NEXT STATION: A DATA-DRIVEN DSB
DSB’s digitalisation strategy is more than “just” technology. It is an organisational transformation, vast amounts of data, and technology that few dare to take on. In collaboration with Innologic, they are on an ambitious data journey – and they are not finished yet.
“You can’t exactly explain it to your grandmother.”
Head of BI and Product Manager, Søren Friis, chuckles slightly when asked over the phone to explain DSB and Innologic’s SAP HANA 2.0 project as if to a grandmother.
“At the most basic level, it’s about presenting information in a way that enables the people making decisions at DSB to understand the basis on which they are making those decisions. That’s probably my best attempt at an explanation for an 80th birthday party,” says Søren Friis.
At the core is an ambitious digitalisation project, where a desire to gather data and work according to the dogma of “one set of numbers” has led to organisational centralisation and the rollout of the information platform SAP HANA 2.0.
“It was refreshing to meet a company that didn’t just have a desire for digitalisation, but actually had a budget and a strategy for their ambitious digital transformation. They had an overall plan, and even during COVID, they kept their heads down and stayed the course. That is truly impressive,” says Lars Millgaard, Principal Consultant and Partner at the consulting firm Innologic, who is helping DSB implement the information platform.
An Organisational Puzzle
DSB’s new digital transformation has been just as much an organisational development as anything else.
“The project is far more than the technical side. It’s 360 degrees. It’s just as much about getting the right people talking to each other,” says Søren Friis.
DSB, which previously had three decentralised analytics departments and an IT BI department, decided to centralise the organisation within the SAFe framework.
“It was important from an organisational perspective that we were as agile as possible. It has helped to place analysts and backend developers together because they share knowledge daily. It really adds value – that cross-functional, holistic view. We benefit from it, and Innologic is good at speaking both languages when needed,” says Søren Friis.
For Søren Friis, it is also important to emphasise that everyone has a link in the new chain, but it can sometimes be difficult to ensure they are positioned in the right place.
“It’s about ensuring that the people who are part of the process understand their role and what they are expected to contribute to the BI lifecycle,” says Søren Friis.
Was it harder than you expected?
“Yes, far harder. It’s both the processes we are changing, the reorganisation and co-organisation, and the cultural aspect you have to succeed with, along with a new technical platform. It’s a lot to get to come together,” says Søren Friis.
Feng Shui SAP
According to Søren Friis, the new technical platform needed enormous computing power to handle the amount of data DSB possessed, and that became SAP HANA.
However, navigating the amount of data in a more than 150-year-old company is not straightforward. It requires a certain amount of feng shui – and a large dose of data governance.
Søren Friis explains that the company has had to clean up its data so the new platform would not become clogged with old data that was no longer useful. At the same time, it was important to keep track of who had access to data in accordance with GDPR.
“Innologic has been good at helping us establish governance around when and how we work with data, and also what level of accessibility should apply,” says Søren Friis, elaborating:
“The collaboration has been characterised by a holistic perspective, which made it possible to get a new governance concept, the technical components of the platform, and the data we need to package and expose to the business end users to function as a trinity. And that has been very satisfying.”
For Lars Millgaard, who founded Innologic, it has also always been important to have a business understanding to support the technical setup from a business perspective.
“Our consultants must be able to combine the two. It’s no use making data available if you can’t ask the right questions of the business,” says Lars Millgaard.
Enriching and Frustrating
The information platform with its massive amounts of data is not just new – it is brand new. That creates many opportunities, but also challenges.
“We are the furthest along with the technology in Europe, so when we run into issues, we have to go to the US to find answers. It’s both enriching and frustrating to be one of the first movers on SAP HANA 2.0, but I would argue that what you ultimately get out of it is different – and better – than what I’ve seen before,” says Lars Millgaard.
He does not doubt that the platform is the right one for a large company like DSB.
“The memory technology SAP has launched gives DSB new opportunities to process enormous amounts of data at lightning speed and pull out completely different answers than they have previously been able to,” says Lars Millgaard.
Data is stored differently than before, enabling faster data deliveries – something that is necessary to support DSB’s agile organisation.
Eating the Elephant in Small Bites
It is often said that you should not try to do everything at once. However, that is precisely what DSB is attempting, and Søren Friis admits it is ambitious.
“It’s a big undertaking, but it has gone well – and continues to go well. We have chosen to be patient to ensure we don’t face too many setbacks. Of course, you can never know how many we might have had if we had accelerated the process,” says Søren Friis.
Still, he does not doubt that it was not a bad idea to take the ambitious data journey in small steps, and Lars Millgaard agrees.
“It has been a steep learning curve working with DSB. I have learned that you can be ambitious and still eat a very large elephant in very small bites. They plan well and have ambitious goals,” says Lars Millgaard.
The Collaboration Continues
The project that will create a “data-driven DSB” is a little over a year and a half in, but Søren Friis is not ready to let go of the development yet.
“We have the platform, and it is essentially ready for use. We could easily unplug Innologic,” says Søren Friis, but adds:
“New versions keep coming, we keep getting smarter, more efficient, and make even better use of the platform – and therefore we would like Lars and Innologic to join us for a bit more of the journey.”