SUMMARY
A global freight data company partnered with OmniAnalytics by Fresche (formerly OmniData) to modernize its data infrastructure by migrating from a legacy server farm to Microsoft Azure and Power BI. The Azure migration process was a critical step in modernizing the company’s data infrastructure and improving operational efficiency.
- 24/7/365 Data Accessibility: Customers now have uninterrupted access to their shipping data anytime, anywhere.
- Significantly Lower Costs: Azure’s pay-per-use model reduced infrastructure expenses and improved budget predictability.
- Faster Reporting: Power BI dashboards provide near-instant analytics and actionable insights.
- Effortless Scalability: The cloud-native architecture supports growing data demands and seamless customer onboarding.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: Real-time, accurate data access has elevated service levels.
About the Company
The client is a global freight data company that provides transportation data solutions and shipping insights to World Top 1,000, Fortune 500, and SMB businesses. They manage invoicing in 28 currencies, deliver services in 24 languages, and process over 230 million shipments annually. Their mission is to empower customers with actionable insights to optimize supply chain analytics and operations.
The Challenge: Modernizing Legacy Systems to Meet Growing Demands
The transportation industry plays a vital role in the global economy, enabling the efficient distribution of goods and services across national and international borders. For the client, acquisitions had been a key growth driver, but with several acquisitions across the globe, their line-of-business system became distributed on a global scale, resulting in 22 different databases. While the company had already ingested the data from each acquisition into a consistent dataset with common data elements, the sheer volume of data presented new challenges. Processing more than 230 million shipments annually meant employees and systems had to work with extremely large datasets in real time, with the largest containing 1.7 billion rows.
“Just moving that much data around on a regular basis is a challenge,” notes their Manager of Data Services.
The company relied on a legacy environment with outdated Perl scripts and older SQL servers housed in a colocated datacenter over 10 years old. Daily data updates required downloading, syncing, and validating large files from multiple servers, during which customers could not access their data. Freight data was spread across five servers, forcing customers to extract and manually combine data for an end-to-end view. The system also supported 3,000 subscribers with personalized data views, adding further complexity.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations of this infrastructure, as customers demanded 24/7 access to shipping data and actionable insights.
Key challenges included:
- Manual data updates were time-consuming and error-prone, affecting accuracy and timeliness.
- The legacy server farm could not scale to meet growing data demands.
- Delays and inaccuracies in reporting led to customer dissatisfaction.
- Maintaining the outdated infrastructure was costly and resource-intensive.
“We knew we had to set the audacious goal of completing the entire lift-shift-transform process without a single minute of downtime. Our customers need access to their data.”
– Director of Customer Care
The Solution: Migrating to Azure for Scalability and Real-Time Insights
The challenges faced by the company highlighted the urgent need for an Azure migration to address scalability and real-time data access. The client partnered with OmniAnalytics by Fresche (formerly OmniData) to modernize their data infrastructure by migrating from a legacy server farm to Microsoft Azure and Power BI. The solution was designed to address the client’s challenges while ensuring uninterrupted service for their customers.
Key elements of the solution included:
- Data Consolidation: Unified 22 databases into a consistent dataset with common data elements.
- Azure Synapse Integration: Provided secure, scalable data storage with disaster recovery capabilities.
- Power BI Deployment: Delivered interactive dashboards for actionable insights and faster decision-making.
- Enhanced Security: Implemented multifactor authentication and compliance with 19 regulatory policies.
The migration wasn’t just about improving storage capacity. The client had bigger plans to enhance analytics capabilities and customer experience. By layering Power BI on the Azure migration, the company eliminated hours of manual data manipulation for customers. Power BI provided live, interactive dashboards that offered visibility throughout the shipping portion of their supply chain, regardless of shipping mode. Customers could now view summary invoice-level data, quickly identify anomalies, and drill down into supporting data to find root causes.
“In one case, we realized we could put what the customer was trying to solve right on the screen with Power BI,” said the CIO.
Although some customers were initially unfamiliar with Power BI, training sessions helped them transition smoothly. Customers quickly saw the benefits of intuitive data visualization, which allowed them to stay ahead of the curve.
“The difference in the speed of access and massive improvement in the visualization of what is happening in their supply chain is so valuable,” the client reported.
Why They Chose OmniAnalytics by Fresche
The client needed a data management expert with proven experience in cloud migration for logistics. They were looking for a partner who could provide expertise in Azure migration, advanced analytics capabilities, and scalable solutions to meet their growing needs. OmniAnalytics by Fresche stood out due to their collaborative approach and strong track record of success.
As a certified Microsoft partner, Fresche (formerly OmniData) worked closely with the client to design an incremental migration pathway. This approach ensured that legacy data could be transitioned to Azure without disruption, allowing time for collaboration, assessment, and adjustments at each stage.
Ultimately, the client chose OmniAnalytics by Fresche for their:
- Certified Microsoft Partnership: Expertise in leveraging Microsoft Azure and Power BI for seamless cloud migration.
- Comprehensive Solutions: A full suite of services, from cloud migration to advanced analytics, tailored to the client’s needs.
- Customer-Centric Approach: A focus on understanding and addressing the client’s unique challenges.
- Proven Success: A history of delivering successful digital transformations in the transportation and logistics industry.
“We chose OmniData™ because we wanted someone who would work alongside us, be part of the team, not someone who would just do the work. Now, we function as one team, talking to each other on a daily basis.”
– Manager of Data Services
The Results: Transformative Outcomes for Customers and Operations
Looking back on the successful Azure migration, our client noted several positive outcomes, including:
- 24/7/365 Data Accessibility: Customers now have uninterrupted access to their shipping data anytime, anywhere.
- Lower Operating Costs: The shift to Azure reduced infrastructure expenses with a pay-per-use model, providing budget predictability.
- Time Savings: Automation and real-time updates eliminated manual processes, freeing up resources for higher-value tasks.
- Improved Analytics: Power BI dashboards enabled advanced data visualization and real-time insights.
- Enhanced Security: Multifactor authentication and compliance with 19 regulatory policies, including GDPR and SOX, ensured better data protection.
- Customer Satisfaction: Faster, more accurate data access elevated the customer experience.
“We can move data from our Azure environment directly to our customers ERP or AP systems, which are also in Azure. They don’t have to download big files and re-upload them into their internal systems anymore.”
– Manager of Data Services
The migration also improved operational efficiency. The company can now scale up or down to meet customer demand, optimize query speed, and even provide customers with dedicated workspaces instantly. Azure’s flexibility eliminated the need for new servers, turning capital expenses into predictable operating costs. “No more Patch Tuesdays,” the Manager of Data Services added.
Day-to-day operations are now streamlined. Data flows securely into Azure Synapse, with fingertip-accessible backup and disaster recovery. This ensures compliance with client-mandated policies and simplifies data management.
“With the data now flowing into Azure Synapse through an updated extract routine, our data is in a secure environment with fingertip accessible backup and disaster recovery. It’s a huge leap for us, and down the road it’s going to make the management of our data so much easier. Azure also makes it easier for us to stay compliant with the 19 [security, privacy, and regulatory] policies our clients require, like GDRP or SOX.”
– Manager of Data Services
Layering Power BI on Azure Saves Hours of Manual Labor for Customers
The migration wasn’t just about improving storage capacity. The company also implemented Power BI as a data analytics interface, transforming how customers interact with their data.
“In one case, we realized we could put what the customer was trying to solve right on the screen with Power BI,” said the CIO.
This eliminated hours of manual data manipulation for customers. While some customers were already familiar with Power BI, others required training. Even those new to the platform quickly saw the benefits, transitioning smoothly to live, interactive dashboards. These dashboards provide visibility across the shipping supply chain, regardless of mode, and allow users to drill down into invoice-level data or anomalies to identify root causes.
“The difference in the speed of access and massive improvement in the visualization of what is happening in their supply chain is so valuable. It allows them to stay ahead of the curve,” the client shared.
Customers now analyze up to 1,000 data elements to track freight expenditures. With Power BI, they can prevent overpaying, optimize volume discounts, and minimize disputes. The intuitive data visualization also helps them identify cost-saving opportunities and make faster, more informed decisions.
“Using Microsoft Power BI, users can see data that tells a story and is actionable.”
– CIO
Looking Ahead: Moving Forward with Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics
Building on the success of the Azure migration and Power BI deployment, the client is now working with OmniAnalytics by Fresche to move its 150-server internal infrastructure to Microsoft 365. This next phase focuses on enabling predictive analytics in logistics and prescriptive analytics to enhance decision-making and customer value.
“We’ve provided our customers with the ability to make better decisions faster. We want to see the same transformation within our own business,” said the CIO.
The company’s vision is to leverage advanced analytics to improve operational efficiency, anticipate customer needs, and deliver even greater value.
“By working with Microsoft, we can focus on the right things for our business, and not the things that Microsoft is great at. That’s really our goal. We want to free ourselves up to work on what differentiates us. We are in the very early stages of the capabilities of Power BI and what we are doing to excite our client base. The next phase is about moving forward to predictive and prescriptive analytics. We’ve got a good start to this journey and there’s a significant amount of value and excitement to come.”
