To improve the efficiency of its business teams (marketing, sales, and after-sales), Airbus sought a tool that would allow itto easily analyze a very large volume of statisticaldata on the civil aviation market.
The Business Information Object (BIO) project used an agile approach to lead the development of the DigDash Enterprise decision-making solution. It now provides more than 300 users with a solution for transforming massive amounts of data (5 billion records!) into relevant information. Today, Airbus’s business teams are able toidentify trends, develop key marketing messages, guide customers toward consistent models, and project tangible potential gains related to the operation of its aircraft.
Big Data means big
An analysis of statistical data on the global airline market over the past 30 years holds the potential to yield a wealth of information for marketing teams. However, until now, the aircraft manufacturer did not have a tool capable of processing such large volumes of data. The main challenge of the BIO project is to build a tool capable of processing very large volumes of data—without requiring the multidimensional analysis grid (cube) to be reconfigured for each new analytical query. Lacking a suitable solution, Airbus turned to SQLI. SQLI was already working on the existing business intelligence platform and was familiar with the context and the business. As a result, they recommended the DigDash Enterprise solution, a business intelligence tool based on in-memory computing technology. (RAM) This solution enables the creation of dashboards that can be accessed via the web.
Eric Gavoty, VP of Sales & Marketing at DigDash, explains regarding the solution: “ “Our DigDash Enterprise software can natively analyze both structured and unstructured data and handle very large volumes of data (in this case, processing 5 billion rows with near-instantaneous results). This secures its position as a leading agile Big Data or Big Analytics software solution.”
Claudie Costes-Druilhe, Head of SQLI’s Decision-Making Division, adds: “SQLI very quickly decided to invest in the DigDash Enterprise product. The idea was to address the challenges of designing dashboards and exploring data in large databases. All of this while taking into account the complexity of the IT systems to be integrated. We shared this vision with our clients during a ‘breakfast meeting.’ It was organized in Toulouse in partnership with the software vendor, and was followed by the successful implementation of the solution as part of this project.”
An Agile project in “plateau” mode
Beyond storage issues, importing large volumes of data was a challenge. But what was most important was analyzing the data by cross-referencing the imported data with Airbus’s internal data. This was especially true for the business and IT teams, who opted for an agile development approach. This work was carried out through a cross-functional team comprising developers, IT architects, and business experts. The goal was to facilitate information sharing and test the product during the development phase.
Integration into the Airbus IT environment
The BIO project turned out to be quite unusual; it was, in fact, a business-IT project. This winning business-IT partnership worked perfectly to challenge conventional methods and in-house “off-the-shelf” tools. In addition, the steering committee specifically sought support from the systems integrator SQLI. SQLI provided consultants with the “soft skills” essential to the project’s success. The business intelligence experts provided by SQLI were selected for their abilities that went beyond mere technical skills—an innovation-oriented mindset, to name just one.
User Autonomy
Now Samuel Picaud, Business Project Leader, and Aurélien Turina, IT Project Leader, who are in charge of the BIO project, have succeeded in their endeavor. Indeed, by delivering the foundation that makes information available to the teams, the platform is entering the production phase. The newly created data stewards ensure that objects are correctly and accurately classified (geography, accounts, devices, airports, etc.), all of which is drawn fromthe massive database. At the same time, a separate team oversees the system’s governance and decides on its future developments.
“With the BIO project, we’re truly driving our digital transformation. We’ve shifted from a ‘push’ model to a ‘pull’ model for information. What’s more, our business teams no longer have to wait for a monthly report to arrive in their inboxes. They go directly to find the information they need. To our users, it still feels a bit like magic. In fact, the tool we’ve implemented provides them with a simple view despite the extreme complexity of the backend.
“Combined with its ease of use, the DigDash Enterprise solution’s fast response times are a key factor that has helped win over information consumers.” Samuel Picaud, Business Project Leader, Airbus.