-to-value for clients. Vortex's AI-driven approach minimizes errors and inconsistencies, resulting in a more reliable and trustworthy BI environment. Most importantly, Vortex untangles complex legacy data sources and helps clients transition to a modern data architecture like Microsoft Fabric.

If you're interested in exploring Vortex on your own, check out their website here and book a meeting with their experts.