In this era, where technology is evolving at a pace faster than it was ever imaginable, corporations must adapt to and inculcate new software to their existing setup to enhance their Business processes and get quicker outcomes.

The biggest challenge that surfaces while making an addition of a new application to the setup or transitioning to a new application is the moving of data between apps safely, hassle-free, and with optimum security. This is where Relokia comes into the picture.

Relokia is a company based out of Ternopil, Ukraine, that excels in providing a safe, secure, and easy platform for companies to migrate, control, and backup their data on multiple applications.

In the following interview, Maxim Orlovsky, the CEO shares the company’s journey since inception, the challenges they came across, and his vision for scaling Relokia’s operations and offerings in the future.

Please brief our audience about Relokia, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a leading player in the data integration solutions niche.

Data means many different things to many different businesses. Today, data is seen as one of the biggest values out there. Relokia is a platform that helps businesses to deal with a wide swath of data issues.

Let’s say your company undergoes a digital transformation, business scaling, or strategy upgrade, and you are quite prone to face

• switching data among business solutions
• merging several help desk instances
• importing databases to help desk systems to improve analytics
• records exporting and backup from business tools

Relokia’s services cover those and many other business cases automatedly. So, our clients don’t have to be data experts or software engineers to fix their data Migration issues.

Quickly building a competitive advantage and efficiently managing a business isn’t that easy in any data-related niche. Thus, our team keeps on improving the quality of the services, gaining customer loyalty, and growing our credibility.

If you check G2 for Cloud Migration Software, our Help Desk Migration Services holds 3rd place. Good results, but we’re striving for higher.

What other products/solutions does Relokia offer, and how are these making an impact on the industry and your clients?

A few years ago, we successfully launched a help desk migration project. It turned out to be a niche solution that deals with record switch, importing, and exporting among help desk software.

Help Desk Migration is a different API-based way to get your business data to nearly any help desk solution from another system, CSV file, or database dump.

The automated migration service brings value to companies that use help desk systems – just check up our G2 profile page for reviews – and vendors too. We have built partnerships with several vendors – to name a few: Zendesk, Help Scout, Freshdesk, Helpdesk, Freshservice, Kayako, Teamwork Desk, and many others.

Developing Help Desk Migration has been quite a journey for us, and we keep improving our features to meet the API changes and customer needs. Relokia’s team got inspired, and we started a couple of new projects that would let us move data between project management, accounting management, human resource management, and learning management software.

Everyone wants to get what they paid for. With that in mind, we develop our services to meet the nagging problems and real-time data migration needs the business has.

Relokia and the services we offer aim to

• show business owners – their data isn’t locked in one system, and they can move it automatedly and securely
• improve the way records switch, import, or export between business platforms

What impact on the industry we have? Well, it is two-fold: we bring benefits for companies and software vendors.

So, for companies that migrate: They get to a new platform and keep on working without downtimes or long breaks. The old approaches and methods took them weeks to move their records. With our services, it is done within hours or a couple of days – depending on the amount of data.

For vendors: We help vendors get more users aboard. Besides, their sales cycles got improved along with conversion rates. Basically, the faster their clients get on the platform, the more chances that they stay with them. New customers’ implementation and onboarding process are essential for any SaaS product, and Relokia helps speed it up.

Maxim, please brief us about your journey in the industry and how you have contributed to the company’s success.

Relokia started as a small project. In the beginning, there were only three people who had experience in a) the key business areas and b) the data migration industry. So, I am a Product Manager, Yuriy Kril is a Software Developer, and Dima Lazarchuk is a Marketer.

The idea came from the simple observation of the brutal truth: moving data between software costs companies piles of money and time. They have to spend time searching the outsourcing agency or creating a custom app to switch records on their own. Then went a data switch itself and synchronization records that brought downtimes of support service and disappointed customers who waited too long for responses.

But we knew it could go the other way – less costly but more convenient and efficient.

The lot of brainstorming sessions, roadmap building, market research, service core development, customer interviews, functions, mock-ups, brand strategy, and many other things should be planned and done by our small team.

So how was it?

• The technical development and security aspects were on Yuriy Kril.
• The marketing and sales were on Dima Lazarchuk.
• The UX/UI, core strategy, and entrepreneur legitimacy were on me.

Each of us has a core focus area, but we took part in every process and suggested ideas. That’s how the team works.

There wasn’t such a thing as an overnight miracle, Relokia’s co-founders went through thick and thin, and now we’re here – running a data service platform. And we gather around us young people who are inspired to reach more and learn more.

Being an experienced leader, share with us your opinion on what impact has the adoption of modern technologies such as AI and machine learning had on the data integration solutions niche and what more could be expected in the future?

The adoption of AI and machine learning in one way or another is inevitable, so businesses better get prepared for that.

In the last five years or so, we’ve heard many concerns about the digital technologies that will abuse personal data. It was kind of creepy that companies could track their movement, and collect their credit card numbers, followed by the ads online, addresses, and other information. And companies keep actively applying artificial intelligence to their services, business processes, and decision-making. The question here is what software does with that data. That’s why the GDPR in 2018 and CCPA in 2020 appeared to give internet users control over their personal data and images.

What is the main problem with AI and machine learning in data integration or processing? Well, I think it’s the biased outcomes (e.g., Apple’s credit card algorithm or Amazon’s automated resume screener) that software may provide due to misapplied or misconfigured AI. The algorithms enhance our life, no doubt here. But they might defy straightforward explanations while changing and adapting to the received data.

So, in the nearest future, businesses will need to re-evaluate and analyze their settings to their algorithms, evaluate operational complexity and the impact of the outcomes, and their governance capabilities. And another focus area includes requirements such as

• set up a standard for their transparency
• control AI evolving within their company
• manage the interaction between AI and humans

Taking into consideration the current pandemic, what initial challenges did you face and how did you drive Relokia to sustain operations while ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?

Pandemic became a brand-new challenge for the company. It turned our work, routines, and world perception upside down. There was no playbook on how to deal with it and how to manage your business. So once the lockdown was lifted, we switched to work from home.

Our policies allowed employees to work remotely for a certain period from home, so the workflow and security aspects were appropriately covered. No one knew how long the pandemic would last and how social distancing impacted team engagement and performance. Many of us found ourselves working longer from home than it was from the office. So, our challenges were:

Overtime brings less value in the long run. That’s why we have a few meets on time

management. And try to share the best performing tips on planning a workday from home.

Team motivation means a lot for business and employee success. We introduced an online round table once a week for small talk and run retrospective meetings biweekly.

Attention to health at this uncertain time is of urgent importance. Remote fitness challenge becomes a good solution. It was simple: Google sheet with employees who took part in exercises and points one earned during a month. Employees would do exercise and track their points. And, yes, we had a small money remuneration for a winner. It performed great.

When our location entered the green zone and working from the office was allowed, we switched to a hybrid schedule. Those who got bored at home could go to the office, and others could work from home further.

The sanitizer, disposable masks, social distancing, cleaning, and appropriate ventilation system were implemented and improved in our office. Also, we practice as much work from home as possible. That’s a basic thing we adopted once the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Ukraine.

What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the data integration solutions market?

Everyone wants to know what the secret to a successful business venture is. And those who succeeded have their own answers that vary heavily. I can share some treatment options, but you should look for a cure yourself.

My to-go tips for budding entrepreneurs are the following:

• Be courageous to fail. Try as many times as you need.
• Build a product that solves real business problems, not only the buyer persona’s assumptions.
• Be in the know and track the industry trends.

How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in the future?

Relokia keeps evolving, and we plan to improve our switch, import, and export service capabilities within project management, accounting management, human resource management, and learning management software. That’s a lot of work to do, but our team is ready to take on these challenges.

Demonstrating Excellence

• Jani Timonen – “Service which Relokia provides – data migration from one helpdesk to another – was a lifesaver for us! We had a very extended ticket base and a very old and exotic helpdesk – an old standalone Kayako. Relokia team has managed to seamlessly migrate our tickets and customers, allowing us to move forward with our helpdesk evolution but also keep track of a history of our interactions. Relokia’s expertise is much wider than just a migration. We receive plenty of valuable inputs and advice. The team is very professional, proactive, customer-oriented, and skillful. Wholeheartedly recommend for any projects within your helpdesk!”
• Brian Williams – “I hate migrations. So many unexpected twists and turns. Hiccups you didn’t expect. This was not my first rodeo. Before starting the migration, I asked how long it would take to migrate, and the estimate was 4hrs. Well, that proved to be not accurate at all. After starting it at night and thinking I would wake up to a completed migration, far from it. Thanks to Kristina being on chat I was able to get updates (beyond the thermometer display) which put me at ease. And, when in the middle of the process, we hit an error, she was there (with the dev team) to fix the issue and get me back on track. Having that feeling that someone has my back was priceless. Highly Recommend.”
• Rose Gillian – “Great resource – we migrated 13,000 Zendesk tickets into JSM. The data was perfect and saved us a ton of time and energy. Getting the attachments and all the comments were key and this product was delivered. The support team is excellent and while we had a slight issue, they were on it, and we had no data loss. Highly recommend and the price is hard to beat.”

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