Realizing a BI vision alongside a multinational

Global player in hearing solutions

WSAudiology is a provider of innovative hearing solutions. The multinational emerged from a merger between hearing giants Sivantos (formerly Siemens Audiology) and Widex. They are one of the largest players in their field worldwide, with operations in over 125 countries, more than 10,000 employees, and a combined income of over 2.6 billion euros per year.

Pleasant mix of expertise

"When I started at WSAudiology in 2017, I saw enormous potential in a partner like Axelio," Saket continues. "When you are dealing with business intelligence, it is not only important to know the technology, but also to have knowledge of data within the ERP landscape. The consultants at Axelio provide that pleasant mix. They specialize in ensuring business intelligence with our ERP software Infor as a foundation. You rarely see that."

Win-win

He explains that it is a win-win situation for WSAudiology. "It works more efficiently than when you have to switch between different teams of specialists. Moreover, the collaboration saves us costs and allows us to make decisions faster." Axelio currently helps WSAudiology primarily with complex, high-risk tasks. "Tasks that arise from strategic choices we make and that affect our business intelligence," Saket explains. "For example, they are currently assisting our sales offices, country by country, with the transition to a newer ERP version. They immediately adjust our BI system globally to accommodate this. For Axelio, this is 'bread and butter'. So I have every confidence that it will turn out well."

Internationally relocating data center

This trust is largely determined by previous positive experiences. This is evident when Saket talks about the relocation of their entire BI data center from Singapore to Germany a few years ago. "Axelio, then still iqbs, was our execution partner. We worked passionately together with four of their specialists. Sometimes until late in the evening and on weekends, as it was a complex operation. We were also undergoing a transformation to a new BI system at the same time. And everything had to function within a large number of teams. In the end, it was all executed flawlessly. At such moments, it becomes clear how much knowledge and strength Axelio adds to our team."

Innovation workshops

Saket describes that the years of collaboration have now led to blind trust. "The communication is therefore very open, direct, and honest. Moreover, Axelio delivers exactly what I am looking for every time. Additionally, their people know how to make important innovations valuable for us." WSAudiology periodically collaborates with Axelio during a workshop for this purpose. "We then choose a BI architecture topic and ask the specialists at Axelio to shed light on it. It generates ideas that we ultimately implement every time."

From BI data to data platform

About three years ago, WSAudiology wanted to brainstorm with Axelio about transitioning from BI data to a data platform. "Where data could also be moved within the systems and applications of the different locations," Saket explains. "Axelio then proposed to build a separate, parallel data platform for this. Not only because it is safer, more versatile, and future-proof, but also because it works faster. Looking back now, that was a good decision at the time."

Advantage of an external perspective

Due to the strong growth in the amount of data and the desire to extract value from it, WSAudiology has now set up its own BI team. It consists of 20 people. Three team members are from Axelio. "One consultant focuses on continuously improving our BI architecture, a second supports us broadly in ERP BI implementations, and a third is there for high-quality consulting regarding our data platform." If it were up to Saket, Axelio would continue to think broadly about BI innovations in the coming years. "We are not an IT company. If we wanted to do this entirely with our own people, there is a great risk that their knowledge would eventually lag behind. Therefore, we are happy to benefit from Axelio's sharp, external perspective for years to come. Also because they do not simply do what we ask of them. They genuinely think in our interest. As a business partner, you do the same in return."