Modernized BI Reporting Capabilities
A well-known pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturer with a major presence in over 130 countries and over 10,000 employees was seeking to modernize its BI reporting capabilities.
With end-of-life versions threatening security and scalability, the organisation partnered with New Era Technology to deliver a carefully planned SQL Server upgrade with zero disruption.
Challenges
- Legacy reporting processes made it difficult to access timely, consistent business insights
- Limited visibility across data sources reduced confidence in decision-making and operational planning
Solutions
- Modernised BI reporting capabilities to improve data access, consistency, and usability
- Created a stronger reporting foundation to support clearer analysis and more informed decisions
Results
- Improved visibility into business performance through more accessible reporting
- Better decision-making supported by a more modern and reliable BI environment
Future-Proofing Business Intelligence
Our client was running mission-critical business intelligence (BI) workloads on legacy Microsoft SQL Server platforms faced growing performance, security, and scalability risks. Their environment relied heavily on SQL Server 2012 and 2012 R2, which were approaching end-of-life and no longer aligned with Microsoft best practices.
To future-proof their BI infrastructure while maintaining business continuity, the organization reached out for our support in leading a carefully planned upgrade to SQL Server 2014. The objective was clear: achieve a seamless upgrade with minimal downtime, zero post-go-live defects, and measurable improvements in reporting and decision-making.
Legacy Platforms and High-Risk BI Dependencies
The client’s BI ecosystem supported executive reporting, operational analytics, and CRM-driven marketing campaigns. Any disruption would directly impact revenue-generating activities.
Key challenges included:
- Legacy SQL Server versions limiting performance, supportability, and security
- Complex BI workloads requiring high availability during the upgrade
- Tight tolerance for downtime across reporting and analytics platforms
- A need for expert, environment-specific guidance aligned with Microsoft best practices
The internal IT team required not just execution support, but strategic advisory services to ensure the upgrade aligned with long-term data and analytics goals.
Agile SQL Server Upgrade and BI Modernisation
New Era Technology applied an agile, phased delivery model to reduce risk and ensure continuous business operations throughout the upgrade.
Key elements of the solution included:
- End-to-end SQL Server upgrade planning and execution
- Close collaboration with the client’s IT team to align on architecture, governance, and rollout strategy
- Incremental delivery of BI enhancements to maintain business-as-usual
- Proactive testing and validation to ensure zero production defects
The engagement leveraged New Era’s deep expertise across the full BI lifecycle, including:
- Business requirements elicitation
- Data warehouse and dimensional model design
- ETL design and implementation
- Report development and optimization
- Data migration and validation
- Automated data testing
- Master Data Management (MDM)
- Performance management and tuning
Cloud and Analytics Architecture
The upgraded BI solution was built on Microsoft Azure, enabling scalability, resilience, and future expansion.
Architecture components:
- Back-end: OLAP multidimensional database (Cube)
- Front-end: Power BI for self-service analytics and reporting
A Scalable, Secure, Insight-Driven BI Platform
By upgrading from legacy SQL Server platforms to SQL Server 2014 and modernizing the BI architecture, the client transformed their data environment into a scalable, secure, and insight-driven platform.
New Era Technology delivered a zero-defect upgrade, preserved operational continuity, and enabled a modern analytics experience that supports ongoing business growth. The result was not just a technical upgrade, but a strategic foundation for data-driven decision-making.
Results
Following the successful SQL Server upgrade and BI modernization, the client realized immediate and long-term benefits:
- Ability to generate and consume reports for Dynamics CRM online marketing campaigns
- Role-based data security aligned with organizational access policies
- Faster and more intuitive report creation using Power BI
- Simplified report publishing and sharing across teams and user groups
- Seamless, automated report-level data refresh
- Improved performance and reliability of BI workloads
Frequently Asked Questions
By modernizing its BI environment with a more centralized and scalable reporting framework, the organization gained clearer visibility into key business data and improved access to timely insights across teams.
Legacy SQL Server versions pose increasing security, performance, and supportability risks due to end-of-life status. Upgrading ensured compliance with best practices while protecting mission-critical BI workloads from disruption.
Let’s Build What’s Next—Together
Today’s challenges don’t sit in one category. Neither should your solutions. When infrastructure, digital transformation, and security work together, complexity fades and progress accelerates.