Customer success

Quarry 4.0 – Fabric passes the IoT test at Basalt

Heiko Bornemann
Head of IT Infrastructure, Basalt AG

We are truly impressed with how quickly we were able to achieve the desired results within our joint Fabric PoC. In the end, the results in fact exceeded our expectations. Thanks to our new data platform, we are now perfectly prepared to gradually guide our company towards Industry 4.0. With their extensive data expertise, our consultants from ORAYLIS were the missing piece of the puzzle for us to successfully implement a project of this kind.

At a glance

  • Client: Basalt AG
  • Industry: Building Industry
  • Project objective: Implementing a cloud platform with Microsoft Fabric for the business use of IoT data
  • Technologies: Microsoft Fabric

Basalt AG’s products are quite literally fundamental to our society’s mobility. A significant share of the asphalt on German roads originates from the company’s quarries and production sites. The same applies to the track ballast that provides the basis for our railroads. Basalt covers the entire supply chain from raw material extraction to provision at the point of use, as well as recycling and disposal.

Asphalt-Maschine aus der Vogelperspektive

A considerable share of the asphalt laid in Germany originates from Basalt plants. (Basalt AG)

As a result, sustainability-related topics play a major role at Basalt. At the same time, they are also posing the greatest challenge: It is not only about meeting the continually growing demands of the government and the public. Sustainability is in fact a key factor in production within the natural stone sector and is therefore one of the most important business objectives. Improvements in this area always can potentially create a competitive edge for the company in economic terms as well. However, how do we manage to further promote sustainable actions in this day and age?

Those in charge at Basalt already have the answer to that question: “We simply have to make use of the wide range of data resources available to us across the entire supply chain,” says Heiko Bornemann, Head of IT infrastructure. “Currently, this treasure trove of data is scattered across almost 300 locations in Germany, buried within various systems and data silos.” This is why the company has decided to launch a large-scale digitalization initiative aiming at centralized data that can be made available for various types of application scenarios across the company.

Digitalization = Industry 4.0

At Basalt AG, digitalization means a commitment to the implementation of Industry 4.0 and its very foundation, the Internet of Things (IoT). This is because, until now, the extensive data streams from large stone crushers, for example data on capacity utilization and productivity, have not yet generated any business value. Heiko Bornemann explains: “In the future, we want to combine the sensor data from all plants in an Operational Data Management System and then link it to the rest of our company data. Of course, the data should then be made available for business applications in real time if possible.”

Zwei Basalt-Mitarbeiter im Steinbruch

The extensive data streams at the Basalt quarries have not yet generated any business value until now. (Basalt AG)

Basalt is not only hoping for better decision-making and a number of new insights. The company also intends to use the Operational Data Management System to further interconnect people and machines as well as to digitalize and automate processes. Heiko Bornemann underscores that Basalt is not only focused on sustainability targets: “We are also facing site-specific challenges such as the generational change and a shortage of skilled labor. We consider automated processes to be a lever, helping us to break down knowledge silos and to deploy our valuable staff in a more efficient manner.”

With these requirements in mind, Basalt started its search for a suitable data technology and the right partner to implement it. One thing was unnegotiable from the beginning: It has to be a Microsoft solution because the existing systems are already running in the Azure Cloud.

Microsoft Fabric is the base technology

During their research, the team repeatedly came across Fabric – Microsoft’s brand-new technology approach that allows a complete data platform to be rolled out and ready to use at the touch of a button. “We had already attended a presentation in Munich,“ says Heiko Bornemann. “To us, it sounded like the ideal concept, since we are hoping for a high degree of autonomy and would like to do as many things ourselves as possible.” After an individual presentation by Microsoft, Basalt opted to trial Microsoft Fabric within a sponsored Proof of Concept (POC), as, although the technology is currently celebrating its first notable practical successes in many areas, it has so far only had limited opportunities to prove itself in Industry 4.0 scenarios.

When it came to choosing the ideal partner, ORAYLIS GmbH was able to impress Basalt by focusing on the essentials: “We had conversations with several service providers. Ultimately, to me, the decisive factor was the fact that the ORAYLIS consultants quickly grasped our use case and shared tangible ideas, instead of jumping straight to huge digital twin concepts. Additionally, ORAYLIS boasts proven Fabric expertise. Thanks to its early involvement in introducing and promoting the technology, Microsoft recently selected ORAYLIS as one of its few “Fabric Featured Partners” in Germany.

Real-time sources can be integrated smoothly

The basic objective of the PoC was to link plant data with standard business data for the first time and to visualize the results on a dashboard in near real time. This meant bringing together all key interest groups involved in company-wide digitalization. In addition to representatives from IT infrastructure, these included the “Central Technology” department, which is responsible for machine systems, and the “Industry Solutions” department, which is in charge of operational systems.

Fabric expert Dirk Ohligschläger was part of the project as solution architect. (ORAYLIS GmbH)

Dirk Ohligschläger, Senior Solution Architect at ORAYLIS, describes the next steps as follows: “We first set up our central platform using Fabric, which was very easy. It actually only takes a few steps to set up the entire architecture, including data integration, processing and the respective analysis tools.” Afterwards, the platform was linked to the four pilot plants. “The bridge between stone crusher and platform serves as an edge device. It receives the data streams from the plant sensors and feeds them directly into our cloud database. And just like that, we were able to see the first real numbers in Power BI after just a short time. The integration process was completely trouble-free.”

Our Fabric expert has only reported a few minor hitches along the way to the first real-time results at Basalt: “At one point, we exceeded our capacity limits, which led to Reporting being down for a few hours. However, that was simply a matter of configuration. Moving forward, we’ll know better. In my opinion, Fabric has clearly passed our IoT test.”

Expectations were in fact exceeded

Heiko Bornemann, too, is highly pleased with the PoC’s progress: “We are truly impressed with how quickly we were able to achieve the desired results. In the end, our expectations were in fact exceeded. It doesn’t stop with feeding data from the stone crusher to the dashboard via the cloud; ORAYLIS has already integrated filters for specific sites and set up a dashboard for individual figures.” At the same time, another business case was implemented; an energy monitoring system which critically analyzes the plants’ energy consumption. This system will also be a fixed part of the Operational Data Management System.

According to Heiko Bornemann, the teamwork between Basalt and ORAYLIS was one of the project’s main success factors: “It was a perfect match, especially since we lack the necessary expertise in data processing and the linking of new sources. The consultants at ORAYLIS don’t keep their expertise to themselves. The whole team has benefited from them sharing their knowledge. This is why it is safe to say that ORAYLIS was the missing piece of the puzzle for us to successfully implement a project of this kind.”

Driving digitalization with purpose

At the same time, the work of the dream team has already generated appetite for more among the company: “Our colleagues, especially those working on the Operational Data Management System, were already showing great enthusiasm before the PoC had even ended. They were keen to immediately get started on validating even more data and introducing further requirements. This was of course highly motivating for us. However, we have to make sure to not get carried away too quickly, because we are not working with a live system yet.”

To Heiko Bornemann, that means to pause for a moment and take stock: “I believe that by introducing the Fabric platform, we laid the ideal foundation for gradually digitalizing our company. We see huge potential, especially in terms of Predictive Maintenance and Alerting. We will analyze the PoC’s results precisely and then structurally integrate further data and approach new use cases. The course of action is now clearly defined.”

turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Client: Basalt AG
  • Industry: Building Industry
  • Project objective: Implementing a cloud platform with Microsoft Fabric for the business use of IoT data
  • Technologies: Microsoft Fabric
Dirk Ohligschläger
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Customer success

How BD Rowa reduces the downtimes of order picking systems

Dr. Dorothee Gösswein
Project Manager, BD Rowa

Reliable customer service and continuous improvement are our top priorities. ORAYLIS quickly and efficiently managed to build a digital cloud-based platform providing us with the data from our machines in near real time while ensuring high security standards.

This solution enables our service team to immediately react to technical problems and to proactively prevent malfunctions. It helps us to reduce the downtime of our machines even further, resulting in higher availability our clients can benefit from. We are therefore glad to be able to count on the ORAYLIS team’s support in the future, turning our visions into success.

At a glance

  • Client: BD Rowa Germany GmbH
  • Sector: Industry/order picking systems for pharmaceuticals
  • Project goal: Providing real-time analyses of machine data in applications for service and customers
  • Technologies: Microsoft Azure IoT, Databricks Power BI Embedded

Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH (BD Rowa) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of order picking systems for pharmacies, hospitals and pharmaceutical wholesalers. The complex systems of the company based in the small community of Kelberg in Rhineland-Palatinate support healthcare facilities in 53 countries to efficiently store and manage the supply of pharmaceuticals. In this context, smooth service processes are indispensable. Any downtime of the costumer’s systems would lead to bottlenecks in the supply of medicine to patients.

“Since we are a part of the health care system, our work is based on speed, efficiency and safety. This is why offering reliable customer service for our complex systems is of great importance. At the same time, we continuously strive to improve,” Dr Dorothée Gößwein, Project Manager at BD Rowa, says. “Digitalisation and the use of real-time data open up completely new opportunities for us. Just like we wanted to improve our products, we also wanted to be able to have more time for our customers, while technology takes care of the other tasks automatically.”

BD Rowa Automaten - So senkt BD Rowa die Stillstandszeiten von Kommissioniersystemen

Agile methods guarantee reliability

The set goals were clear, but how could the plan be put into practice – especially in terms of technology? As Dr. Dorothée Gößwein explains, “For such a complex project, you need the right partner on your side. The solutions proposed by ORAYLIS immediately convinced us that they would be the best partner for us to implement this project. The team had a clear idea of what our solution should look like. At the same time, the agile working method of our partner always assured us that we were on the right track.”

Data delivered in real-time

ORAYLIS built a state-of-the-art digital platform in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Previously, machine data was collected on hardware servers in a lengthy process and could only be processed or forwarded at fixed times. The platform now enables a centralised data collection from all customer plants and makes it available in near real time. This applies not only to basic information, error messages or temperature data that the cooling units of the plants continuously send; even extensive videos generated by cameras inside the machines are available immediately. For this purpose, highest security standards in the transfer of data were indispensable.

Avoid malfunctions before they occur

BD Rowa’s support staff can now quickly and efficiently access all of the relevant information via a user-friendly web application. “This enables us to proactively support our customers,” Dr Dorothée Gößwein says enthusiastically. A return channel in the cloud solution even makes it possible to carry out necessary work remotely. Likewise, enquiries to the hotline can be processed with the constantly updated app data without lengthy waiting periods. In addition, the database allows forecast scenarios that can be used to avoid malfunctions in the systems before they occur. “All of these new possibilities help us to further reduce the already low downtimes of our plants, so that our customers can benefit from even higher availability.”

In the future, the cloud approach in Azure will make it possible to flexibly add more and more attractive functions and digital services. For example, BD Rowa’s next step is to use its existing data for an application that allows customers to independently gain valuable insights into the performance of their machines. “Therefore we are very pleased that the ORAYLIS team will continue to support us in our future plans as a guarantee for success ,” concludes Dr Dorothée Gößwein.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Client: BD Rowa Germany GmbH
  • Sector: Industry/order picking systems for pharmaceuticals
  • Project goal: Providing real-time analyses of machine data in applications for service and customers
  • Technologies: Microsoft Azure IoT, Databricks Power BI Embedded
Dirk Ohligschläger
turn your data into value

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Customer success

Digital transformation: evm turns its data into value

Mona Meyer
Division Manager Sales Control and Sales Strategy, Energieversorgung Mittelrhein AG

Before we started working with ORAYLIS, we could only derive business value from our data at great expense. Since the data was stored in many different systems, there was a need for merging the information into one “numerical truth”.

Thanks to their structured and agile approach, the experts at ORAYLIS were able to quickly develop a Modern Data Warehouse in the cloud. We now have a uniform data basis for our business issues – a solid foundation we can build on together. Without external support, such a complex project could have never been realised successfully.

At a glance

  • Client: Energieversorgung Mittelrhein AG
  • Industry: Energy
  • Project objective: Merging the company’s data for new use cases and to create uniform KPIs
  • Technologies: Azure Data Factory, Data Lake Storage, Databricks, Power BI

Energieversorgung Mittelrhein (evm) is the largest municipal energy and service company in Rhineland-Palatinate. Approximately 1,000 employees ensure the supply of green electricity, natural gas, heat and drinking water to a total of 340,000 costumers. Naturally, a large amount of data has always been generated in the daily business – valuable information that, for example, could have been used for creating customer potentials. However, due to the inconsistency of the system at that time, this opportunity went unused: “Our data was available in different individual solutions, some of which were not directly linked,” Mona Meyer, Division Manager Sales Control and Sales Strategy at evm, says. Accordingly, employees in the specialist departments often had to create their queries manually, which cost a lot of time. Quick ad-hoc analyses were also very difficult to carry out.

Reliable decisions were difficult to make

“Above all, however, we had no uniform results and key figures due to the various individual solutions,” Mona Meyer explains. This basis did not allow for reliable decision-making, for example on the distribution of budgets or investments in business and product areas. There was an urgent need for merging the information into one ‘numerical truth’.” A task that initially seemed like an insurmountable hurdle to those responsible: “Given the high level of complexity, the number of people involved and the numerous data sources, we seriously had to ask ourselves: Can this even work?”

An agile approach reduces complexity

The problem was solved by working together with ORAYLIS. “Thanks to the structured and agile approach of our new partner, we were able to quickly get an overview of our initial situation and the next steps,” Mona Meyer says. From day one, the project management team set the right course and involved the appropriate employees in the process. The team quickly worked its way into both the complex structure of the source data and the at times complex technical content. “As the project progressed, the ORAYLIS team was keeping track of everything. Among other things, regular success check-ins and coordination led the project to success in a targeted manner.”

Modern Data Warehouse enables valid decision-making

After only a short period of time, evm had a modern Data Warehouse in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. As a “single point of truth”, the solution collects all data on one platform and finally delivers the desired, consistent key figures. On this basis, the management can now make valid decisions regarding urgent business issues. At the same time, cross-divisional analyses are considerably simplified for employees in controlling, marketing, customer service and sales.

Likewise, the manual effort for standard reports has been eliminated, as these are now provided automatically via Power BI. This saves a lot of time and resources in the process of compiling relevant information. Employees can concentrate on their core tasks. “This is only the beginning of what can and needs to be done. Both our database and our reporting system must now be developed continuously. The expandable cloud approach in Azure and the new platform offer the best conditions for this development. There is one thing that we have learned during this process: For projects like this, it is key to have an experienced partner on your side. We would have never been able to realise our visions successfully with internal resources alone. ORAYLIS provided us with excellent support,” Uwe Worch, head of IT at evm, says.

turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Client: Energieversorgung Mittelrhein AG
  • Industry: Energy
  • Project objective: Merging the company’s data for new use cases and to create uniform KPIs
  • Technologies: Azure Data Factory, Data Lake Storage, Databricks, Power BI
Dirk Ohligschläger
turn your data into value

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Customer success

GermanPersonnel: Digital transformation with new customer services

Christian Oberstädt
Manager Data & Product Strategy, GermanPersonnel

We can now deliver far more quality candidates to our clients for their existing budgets. Thanks to the automated recommendations and success forecasts of our software, ads can be created and distributed much more precisely. And the personal advice provided by our staff has also gained considerably in quality thanks to data-driven standardisations. With this offer we have a real USP that clearly sets us apart from the competition in the e-recruiting market. ORAYLIS has triggered many innovations for us. Together, we are an outstanding team from which much more can be expected in the future.

At a glance

  • Client: GermanPersonnel e-search GmbH
  • Industry: Personnel services
  • Project objective: Establishment of a uniform database and development of innovative recruiting services
  • Technologies: Azure Data Lake, Microsoft SQL Server, Databricks, Power BI Embedded

GermanPersonnel is one of the leading providers of software and services for employee search on the internet in Germany. The company cooperates with Germany’s largest personnel service providers and job portals. With the products of the e-recruiting experts, customers can design their job advertisements and place them on job boards as well as manage applications. In this way, the company has gained special unique selling points on the market. At the same time, it was clear to those responsible that they would not be able to stand out from the growing competition in the long term with this range of services.

Potential in the data was not utilised

“In fact, until then we had only used the extensive data from the recruiting processes selectively, for example for the further development of business processes, products and algorithms for intelligent channel selection,” explains Christian Oberstädt, Manager Data & Product Strategy at GermanPersonnel. “In addition to data, our expertise and a pinch of gut feeling still flowed into our decision-making processes. There was still a lot of potential hidden there.” Therefore, a conscious decision was made to change to a data-driven company. New goals were formulated, such as automatic recommendations when creating job advertisements and predictions about the expected number of applicants. In addition, data should also be used internally by all employees, for example through comprehensive reporting.

Consistent database for reliable evaluations

In order to tackle the ambitious plans in a targeted manner, ORAYLIS was brought in as a partner and guide. An initial status quo analysis revealed that although GermanPersonnel had extensive data, it was not suitable for the desired comprehensive evaluations due to a lack of structure. Therefore, all data from the recruiting processes and other data sources were first brought together in a structured way in a Data Warehouse in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. The preparation of the data for further analysis processes is automated and updated on a daily basis. Thanks to the cloud approach, the solution can grow flexibly depending on the volume of data and the number of customers and key figures.

Michael Althaus ORAYLIS Projekt GermanPersonnel

However, innovations such as predicting clicks and applicant numbers could not have been implemented on this basis alone. “For such requirements, exact information on the entire candidate journey is needed,” explains Michael Althaus, project manager at ORAYLIS. Therefore, a special tracking tool is used. “The tool continuously collects anonymised, event-driven web data from almost 180,000 job ads, with data sovereignty remaining with GermanPersonnel.”

Customers save time and money

Christian Oberstädt, Manager Data & Product sums up the added value of the intelligent, data-based recruiting solution: “Today, we can provide our clients with significantly more high-quality candidates for their existing budgets. Thanks to the automated recommendations and success forecasts of our software, advertisements can be created much more precisely and distributed to the mass of recruiting channels. And the personal advice provided by our staff has also improved considerably thanks to data-driven standardisations.”

Finally, the daily updated statistics enable a targeted control of the ads already placed. At the same time, successes become transparent and measurable. Last but not least, the user saves a great deal of time through a clear and structured management of his job advertisements and applicants.

New service is a USP on the market

GermanPersonnel also benefits directly from the solution. “With this offer, we have a real USP that clearly sets us apart from the competition in the market for e-recruiting,” says Christian Oberstädt. In addition, the company has been able to define economically sensible packages for ad placements thanks to the new analysis options. The more valid planning basis ensures noticeable savings when purchasing traffic and clicks from the relevant job boards. Meanwhile, the fast-growing company is preventing staff shortages in-house by automating processes.

Overall, the digitalisation of all processes leads to significantly higher efficiency and more reliable decisions. Together with ORAYLIS, the company has completed the transformation to a Data Driven Company, and according to Christian Oberstädt, this development is far from complete: “ORAYLIS has triggered many innovations for us. Together, we are an outstanding team from which we can expect a lot more in the future.”


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Client: GermanPersonnel e-search GmbH
  • Industry: Personnel services
  • Project objective: Establishment of a uniform database and development of innovative recruiting services
  • Technologies: Azure Data Lake, Microsoft SQL Server, Databricks, Power BI Embedded
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

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Customer success

How innogy is preparing for the future with a digital platform

At a glance

  • Data Analytics system in the Azure cloud enables flexible growth
  • All user groups can work with data and generate new values
  • Data from SAP BW can be seamlessly integrated into analyses

The business situation of our client

In many companies, long-standing analytics systems are increasingly reaching their limits. They can no longer cope with the constantly growing number of users and data – and with them the ever increasing demands on data analysis. As a result, a great deal of potential for business remains unused.

The energy supplier innogy also found itself in this situation and turned to us for help. The company needed a future-proof platform that met the following requirements:

  • New data sources can be connected quickly and easily
  • Data can be made available to the largest possible group of users
  • Grow flexibly as new requirements arise
  • Data-driven innovations can be implemented easily
  • The efficiency of company-wide data analysis is increased

A particular challenge was to integrate an existing SAP BW on Hana into the solution. Above all, this data should later be seamlessly available across the entire system.

innogy Projektbericht ORAYLIS

The solution for our client

Due to the high demands on flexibility and future-proofing, we built innogy’s new data analytics platform in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Our platform consists of a data warehouse with classic layer architecture as well as a Data Lake to which new data sources can be quickly connected and used by defined user groups. This means that data from SAP BW can also be accepted, processed and made available very easily.

The Microsoft services Power BI and Excel are primarily available as analysis tools. However, third-party tools can also be used if required. In this way, the needs of all user groups can be covered. It is possible to automatically provide business users with interactive standard reports as well as to give data scientists and business analysts the necessary freedom for ad-hoc analyses. Comprehensive authorisation concepts regulate access to the data.

How data turns into new value

With the new cloud platform, innogy is now optimally positioned for the future in the value-oriented use of its data:

  • The platform can grow flexibly with new requirements at any time
  • Data scientists, business analysts and specialist users can all create new value from data in equal measure
  • Data is quickly and easily available to business departments for analytical purposes
  • Staff can concentrate on the core tasks of value-oriented data analysis
  • Efficiency has increased while costs have decreased
  • The protection of sensitive data is fully ensured


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Data Analytics system in the Azure cloud enables flexible growth
  • All user groups can work with data and generate new values
  • Data from SAP BW can be seamlessly integrated into analyses
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

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Customer success

Energy giant manages digital transformation with a cloud platform

At a glance

  • Digital platform in the Microsoft Azure Cloud provides mass data centrally
  • Cross-divisional analyses enable diverse synergies for the business
  • New requirements can be implemented quickly and effectively

The business situation of our client

One of the fundamental obstacles in the digitalisation of companies is that each specialist department only works in isolation on its own data files. One of our customers from the energy sector also had to realise this. The provider wanted to finally unlock the potential in its data and achieve valid insights across the company.

The obstacles at a glance:

  • Employees could not work with data across disciplines, so potential synergies remained unused
  • Without a “single point of truth”, divergent key figures and results were circulating in the company.
  • New applications and innovations could not be implemented due to the lack of a uniform, consolidated database.
  • Resources were unnecessarily tied up within the departments for the operation of their own, small data solutions.

Consequently, our client’s objective was:

  • Consolidate all regions and divisions
  • To take over all existing use cases and data
  • To store and process structured and unstructured data
  • To enable the solution to be operated by the company’s own IT department.
  • To implement the technological basis within three months

The solution for our client

The basis of our solution is a digital platform that we built quickly and efficiently using Microsoft Azure Cloud services. This not only enabled us to meet the tight schedule. Rather, our customer has the possibility to use storage and computing capacities according to their current needs.

All company data is now united on the central platform and made available for the most diverse application scenarios:

  • We store data on customer contracts, prices and smart metering in a data lake.
  • The local ERP is connected to the platform and also makes its data available via the cloud.
  • Data from the hydropower sector is visualised directly in real-time dashboards.
  • We also make the data from the wind power sector available to the specialist departments via a real-time route

Microsoft’s leading analysis service Power BI serves as a front-end tool for the presentation of the information as well as free analyses by the specialist departments.

How data turns into new values

With the cloud platform, our client has created the ideal conditions for its digital transformation from a technological point of view. Users from all areas can now finally evaluate data in a combined way to unlock new values and synergies for the company.

Some examples:

  • Customer management: cross-divisional analyses provide new insights and enable the construction of forecasting models.
  • Finance: For the first time, users can carry out independent reporting and make it accessible to other company divisions.
  • Hydropower: Real-time dashboards can be published via a collaboration platform and made available for collaborative editing.
  • Wind power: Users can carry out free analyses on real-time data and combine them with other sources.

There is also the technical benefit:

  • IT can offer business departments an integrated platform for all use cases.
  • Development processes can be made agile
  • All departments can start new application projects within minutes.
  • Data scientists can carry out analyses in isolated environments without burdening the platform or users.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Digital platform in the Microsoft Azure Cloud provides mass data centrally
  • Cross-divisional analyses enable diverse synergies for the business
  • New requirements can be implemented quickly and effectively
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

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Customer success

How an energy supplier prevents customer churn

At a glance

  • Data-based churn model maps customer behaviour in the future
  • Potential churn candidates are automatically recognised
  • Model optimises itself independently through artificial intelligence and machine learning

The business situation of our client

The market for energy suppliers is characterised by a similar level of performance and quality of the suppliers as well as very low switching barriers for consumers. The willingness to change suppliers is correspondingly high. Companies react to this decreasing customer loyalty with so-called churn management, whereby “churn” is an artificial term made up of “change” and “turn”. In other words, it is about measures that prevent customer churn.

The comprehensive use of data can considerably increase success while reducing costs. This is illustrated by the example of one of our clients. At an early stage, we set up a learning churn model for the now established market entrant that not only reliably identifies potential churn candidates. At the same time, it ensures that the customers who fit the products are addressed.

The solution for our client

The model thrives on the linking of diverse sources and variables on a modern, digital platform. The goal is to represent each customer as accurately as possible. For example, existing customer feedback from the call centre and from marketing campaigns flows into the model. The respective consumption data is also included, as an unsuitable tariff can also cause dissatisfaction. In addition, information on the profitability of the contract is included. All this data is compared with price comparison portals – i.e. are there competing tariffs that could be more interesting for the customer? And: How does the company actually compare to the competition in individual tariff segments?

Further information is provided by campaigns such as “Customers recruit customers”. Because active “recruiters” are considered relatively safe. The same applies to those who have been recruited. On the other hand, if such opinion leaders leave, the danger increases that other customers will follow suit. Last but not least, external sources are taken into account, such as population density and market penetration in certain postcode areas. For example, in regions with low population density and penetration, customers migrate more quickly through the recommendations of neighbours.

How data turns into new values

On this basis, the churn model independently provides a timely warning for each profitable customer with potential switching intentions. Accordingly, the provider can take targeted – and usually successful – countermeasures with individually tailored marketing measures.

The special feature of the model is that it continuously optimises itself through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning functions and adapts to changing conditions. The starting point is the existing data from contract renewals and contract terminations. This “learning material” is continuously searched for regularities and patterns. Over time, relevant variables emerges, such as dissatisfaction with prices or certain services. The ideal time to approach the change candidate can also be determined in this way.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Data-based churn model maps customer behaviour in the future
  • Potential churn candidates are automatically recognised
  • Model optimises itself independently through artificial intelligence and machine learning
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

Let’s get started!

Would you also like to use your data to inspire your customers and retain them in the long term?

Join #teamoraylispeople

Shape the world
of data with us

Customer success

How to make your production more efficient with real-time data

At a glance

  • Manufacturer of special pumps monitors its entire production in real time
  • Companies, customers and employees benefit from more transparency and improved processes
  • Solution connects local SAP ERP with services in the Azure Cloud

The business situation of our client

Production processes must be as efficient as possible in order for companies to survive in global competition. This was also recognised by one of our industrial customers, a global leader in the manufacture of special pumps. Together, we implemented a monitoring system based on real-time data for its entire production line and achieved a large number of improvements as a result. Because: Up until this point, neither the production status nor the progress of an order could be tracked. The finished goods usually reached the shipping department without notice.

The solution for our client

Our customer’s production process involves pushing the picked individual parts of a pump from one production cell to the next on a transport trolley. In our solution, each trolley receives its own RFID tag, which is linked to the relevant order. The individual manufacturing cells are equipped with corresponding RFID gates. We process the resulting data stream via a real-time route based on services from the Microsoft Azure cloud: An Azure Event Hub receives the data and distributes it further. The data is then analysed in real time via Azure Stream Analytics. We have also connected a local SAP ERP with quality-assured reference data. Only by linking it to the SAP data do the findings from the real-time information gain concrete significance. Finally, the data is visualised via a real-time monitoring dashboard in Power BI.

How data turns into new values

The data-driven real-time monitoring generates new values for our customer on very different levels. The status quo of each individual pump can now be precisely tracked. Likewise, those responsible can obtain an overview of all current orders in real time. As a result, the various production steps can be coordinated much more precisely. For example, the efficiency of the employees in the production cells has increased significantly, as they are now informed about upcoming orders at an early stage. And of course, the company’s customers are also much more satisfied: they receive much more precise information about the status and delivery date of their goods.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Manufacturer of special pumps monitors its entire production in real time
  • Companies, customers and employees benefit from more transparency and improved processes
  • Solution connects local SAP ERP with services in the Azure Cloud
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

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Would you like to analyse your data in real-time to make business and production processes more effective and customer-friendly?

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Customer success

Digital platform gives mobile provider a competitive edge

At a glance

  • Central, digital platform brings together all data with maximum depth of detail
  • Those responsible receive a comprehensive view of all relevant business processes
  • Various departments use data to create new value for the company, customers and employees

The business situation of our client

Like all mobile phone providers, one of our clients was struggling with massive competition and cost pressure in the industry. At the same time, the company’s extensive data hid a wide range of potentials to differentiate itself from the competition and to complete the digital transformation. However, due to a proliferation of different analytical solutions and data silos in the individual departments, these remained largely unused:

  • Fragmented data – for example on purchase history, reaction to campaigns or behaviour on the web – made an overarching view of the customer impossible.
  • Due to a lack of data quality, depth of detail and possibilities for linking, it was not possible to carry out multi-value analyses on customers, products, branches, supply chains or financial flows.
  • Due to the lack of a single point of truth, no consistent business metrics were available as a basis for key decisions.
  • Issuing different front-ends drove up operating costs.

Therefore, it was necessary to consolidate all data with maximum detail on a central, digital platform and make it available for different use cases and analyses of the individual departments. A uniform self-service solution for all areas was to support this objective. Similarly, reporting for management and operational processes had to be standardised across departments. Last but not least, real-time data was to be made usable for the business.

The solution for our client

Our client’s integrated platform is to be understood as a Modern Data Warehouse. As usual, we exclusively used Microsoft technologies. The development included the following steps:

 

  1. Formation of a BI Competence Centre in Controlling
  2. Data modelling: We network all data on the platform in maximum detail. The flexible data model enables rapid adaptation to market changes.
  3. Data integration: All departments and their data are integrated step by step.
  4. Near-real-time: Based on a Lambda architecture, we enable the processing of real-time data in all required processes.
  5. Self-service: Business users receive easy-to-use self-service tools (Excel, Power BI). The self-explanatory data model also allows simple data management activities.
  6. Ad-hoc analysis: Business users have the option of carrying out free analyses in the data rooms provided.
  7. Data governance: The solution is legally approved by data protection officers.

 

How data turns into new values

Our client now has a comprehensive view of all relevant business processes. The different departments can use all data for their respective use cases to optimise the business and create new values that benefit the company, its customers as well as its own employees:

  • Need-based customer targeting: customers are addressed with the appropriate products at the right time on the preferred channel.
  • New products: Fine segmentation enables innovative offers and quick adaptation to market trends.
  • Reliable contribution margins: Sales of contracts can already be forecast when the contract is signed.
  • Mobile sales management: Reports and dashboards can be accessed on all conceivable devices.
  • Transparent dealer management: Advertising cost subsidies, sales promotions and commissions are clearly displayed.
  • Detailed advertising success control: The success of advertising measures on the web can be evaluated in detail, right down to the contribution margin achieved per customer.
  • Fraud detection: Within a few months, irregularities were uncovered that would have caused losses in the millions.
  • Churn management: Customers who are willing to switch are identified at an early stage and addressed with individual marketing measures.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Central, digital platform brings together all data with maximum depth of detail
  • Those responsible receive a comprehensive view of all relevant business processes
  • Various departments use data to create new value for the company, customers and employees
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

Let’s get started!

Do you want to modernise your data analytics and unlock new value for your business, your customers and your employees?

Join #teamoraylispeople

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of data with us

Customer success

Analysis of receipts down to item level: Retailer gains maximum benefit for business

At a glance

  • Central, digital platform brings together three years of historical POS data
  • For the first time, receipt data can be analysed down to item level
  • Various departments from controlling and marketing to purchasing and auditing benefit from the findings.

The business situation of our client

In retail, the analysis of receipts can be a source for a variety of business improvements. However, not all receipt data analysis is the same, as the example of one of our clients shows. The large retail group was already using cash register data as a decision support tool. But only historical evaluations could be made on aggregated data. Ad-hoc analyses were also hardly possible. Accordingly, the potential of the extensive available data was at best only rudimentarily unlocked.

This situation was mainly due to the fact that each department was working on its own systems with too little performance and its own, very limited data pool. Therefore, our most important step was to consolidate all data with maximum detail in a modern enterprise Data Warehouse (DWH) to network it and make it available company-wide.

The solution for our client

In the central enterprise DWH, we have combined the historical cash register data of the past three years. In total, this involves over 100 billion receipt lines or 30 TB of data. The enormous amounts of data as well as the complex requirements of a detailed receipt data analysis require a high-performance data model as well as modern, powerful technologies. In addition to our many years of experience, Microsoft products have provided us with the best services here, as usual.

The new solution offers our customer high data quality, great transparency of sources as well as very efficient data processing. For example, data for ad-hoc analyses can be retrieved within a few seconds. The data is processed intelligently – i.e. even different formats can be read out uniformly in one processing step. These processes are automated.

How data turns into new values

Our customer can now analyse every receipt down to the level of individual items. This benefits very different areas of the company, such as:

Controlling

  • Ad-hoc analyses with all relevant key figures and dimensions
  • Comparison of branches and regions as well as products and product groups
  • Data can be used as a reliable basis for important decisions

Marketing

  • Data on baseline sales per day, shop and article, as well as on the take-up effects of promotional merchandise
  • Model for advertising success control optimises marketing expenses
  • Integrated inventory management for supplementary evaluation of seasonal items and discount promotions
  • Customised offers and discounts for customers
  • Purchasing
  • Determination of the best price in relation to sales increases turnover and profits
  • Evaluation of autodisposition optimises shelf utilisation and capital commitment

Revision

  • Irregularities are automatically displayed or detected


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Central, digital platform brings together three years of historical POS data
  • For the first time, receipt data can be analysed down to item level
  • Various departments from controlling and marketing to purchasing and auditing benefit from the findings.
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

Let’s get started!

Would you also like to use your POS data to comprehensively optimise your business and gain a clear advantage over your competitors?

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Customer success

Mobile providers: How to inspire your customers with tailor-made offers

At a glance

  • Digital “Interaction Advisor” supports staff in sales talks
  • System automatically delivers action guidelines and individual product suggestions
  • Tailor-made offers inspire customers and optimise contribution margins

The business situation of our client

Mobile phone providers are faced with a dichotomy: on the one hand, individual contracts must generate the highest possible contribution margin. On the other hand, it is important to inspire consumers with tailor-made offers and to retain them in the long term. The example of one of our clients shows how these seemingly contradictory requirements can be effectively combined with the targeted use of data. Using Microsoft technologies, we have built a system that automatically defines offers based on comprehensive customer and tariff information, from which both the company and its customers benefit equally.

The solution for our client

Our solution is a so-called Interaction Advisor in the contact mask of the company-wide CRM. It provides the hotline and shop agents in direct customer contact with all important information about the respective purchase history and the current contract value. At the same time, the salesperson receives a guide to action as well as a selection of individual product and solution proposals with exact contribution margin forecasts. The system makes use of hundreds of predefined tariff and option combinations. Likewise, possible negotiation margins as well as the agent’s reward for successful contract conclusions or extensions are taken into account.

How data turns into new values

The information provided enables the salesperson to advise the customer much better and to respond to his or her individual needs with tailor-made offers. The customer feels personally addressed and in good hands with the provider. Thus, the new system contributes to higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. At the same time, the solution makes an effective contribution to churn management. And finally, the company benefits from optimised contribution margins.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Digital “Interaction Advisor” supports staff in sales talks
  • System automatically delivers action guidelines and individual product suggestions
  • Tailor-made offers inspire customers and optimise contribution margins
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

Let’s get started!

Would you also like to inspire your customers with tailor-made offers from which you as a company derive the greatest possible benefit?

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of data with us

Customer success

Predictive maintenance: machine builder inspires customers with AI-based forecasts

At a glance

  • Packaging equipment manufacturer enhances its products with data-based services
  • AI-supported forecasts reliably predict machine downtimes and defects
  • Efficiency gains range from warehousing to overall productivity

The business situation of our client

In global competition, efficient production processes are a decisive factor for success. Against this backdrop, digitalisation offers manufacturers of machines and production lines many opportunities to inspire their customers with data-based services from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). For example, we implemented prognosis scenarios for predictive maintenance for a globally operating machine manufacturer, which significantly increase the efficiency of the manufactured plants.

The objective of our client was to:

  • Prevent machine downtimes
  • To exclude machine damage
  • Minimise downtimes
  • Identify typical malfunctions
  • Optimise maintenance intervals
  • Improve productivity

The solution for our client

The starting point for our data-based forecasting services is historical as well as current machine data. On this basis, a prognosis model is set up and continuously improved:

  1. We continuously collect the sensor data of the machines
  2. We supplement current measured values with quality-assured master data
  3. We generate diagnostic data on machine problems
  4. We train a machine learning model on the basis of the diagnostic data.
  5. We continuously compare our optimisation algorithms with real-time data.

How data turns into new values

By using our AI-based prognosis model, the machine operators can specifically prevent possible malfunctions and defects. The availability of the machines in operation has improved significantly as a result. But our customer also benefits from the optimisations at its customers: Testing costs and costly recall campaigns are avoided, and warranty costs are significantly reduced. At the same time, customer satisfaction and loyalty have increased.

The improvements for all involved in concrete figures:

  • Machine defects and failures are detected 75% proactively
  • Downtimes have been reduced by 50 to 80%.
  • Maintenance costs have been reduced by 50 to 80%
  • Warranty costs have been reduced by over 50%
  • Inventory costs reduced by 20 to 30%
  • Overtime costs reduced by 20 to 50%.
  • Overall productivity increased by 20 to 30%.


turn your data into value.

At a glance

  • Packaging equipment manufacturer enhances its products with data-based services
  • AI-supported forecasts reliably predict machine downtimes and defects
  • Efficiency gains range from warehousing to overall productivity
Jens Kröhnert
turn your data into value

Let’s get started!

Do you also want to use your data to sustainably increase the efficiency of your products and to bind your customers with data-based services?

Join #teamoraylispeople

Shape the world
of data with us