Data Analytics Services

Customer story

Cascades unlocked SAP data in Google Cloud

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Cascades replaced a costly, siloed SAP environment with a Google Cloud.

Pythian deployed a phased Google Cloud solution using BigQuery and Cortex Framework to unlock siloed manufacturing data.

Cascades, an industry-leading sustainable paper manufacturer, relied on a legacy SAP Business Warehouse infrastructure to drive a large volume of business. However, the platform was too costly to scale and too fragmented to provide executive reports, as data sat siloed across manufacturing, sales, and marketing. Google recommended Pythian to build a bridge, leading to a phased migration to Google Cloud using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Foundations, our Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) QuickStart solution, and the Google Cloud Cortex Framework. Cascades' BI team now operates the platform independently, freeing employees from manual data consolidation to focus on strategic, real-time analytics. 

Pythian’s professional services team was thorough and knowledgeable about what it would take to build an enterprise data platform on Google Cloud. They outlined how we could do this cost-effectively, while still meeting our most urgent business requirements."
Guillaume Fournier, Director, Business Intelligence Centre of Expertise, Cascades Canada
Guillaume Fournier

Director, Business Intelligence Centre of Expertise, Cascades Canada

99.99%

BigQuery availability SLA

3

SAP data sources unified

Move from siloed enterprise data to real-time cloud insights. 

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Cascades dealt with operational constraints as siloed manufacturing and marketing data metrics delayed executive reporting. 

Pythian collaborated with their BI team to transform data workflows, transitioning employees from passive data gatekeepers into autonomous analytical strategists.

Our legacy platform simply could not scale alongside our business demands, leaving critical marketing and manufacturing metrics completely isolated. Pythian helped us eliminate these processing bottlenecks, shifting our entire technical workflow from manual data compilation to immediate, strategic insight generation."
Guillaume Fournier, Director, Business Intelligence Centre of Expertise, Cascades Canada
Guillaume Fournier

Director, Business Intelligence Centre of Expertise, Cascades Canada

FRAGMENTED DATA

Siloed modules blocked cross-functional analysis

Manufacturing, sales, and marketing data lived in separate SAP modules. The BI team had no way to pull them together for a single coherent view.

COST AND TALENT

SAP BW drained budget and relied on scarce expertise

High licensing costs and a near-impossible senior talent market made SAP Business Warehouse an unsustainable foundation for Cascades' analytics.

LIMITED CAPABILITY

Legacy systems restricted executive reporting

Cascades' BI team couldn't build the advanced forecasting models or executive reports the business needed to support strategic decisions.

CLOUD READINESS

Google Cloud needed hardening before data could move

Cascades' GCP environment required a full review of identity management, network configuration, and data security before the migration could start.

Pythian validated and hardened Cascades' Google Cloud environment.

Engineers reviewed Cascades’ cloud configuration from the ground up to verify enterprise security, identity management, and network connectivity. This foundational phase introduced key modifications to ensure the landing zone was entirely production-ready.

SAP manufacturing data was centralized into BigQuery.

QuickStart pulls multiple data sources into a single BigQuery data warehouse and makes them available for analysis across the business. For Cascades, that meant pulling SAP manufacturing forecasting data into BigQuery fast, with Cloud Composer handling orchestration, Cloud Storage providing redundancy, and Dataproc running data transformation.

The Cortex Framework was customized to make SAP data actionable.

Pythian customized the Google Cloud Cortex Framework for Cascades' specific SAP configuration. As a result, SAP's complex naming conventions became something the business intelligence team and executives could easily read and act on without needing an SAP specialist in the room. Pythian then connected these refined data streams to a Looker dashboard, making real-time insights instantly accessible across the entire business. 

Pythian trained the BI team to run the platform independently.

Pythian worked closely with Cascades’ BI team to teach them the ins and outs of the new setup. Instead of keeping the client reliant on outside support, this hands-on training ensured the internal team could confidently manage the system day to day. Now, team members can autonomously pull in new datasets, adjust forecasting parameters, and scale the cloud platform as the business grows. 

Modernize your enterprise data architecture to unlock real-time analytics. 

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Pythian is a proud Google Cloud Premier Partner

Lean into our deep expertise, and 25+ years of data heritage.

Our expertise spans the full Google ecosystem, helping customers harness the power of scalable cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and modern AI modelling to drive innovation. We combine world-class technical skills with a customer-centric approach to accelerate digital transformation and maximize the value of your Google investment.

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Pythian is a Google Cloud Premier Partner.

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