DeFacto accelerated its data flows, reduced operational workloads and established a structure that provides more agile, reliable and real-time data services to business units by supporting its modern data architecture positioned on Google BigQuery with Qlik Replicate’s CDC technology.
Can you briefly tell us about your organization and the services you provide?
Today, DeFacto is not only a leading global fashion and retail brand in Türkiye but also worldwide, with more than 500 stores and very strong e-commerce channels. At the center of our business is “accessible fashion,” but behind this massive operation lies a highly sophisticated technology and data infrastructure.
I serve as the Data Management Manager at DeFacto. As the data team, our primary responsibility is to transform billions of rows of data coming from our stores, logistics centers and online channels into meaningful, reliable and most importantly, actionable information. In short, we manage the entire data ecosystem of the company by ensuring that the right data reaches the right decision-maker at the right time.
Especially through the modernization projects we have recently carried out, we position ourselves not only as a unit that stores data but also as a “service provider” that accelerates our business units.
Can you provide information about your technology approach and business intelligence applications?
At DeFacto, the foundation of our technology approach is built on “agility” and a “data-driven decision-making” culture. The retail sector is highly dynamic; therefore, we see technology not merely as a supporting element, but as a lever that drives business growth.
On the Business Intelligence (BI) side, we have gone through a significant transformation process. Until recently, our entire data warehouse (DWH) structure was designed on on-premise systems using MSSQL. However, to manage the data load generated by more than 500 stores and our growing e-commerce volume more efficiently, we shifted our direction toward the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
I can summarize our current structure as follows: We modernized our data architecture and positioned the entire structure on Google BigQuery, creating a highly scalable and high-performance environment for large datasets. During our cloud transformation journey, we evaluated various batch data transfer tools; however, due to our need for operational efficiency and real-time data flow, we transitioned to Qlik Replicate. As a result, we can transfer data from our on-premise systems to the cloud layer instantly and manage data flows seamlessly. In addition, by moving from an ETL approach to an ELT model, we now perform data transformation processes directly on BigQuery. On the end-user side, we not only make data accessible but also provide a modern and agile analytics structure that enables business units to take immediate action.
In summary, we have a modern data architecture that combines the reliability of legacy systems, the speed of cloud technologies and the automation power of Qlik Replicate.
What role do business intelligence solutions play within your organization? Can you tell us about the process that brought you together with Qlik products?
In a large-scale operation like DeFacto, Business Intelligence is not merely a reporting department; it is a central platform that provides real-time data services to all business units. The process that brought us together with Qlik Replicate actually began with the transition of our software architecture to a microservices structure. As databases became distributed, data spread across multiple sources, creating a need to consolidate this fragmented data into a single center.
Before Qlik, even trying to update data in 15-minute intervals (batch processing) was an operationally difficult process to manage. Particularly on the cloud side, ensuring cost efficiency required dynamically creating workload-based virtual machines, removing them when tasks were completed and managing this task traffic flawlessly, which created a significant workload for our team. The effort we spent moving data was taking away from the time we could dedicate to processing it.
At this point, Qlik Replicate became a strategic solution. Thanks to its CDC (Change Data Capture) technology, we eliminated these complex operational processes and task dynamics requiring manual intervention such as “starting and stopping machines.” Today, all data can be consolidated instantly on Google BigQuery and delivered to our business units without delay. In short, Qlik freed us from costly operational burdens and transformed our data architecture into a real-time structure.
What benefits did your collaboration with Qlik products provide? Could you compare the period before and after the collaboration? What advantages did you gain?
Before Qlik Replicate, moving data to the cloud was a significant operational burden for us. To manage costs, we constantly had to start and stop virtual machines and monitor complex batch processes. Even keeping data updated at 15-minute intervals consumed most of our team’s time.
With Qlik, we completely modernized this process and achieved the following key benefits:
- Reduced Latency Periods: By minimizing mandatory waiting times with CDC technology, we ensured that data reached BigQuery much faster and more smoothly.
- Operational Ease: We eliminated machine management and manual task dynamics; the system now operates autonomously.
- Data Consolidation: We gathered data dispersed through our microservices architecture into a single central platform where it can be combined instantly.
- Efficiency: Our team now focuses not on keeping systems running but on transformation processes (ELT) that generate value from data.
In summary, Qlik has transformed our data architecture into a much faster and easier-to-manage structure.
As DeFacto, do you have any upcoming projects planned with Qlik products in the coming period?
In the coming period, we aim to make more active use of the data integration and data quality capabilities offered by Qlik Talend Cloud and Qlik Talend Analytics platforms. Particularly through a data product approach and a more holistic data management model, we plan to provide our business units with faster and more reliable data services.
How did you create synergy with BI Technology, and can you share your experiences during the project implementation phase?
Through our collaboration with BI Technology, we achieved a true partnership approach. In large and complex environments like DeFacto, encountering technical challenges during projects such as cloud migration is inevitable. We also faced certain product-related issues during implementation; however, the BI Technology team consistently demonstrated a highly responsive and solution-oriented attitude throughout the process.
By ensuring that the technical obstacles we encountered were overcome quickly, they prevented disruptions to our project. Thanks to this professional support and the open communication we established, we successfully completed the modernization of our complex data architecture.
If you had to summarize it in one sentence, how would you describe the contribution of Qlik products to your organization and daily operations?
Qlik Replicate enabled us to consolidate dispersed data in real time, freed us from operational burdens and allowed our team to focus its energy not on moving data, but on creating value from data.