How much is a “calmer summer” worth when agriculture has only one window per year? A few years ago, Procam reversed the proportions: less tinkering with reports, more decisions. Now—after migrating to Qlik Cloud and the first rollouts of Inphinity Forms—I’m checking whether that calm can simply… be sustained.
“We weren’t in a rush,” says Joanna Stachowska, CFO of Procam, without embellishment. “On-prem delivered. However, Qlik develops features in SaaS. We trusted that this was the right direction. We’re learning, and it works.”
This is an important nuance. This is not a story about spectacularly rescuing a sinking ship. For the user, the “first glance” after migration is almost the same landscape: the same applications, the same charts, a minor inconvenience with browser tabs. Underneath, however, what matters most is changing: new capabilities. Access to tools that on-prem will never get—Insight Advisor, automations, writeback in mature processes. And a certain kind of calm: “we’re moving with the product’s development current, not against it.”
The loop: field–decision–field
Procam is not a company of “dashboards for dashboards.” Here the loop is closed. The agronomist doesn’t sit in Qlik—they work in Intense, a low-code system for field applications that feeds the database. On the other side, the manager sees in Qlik exactly what matters in the season: plans, execution, receivables, correlations with product and time.
“It works both ways,” Stachowska emphasizes. “What we collect from ERP and markets, we send to agronomists’ iPads. What the agronomist enters in the field—comes back to the manager in Qlik.” And the old ritual disappears: “once a week an Excel file you’ll review—or not.” Daily reality becomes more honest: you have a plan, you know what’s missing, you see what will reach the warehouse.
Weather that doesn’t ask for permission
There’s a moment in the season when weather ruins all sensible calendars. What does Procam do? They don’t “paint” plans green. “The correlation is visible and everyone knows what it means,” I hear. If the window for rapeseed has passed, products “with rapeseed” simply won’t move. This isn’t a system failure, but a mature acceptance of reality. The system is meant to show the truth quickly, and people—not to waste time pretending.
Inphinity Forms—fewer folders, more decisions
Inphinity Forms appeared at Procam without fanfare. More as a sensible layer on top of a well-organized process. For clarity: these are forms “inside” Qlik, allowing not only to view data but also to enter it and write it back to the database (writeback). Instead of circulating spreadsheets and emails, decisions and approvals happen where we look at the numbers.
The first concrete benefits? Payroll budget: cross-departmental collection of raise and bonus forecasts. Once entered—it feeds the database from which amendments, payroll lists, and documents emerge. Without circulating spreadsheets that someone always opens in the wrong version.
The second thread—”planners”: people in branches enter order potential per product, per agronomist, per client. For the director, it’s a map: ordered–arrived–to be done. Forms become the informant and notebook of the process, not another table to “check off.”
And there’s a lesson—a very human one: “The success of Forms depends on the partner,” says the CFO. “The advertising is beautiful, but the project is won through precision. If the consultant fixes here and breaks there—frustration grows. What’s needed is flow and a common language. That’s exactly what our partner gives us—Hogart Business Intelligence Sp. z o.o.”
Data that defends itself
The most interesting answer comes in passing. I ask about errors and corrections. “We make sure errors don’t appear,” I hear. Data discipline is fundamental here: if an agronomist enters that a client doesn’t have corn but tries to settle a corn sale—the system “flags” the inconsistency. Not to punish, but to teach. This pays off in seed material orders, in forecasts, in a calmer warehouse.
AI—yes, but inward
Qlik’s “AI” is at the trial stage. There’s no romanticism of “let’s put it in ChatGPT and see.” “We don’t release data outside”—period. First, tools within the ecosystem. Alerts? In the plans. Geographic and soil data? A parallel project studying fertility and irrigation—presented to clients in their portal; integration with Qlik when a partner is found who will do it safely and sensibly.
Migration without artificial fog and confetti
How long? About a month and a half to first results. What hurt? Time and choice: commission less to the partner (Hogart Business Intelligence), do more with our own hands—slower, but consciously. Access? Per application, user list, Section Access tied to SharePoint. “The company didn’t feel the migration—which means it was done well.”
Is the cloud cheaper? “No.” Is it worth it? “Yes, because it gives access to features that on-prem will never get.” It’s a bit like the Apple ecosystem: ROI isn’t counted in a spreadsheet, but on the day you no longer want to go back to the old.
A small digression (so this makes sense)
In every industry there’s a temptation to turn technology into a fireworks celebration. Procam reminds us that harvest is better than fireworks. Less “demo day,” more “this shortened my path from signal to decision today.” And when I ask for a final thought, I get a quote I wish I’d invented myself:
“I can’t imagine business life without Qlik Sense. And if I don’t see all the reasons why the cloud is needed today—I’ll see them tomorrow.”
The bottom line
This is not a story of another “revolution.” This is a story of maturity. Agriculture has one window per year, but data—more and more. Procam doesn’t chase rabbits. It builds a loop: field–data–decision–field. First don’t break it, then accelerate. And the cloud? It’s not a gadget. It’s a door that stays open for the seasons ahead.