Business Intelligence

Our Business Intelligence Consulting

In Business Intelligence, we use our knowledge to help you, based on your data to provide the best possible support for operational and strategic decisions.

Data strategy

Goal: Development of a holistic and sustainable BI strategy. more..

Data modelling

Goal: Development of a uniform and consistent data model. more…

Data integration

Goal: Development of a flexible and high-performance data supply. more…

Datenanalyse

Goal: Development of multidimensional and interactive data analysis. more…

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The blood,
flowing through our veins:

In Business Intelligence, we use our knowledge to provide you with the best possible support for operational and strategic decisions based on your data.

Qualified decisions require sound knowledge and often have to be made quickly – Business Intelligence helps you to do this. We always first clarify your company’s information requirements, define key performance indicator systems and procedures for processing and calculating them in order to make the best possible use of your system environment and to ensure the content, availability and quality of the available data.

If required, AIC Group will create new concepts for your data warehousing and thus create a reliable, qualitatively excellent basis for the optimization of all business processes. We prepare, clean and update your data. You can use the knowledge gained from this for controlling, marketing or other internal company decision processes.

Business Intelligence – targeted support of operative and strategic decisions.

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We are here for you.

Your advantage.

Companies from sectors such as retail, banking and insurance benefit from the AIC Group’s many years of expertise in Business Intelligence.

We clarify the information needs of your company, define key figure systems and procedures for the calculation of key figures.

Then we analyze existing system environments, data content, data availability and data quality (usability) of the source systems. Depending on your company’s requirements, AIC Group creates new concepts for your data warehousing and thus a reliable, qualitatively excellent data basis for the optimization of all business processes.

The conception of solutions for your data warehouse using high-performance OLAP technology (e.g. MicroStrategy), as well as their implementation, are one of the core competencies of the AIC Group in the area of Business Intelligence.

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Translations: BI-Strategie = BI Strategy, Konzeption = Concept, Modellierung = Modeling, Dubletten-Management = Duplicate Management, Adresskorrektur = Address correction, Datenexploration = Data Exploration, Mobile Nutzung = Mobile use

Business Intelligence (BI) applications are an integral part of corporate management. However, the requirements for a holistic BI strategy are rarely fulfilled. Analytics solutions are often based on the requirements of different departments. These are taken up by your IT and built up along tactical decisions. Since this development is usually not coordinated, this leads to a confusing, heterogeneous and thus highly inefficient system and application landscape. As a result, the potential of analytics for decision support cannot be fully exploited in its entirety.

The variety of “isolated applications” also leads to a loss of data quality, which in turn results in erroneous reports, inconsistent results and ultimately massive problems for BI acceptance. At the same time, however, the complexity of information and processes in many industries is increasing. Large international companies, but also medium-sized enterprises, therefore need a functioning BI in order to remain controllable and competitive.

A BI strategy answers questions such as…

Which data should be used in the company for the various operational, tactical and strategic decisions as information to support decision-making?
Which reports and evaluations (standard reports, OLAP analyses, dashboards) are required and to what extent?
How often and at what times should this information be made available?
What does a suitable organizational set-up, tailored to your company, look like in order to optimally design, implement and operate BI?
How important is data quality for information recipients and how can trust in the data be ensured and maintained?

Translations: Steuerung- & Planungsprozesse = Control- & Planning processes, Daten- & System Architektur = Data & System Architecture, BI Rollen & BI Prozesse = BI roles & BI processes, Controlling-, Reporting-, Analytics-Produkte = Controlling, reporting and analytics products, BI Software-Portfolio = BI software- Portfolio,

Free PDF of TwoPager for download.

(available only in German at this time)

Translations: BI-Strategie = BI Strategy, Inftrastruktur = Infrastructure, Datenmodell = Data model, Datenintegration = Data integration, Datenanalyse = Data analysis, Priorisierung = Prioritisation

After the development of a BI strategy, its implementation – based on the current, company-specific conditions – must be designed. In the first step, we therefore first analyse the existing system environments, data content, data availability and data quality (usability) of the source systems. Subsequently, based on the results, possible optimisation proposals are developed with regard to infrastructure, data modelling (physical and logical), data integration and the analysis of your data (data usage).

A first and fundamental step in the conception phase is the development of a uniform and consistent data model. Our methods of data modeling for data warehousing ensure exactly this and allow you a comprehensive, interactive view of products, customers, regions and other information features. Our OLAP-supported solutions enable fast, complex queries, a variety of ways to display your data, as well as individual and trend analyses.

The AIC Group works with both Star and Snowflake schemes in data modelling. Both are complex, logical architecture systems in data modelling with variable query options for the data sets.

The relational data storage of facts and dimensions in OLAP systems provides you with any number of possible combinations of information. In the mass of data, key figures and properties are condensed at the highest hierarchical level and thus mapped as a multidimensional structure – as a star schema. The advantages of displaying data as a star schema are the simple, intuitive data model and the relatively low maintenance requirements of your data warehouse.

With the Snowflake schema, on the other hand, the dimension tables are displayed normalized. In contrast to the star schema, where the surrounding dimension tables are all directly linked to the fact table, the Snowflake schema has several levels. The data is therefore less redundant and better structured.

Translations: Datenmodell = Data model, Star-Schemata = Star Schemes, Snowflake-Schemata = Snowflake diagrams

Data quality for a good data warehouse.

Today, companies have to cope with a growing flood of data that contains increasingly heterogeneous, highly variable information about customers, products and business processes. The simultaneous maintenance and preparation of data in different IT systems is time-consuming and therefore inefficient. Many companies therefore use the data warehouse to store data and information in a structured way.

The primary requirement for a good data warehouse is the quality of the data. Insufficient quality data can impair business and operational decisions and lead to a loss of trust and image. Depending on the requirements, one data basis may be sufficient for a certain application, but not for another. AIC Group ensures the suitability of data for different requirements by automated functions such as monitoring, data cleansing and updating when building and filling the data warehouse. Methodical procedures for data interpretation such as Slowly Changing Dimensions Type 1 to Type 3 are part of our standard for implementation.

Translations: Bereinigung & Konsolidierung des Kundenstamms = Adjustment & consolidation of the customer base

Special attention is paid to the so-called duplicate management when checking the data quality. A well-functioning duplicate management is an often underestimated but very important discipline in dialogue marketing. A customer base freed of duplicates saves money in shipping, but also ensures less displeasure among customers if they are not contacted several times with the same messages or offers.

The AIC Group offers a professional solution, which not only cleans up duplicates but also consolidates customer data. A functioning duplicate management is a prerequisite for a clean customer base, which in turn is the basis for campaign management:

Evaluations: Campaign analyses or customer values are falsified by customer duplicates.
target groups: Campaign reactions cannot be determined for customer duplicates on a consolidated basis.
Cost efficiency: Avoid duplicate responses and save unnecessary shipping, production and administrative costs.
Image-building: Multiple mailings of the same information to the same customer show deficits.

For a well-functioning campaign management, it is essential that the customer base is kept up-to-date with regard to the validity of the postal addresses used. For this purpose, the AIC Group uses proven services of Deutsche Post.

Standardized processes have been developed for Addressfactory and Premiumadress, through which the corrected addresses are prepared and automatically transferred to your customer base. Corrections are thus possible quickly and with little effort.

Addressfactory allows you to check your database at specific times, for example, in the run-up to a postal mailing. The Premiumadress service is not used selectively, but with each message sent by post. The marketing automation platform aisuite provides the mailing with individual codes. Thus, each return from the Premiumadress files can be assigned to a customer and mailing. For you, this means on the one hand correcting the address or marking it as “undeliverable”, and on the other hand cleansing the contact history and thus providing clean reporting.

Translations: Dichteste Filiale = Closest branch, Flagship-Store = Flagship store, Neueröffnung = New opening, Modernisierung = Modernization

With the enrichment of your customer base with geo-coordinates and the distance calculations to branches or other relevant locations based on these coordinates, you have many possibilities of use in the operative and strategic-analytical area.

Establish a relationship between customer and store in your campaigns and thus influence the next store visit! Give the customer the address of your flagship store if it is located in the catchment area. Only advertise assortments that the customer can access in his or her closest store. Inform your customers in dialogue about changes in the branch network of the individual surrounding area, such as new openings or modernizations.

The geographical visualization of customer addresses and distances helps you make strategic decisions. You can see at a glance how many customers are assigned to individual stores based on distance and the average distance to each store. An important support for the decision to establish new branches.

Operative company data, which is processed in ERP, contract, accounting or merchandise management systems, for example, is used exclusively to control and monitor the operative business. Modern BI systems rely on integrated, multidimensional databases to obtain data that can be interpreted in a business management manner. Data from operative data sources is transferred into a data warehouse by means of ETL processes. In the ETL process, the original data from the various sources is first extracted, then transformed into the target format and loaded into the target database. During this process of harmonization and consolidation, you benefit from the AIC Group’s many years of BI expertise and the use of professional ETL software to implement the processes, such as Talend software.

When optimizing data warehouse environments, we ensure a reliable data supply. According to your specifications, we define criteria according to which your data should be provided. Highest quality within the ETL process is our top priority: we ensure profound data cleansing and develop clear semantics and ID assignment when transforming your data. A flexible and high-performance data supply is always guaranteed.

Translations: Datenquellen = Data sources, Validierung & Transformation = Validation & Transformation, Data Warehouse = data warehouse, Zuverlässigkeit = Reliability, Verständlichkeit = Comprehensibility, Korrektheit = Correctness, Aktualität = Actuality, Vollständigkeit = Completeness, Eindeutigkeit = Clarity, Genauigkeit = Accuracy, Konsistenz = Consistency, Einheitlichkeit = Uniformity, Redundanzfreiheit = Freedom of redundancy

Translations: Stationäre Geschäfte = Stationary shops, Weitere Datenquellen = Other data sources, Onlineshops = online shops, Kampagnen = Campaigns, Social Media Kanäle = social media channels, Mobile Apps = mobile apps

The rapidly and continuously increasing volume of data results in a mix of structured and unstructured data with complex relationships among each other. Not only is the amount of data available increasing, but also the number of users who use the potential of Big Data from a variety of data sources. It is essential to make these constantly growing data stocks consolidatable and usable by processing them with Big Data technologies.

With our methods and technologies for the collection, storage and analysis of complex data, we create transparency and an automated, innovative control of your company’s business processes. This is no longer about providing more and more storage. A conventional, relational database will quickly reach its limits with increasing data volumes and will cause increasingly high costs. We design analytical data management systems for you that enable you to manage and process information efficiently.

Due to ever increasing data volumes with a multitude of relations, data quality problems can occur. The complexity of data sets makes it difficult to check individual data sets manually. This is where data exploration comes in: its task is to ensure data quality and make correlations in the data visible. Structures and patterns can be verified and deviations from target values can be identified in a short time. Intelligent tools of data exploration help in verification and quality assurance.

With our tools (e.g. MicroStrategy) we offer you multivariate, interactive data exploration. This opens up ways for you to understand your customers, their needs and buying habits (Customer Journey) and thus enables you to select the best target groups. We analyze your master and transaction data and visualize customer and action potentials as well as product affinities. You can use these to optimize your sales strategies and campaign management. The analysis results provide you with important information for controlling and for subsequent efficiency measurement of marketing measures.

Translations: Muster & Anomalien = Patterns & Anomalies, Stamm- & Transaktionsdaten = Master & transaction data, Explorative = Exploratory, Analysewerkzeuge = Analysis tools

Translations: Kanal-Optimierung = Channel Optimization, Versandzeit-Optimierung = Shipping time optimization

With the help of data mining, decision-relevant information can be extracted from a large data stock, beyond data exploration. The AIC Group supports you in performing descriptive analyses and helps you to identify, for example, “outliers” in your data and to recognize important correlations. In doing so, we create for example association analyses or decision trees, which help you to better understand the buying and clicking behavior and thus the customer journey of your customers. With the help of the knowledge gained, weak points in existing processes can be identified and decisions of sales or marketing can be controlled in a targeted manner.

Predictive analyses are also becoming increasingly important in sales management. We have therefore developed a wide range of services for you, which help you, for example, to better assess the future purchasing behaviour of your customers or to determine the optimum channel and dispatch time for a planned mailing. With the help of our Customer Insights, you will be able to offer your products and services with foresight and in line with the needs of your customers.

Purchases made ? Turnover ? Other interactions ? length of stay ? Demographic data ? …

There is a lot of information at the customer that can be relevant for the calculation of a customer value or the assignment to a customer cluster.

But why are customer values and customer clusters needed at all? A beautiful discipline of customer analytics, where analytical insights and operational activities go hand in hand. Analyze which customers have migrated within the defined clusters – which customers have gone from stable and profitable customer relationships to occasional buyers? In operational terms, you address these “turning away” customers, for example, via reactivation strategies.

And for this challenge, too, we offer you appropriate solution approaches within the scope of our Customer Insights Services.

Translations: Beispiel: Bewertung des Kaufverhaltens = Example: Evaluation of buying behaviour, Letzter Kauf = Last purchase, Kauffrequenz = Purchase frequency, Umsatz = Sales, Kundenscore = Customer Score

Translations: Dimensions- Elemente = Dimension elements, Analysen = Analyses

Companies use reports and analyses as an instrument for managing day-to-day business and for strategic decisions. We create high-quality reports for you in proven and modern formats. All information is processed in real time from the data warehouse and made available on a wide variety of devices.

Flexible and fast access to your data enables you to carry out efficient and targeted analyses. The preparation of the analyses, in the form of dashboards or so-called dossiers, provides you with multidimensional views of your company at a glance. The drill-down functionality of our interactive, OLAP-supported application (MicroStrategy) enables a multi-layered analysis of the data down to the finest hierarchical levels.

In (MicroStrategy), combinations of previously defined dimensional elements, such as month or product category, are defined within the database. These can be retrieved with a simple mouse click. This allows business users in sales, marketing, purchasing, or controlling to generate any number of new operational and strategic analyses on their own, without any in-depth programming or SQL knowledge.

The use of mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets is becoming increasingly important for companies. Mobile access to Business Intelligence data should therefore be possible anywhere and at any time. On the one hand, to increase the flexibility and productivity of your employees, as they can work from any location (e.g. home office). On the other hand, to ensure the smooth running of business processes by enabling you to monitor important key figures on the move. The reporting solution from AIC Group (MicroStrategy) takes both aspects into account. It also allows you to share analytics with others while leveraging the existing security and deployment capabilities of the BI platform you use.

Mobile dashboards allow for the optimal presentation of your company data on mobile devices. The mapping of the analyses adapted to the functionality of the mobile devices leads to easier and faster use and thus to increased efficiency in the visualization of relevant operational results. The AIC Group develops Mobile Dashboards as a meaningful tool of your business intelligence, e.g. to provide sales representatives and key account managers with valuable information on site at the customer’s location.