Challenge
Most organizations have a large volume of data available, including information about customers, products, services, and more. All this data can be incredible useful to companies by giving them insight into how they can improve customer experiences or improve operational efficiency. However, without the right strategy and technology in place, all of that data may just sit there like a digital paperweight, providing little valuable insight for companies to act on.
This was exactly where a large real estate investment firm found themselves. They wanted to gain more insight and knowledge from their data but were burdened by extensive manual data entry, data that was siloed in multiple locations, and delays in reporting and data. In addition to these already large challenges, their on-premise infrastructure was nearing data capacity. They knew they needed to take action and leaders were ready to shift their data to the cloud.
Ultimately, their goal was simple: enable corporate agility by implementing a platform that would ultimately allow them to gain valuable, actionable insights through data and analytics. Now they just needed the right tools and expertise to get there, and they turned to Fusion for assistance.
Solution
Cloud Solution
We started with an assessment of their existing system and data sources to determine what type of data platform would provide company stakeholders with better insights into their data. Our client was looking at different cloud options and wanted to ensure their platform decision would align with their existing systems while helping to improve their current processes.
More than just a new implementation, they also needed the right data strategy in place that would allow them to meet new business goals. Based on interviews with stakeholders and the results of the platform evaluation, we ultimately recommended a hybrid cloud model that would work with their existing infrastructure, utilizing Azure as a cloud solution and the Snowflake data platform. We created a roadmap that prioritized options for building out their data and technology strategy and a plan for getting from the current state to the updated future state.
Implementation & Proof of Concept
Armed with the recommendation and roadmap, this investment firm was ready for implementation. Our data and analytics team worked with them to:
- Build out the new data architecture, data model, and ingest processes
- Identify and integrate new data sources into their analytics environment
- Create and refine data governance processes and information
This process gave them the means to store and manage data effectively, and from there, our team helped them develop and implement dashboards and analytics reporting that would give them the insights they needed to make informed business decisions. Given its analytics and visualization capabilities, automation functions, and ease of customization, we knew that Power BI was the right tool for this client’s analytics needs.
Continued property insights
Because this real estate investment firm focuses on shopping malls, data from their shoppers was critical. They wanted to track how well their properties were engaging with customers via different social media channels. We worked with their marketing department to build out a dashboard pulling data from Facebook, Instagram, Chatmeter, marketing email interactions, and other social media platforms to give them the detailed look they wanted.
