Retailer migrated their legacy SQL Server databases to power real-time business decisions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a Canadian clothing retailer needed robust analytics to navigate shifting consumer behavior, but their on-premises SQL Server databases couldn't keep up. The retailer needed a fast, cost-effective strategy and deployment plan to migrate to the right cloud data platform. Leaning into a partner with proven data platform experience and expertise, they seamlessly deployed the data lake migration, built smooth ETL pipelines, and delivered custom analytics, all in just seven weeks. Internal marketing and BI teams now self-serve using prompts instead of waiting for reports from IT. The retailer has a scalable foundation for machine learning and AI.
Executives lacked data to navigate rapid market shifts
COVID-19 slowed in-store traffic and accelerated online sales, the retailer did not have a clear view into their existing product and purchasing patterns, impacting their ability to use data for predict power.
On-premises SQL Server couldn't scale
The existing platform couldn't ingest large volumes of structured and unstructured data from POS, web, inventory, and customer systems.
Critical business data sat in disconnected systems
POS transactions, e-commerce orders, shipping records, and customer demographics were spread across multiple sources with no unified view.
Cloud adoption felt too costly and slow
To justify the shift to a digital-first strategy, leadership demanded a transparent and quantifiable return on investment, mandating that the migration to the cloud data platform would serve as the primary engine for business growth, AI enablement and predictive power.
Deployed a seamless data migration to empower enterprise analytics.
The deployment of the enterprise analytics platform was designed to expand self-service insights, using advanced machine learning capabilities they empower users to prompt analytics agents with queries about customer buying patterns to generate reports.
The team built a cloud data lake and ETL pipelines in days.
In just days, the retailer stood up a cloud data lake and built ETL pipelines to ingest and house over 100 million records. Two years of purchase data and customer details across eight tables and 230 columns were consolidated into a single, queryable source.
Custom Power BI dashboards gave every team self-serve access.
Pythian developed use-case-specific visualizations in Microsoft Power BI, the retailer's preferred tool. Marketing, operations, and executive teams gained self-serve access to actionable views of customer, store, and purchase metrics.
The full solution went live in just seven weeks.
The team aligned on a use case and built a high-level data model in the first two weeks, then delivered a production-ready solution over the next five. The retailer expanded scope mid-project after seeing early results.
Certified experts partnered closely with the retailer's IT team.
The team aligned on a use case and built a high-level data model in the first two weeks, then delivered a production-ready solution over the next five. The retailer expanded scope mid-project after seeing early results.
Seven-week BigQuery analytics rollout across 300+ stores
Powering faster decisions
The data platform pilot proved the value of cloud analytics in weeks, giving the CTO tangible results to secure buy-in for broader cloud migration. Marketing and BI teams moved from waiting on IT for every report to self-serving insights through custom Power BI dashboards built on over 100 million records. The retailer was so encouraged by early results that they expanded the project scope mid-engagement and began planning to leverage Google Cloud's machine learning capabilities.
100M+
Records ingested
7
Weeks to production
2
Years of data unified
Ready to launch self-serve analytics in just weeks?
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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