National Express Coach says it has improved sales and customer service significantly after deploying Qlik’s data analytics software.

The UK coach operator, which delivers 18 million journeys on its services every year, said insights gained from using the QlikView Business Discovery tool has generated a six-figure revenue benefit as it can now set prices that are most attractive to customers.

The company, which had previously relied on spreadsheets for data analysis, needed a system that could manage more than 100 million records and accessible enough to allow employees of all levels from different departments to use it.

Frank Kozurek, business intelligence manager at National Express, said: "None of the Business Intelligence team had used QlikView before, yet they were immediately comfortable with the system thanks to its intuitive, self-service approach.

"It affords us the flexibility to explore the data in the ways we need to, and allows us to cut through the data to look at statistics for every individual journey, something that wasn’t possible when we relied on basic spreadsheets alone.

"I’ve worked with various BI platforms for ten years, and QlikView is the only one to have exceeded my expectations."

The software has been deployed across all departments, including HR, sales and customer service, at National Express.

The commercial team is using it to find the most profitable routes, while the customer services and service delivery teams also use it to analyse customer feedback and develop a picture of how the company is perceived.