Transforming user-driven analytics with Microsoft Fabric

August 2, 2024

Founded in 2002, iLink Digital is a global provider of next-generation digital transformation solutions and a recognized Microsoft Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure), Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Infrastructure (Azure), Modern Work, and Security. The company's data experts harness Microsoft Fabric to help customers transform their digital landscapes—including Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies across a range of industries.

iLink has been working closely with Microsoft for more than 20 years, earned three specializations in Data & AI (Azure) and one specialization in Security, and is an example of the power and value of a Microsoft partnership. In 2021 and 2022, the company won two consecutive Microsoft Power BI Partner of the Year awards. The iLink team recognized the potential of Fabric early on, seeing it as a groundbreaking approach to data analytics designed to tackle the complexities of modern data environments. By offering Fabric solutions that use AI, iLink helps customers achieve actionable insights so they can make data-driven decisions with ease.

Real-time analytics and Fabric-certified consultants

iLink provides Fabric solutions that process large data streams quickly and deliver real-time analytics, helping their customers across the globe to improve processes, boost agility, and achieve greater visibility. iLink also supports migrations from legacy enterprise data warehouses to Azure Synapse Analytics as well as Hadoop to Azure.

From proof of concept to full-scale production

iLink offers their customers a Fabric 4-week Proof of Concept (PoC) process that functions as a roadmap and shows the potential of a modern reporting system using OneLake, Fabric, and Power BI. "This solution is a quick win for the customer," said Eswaran. "It gives them a tangible output in just a few weeks without interfering with their existing data storage pattern."

The PoC process takes the customer through two phases, beginning with discovery and prototype to understand how to tailor the solution to their data needs. The second phase, implementation, is where data pipelines are created, a semantic model is built, and data visualization is developed. Here, the customer gets a snapshot of high-performance reports, business intelligence best practices, and quick reporting times. It's a customized one-stop shop for the organization's analytics needs.

iLink also developed reusable Power BI Migration Accelerators to help customers streamline and simplify the data transition process. iLink says these accelerators facilitate migration from other business intelligence platforms, such as Cognos, Tableau, and Qlik—which can reduce model rebuild efforts in Power BI by 40–50%.

Customers can find the PoC offering on Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace, which have proven to be worthwhile channels to uncover new leads. Their success also landed iLink a spot on the Fabric partner showcase landing page.

iLink delivers a slice of success for multi-national pizza chain

When a multi-national pizza chain was introduced to iLink by way of Microsoft, they were using ad-hoc analysis to manage their marketing data. The data was isolated, and the chain's experienced analysts were spending hours generating separate reports in Excel. "This was a problem for the pizza chain because it meant having to run siloed reports," said Vinayak Vemula, Data Solutions Architect at iLink. "Say they were running a promotion on an item one week, and the next something different. They had to trust that last week's report had accurate data because they wouldn't have time to run new reports. Using the same data wasn't a long-term solution—they needed to streamline the process."

With billions of rows of marketing data needing to be analyzed, the pizza chain turned to iLink. After going through the PoC process, the chain quickly onboarded Fabric and Power BI. Data is now stored in a central data lake, giving everyone access to what they need for reporting. Before, the pizza chain was limited to three months' worth of data per report, and now they can pull up to two years.

Vemula added, "[Tasks that] used to take analysts six hours in Excel now take seven seconds, thanks to Fabric's interoperation in Excel. They're no longer jumping through hoops to access their data. It's readily available through a common semantic layer—their one source of truth."

Fabric gave the pizza chain the tools they needed to create a modern data foundation for analytics and AI and facilitate data-driven decisions through automation. These outstanding results opened the door for iLink to also help a global Mexican food chain.

Positioned for future success

iLink's success with Fabric has paved the way for exciting new opportunities with Microsoft. In 2024, they had a presence at the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference, where they were a Diamond Sponsor, presenting multiple sessions. iLink looks forward to deepening relationships and meeting new customers through roadshows, conferences, and workshops.

"Microsoft has greatly simplified the data and analytics landscape with Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end, unified analytics platform that is AI-powered, open, and cost-effective," said Sakthi Kannan, CEO of Data & AI at iLink. "Our successful enterprise implementations confirm that Microsoft Fabric is a game-changer and the future of analytics. iLink Digital is deeply committed to helping our customers successfully adopt Microsoft Fabric and build a strong data foundation for AI transformation. Our strategic partnership with Microsoft enhances this commitment, providing exceptional support and resources for accelerating data-driven, AI-powered value creation for our customers."