Raw data can be a complex puzzle. Without the right tools and strategies, even the most comprehensive datasets can be hard to understand. This challenge often prevents businesses from taking advantage of data’s inherent value.

As a manufacturer of marketing communications products, Grano Oy recognized that it faced this reality within its expansive operational framework. Its valuable data was siloed across multiple on-premises systems, which made it difficult to unlock unified insights. Maintaining consistent reporting and efficient operational processes posed equally significant challenges.

Grano Oy turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a solution, choosing AWS for its strong support and extensive tools. Using cloud services, Grano Oy developed a data management system, which provided relevant reports to its internal teams and expanded its business intelligence capabilities. This move positioned Grano Oy to use its data more effectively, accelerating data-driven business management.

Identifying Grano Oy’s Data Challenges and Need for Modernization

Based in Helsinki, Finland, Grano Oy provides its customers with everything from digital signage and digital asset management systems to all kinds of printed materials such as large-format posters, flags, business cards, and brochures. Although Grano Oy’s software development environment was hosted on AWS, its data management relied on various on-premises tools and systems.

“We needed to modernize our data analytics practice from a technical and a cultural perspective,” says Tero Sikiö, head of data and analytics at Grano Oy. “We didn’t have a dedicated data warehouse or central solution. At the same time, we didn’t have a clear governance or data strategy.”

To enhance its business intelligence capabilities, Grano Oy wanted to create a centralized data hub with defined metrics and structured reporting models. Recognizing that a modern data management system would help achieve this goal, it embarked on its journey toward data-centric operations.

In February 2022, Grano Oy began building a cloud-based data management solution. In the fall of 2022, it engaged the AWS team for assistance.

Working alongside the AWS Team to Architect a Data Management Solution

Grano Oy worked closely alongside the AWS team to build its data management environment, which helped guide its development roadmap. The teams collaborated on ideas, blueprints, and architecture plans, defining the optimal cloud-based services that Grano Oy could use to build the solution. Grano Oy also had the opportunity to learn how similar organizations use AWS for data.

“The AWS team organized calls and discussions that have been extremely valuable to us,” says Marko Yli-Pietilä, chief development and digital officer at Grano Oy. “We got to learn from companies that have more advanced data capabilities, seeing what they have built on AWS and the obstacles that they have overcome on their journeys.”

Grano Oy adopted Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), an object storage service built to retrieve any amount of data from anywhere, as the staging layer where it loads data from source systems. To modify and join this data, Grano Oy relies on Amazon Redshift, which analyzes structured and semistructured data across data warehouses, operational databases, and data lakes. The company also uses Amazon Redshift to make data models and establish data marts for different business purposes.

Currently, Grano Oy uses its data management solution to support internal reporting for sales and sustainability initiatives. On the operations side, it’s building manufacturing reports and dashboards to track production. As a result, its sales teams have better visibility and can make better-informed decisions. “The sales dashboards and reports have helped us understand our operations better and be more proactive,” says Yli-Pietilä. “Because we can drill down to the details of sales events, we can track what is happening and implement forecasting. We can act much earlier than before and perform a more advanced root-cause analysis to discover why an event happened.”

With better reports and centralized data management, Grano Oy has seen improvements in data governance among its sales teams. “By making these reports available to everyone, we have changed the way that we manage the sales organization,” says Yli-Pietilä. “It’s easier for people to understand their own actions and manage their own tasks. Individual salespeople are much more proactive.”

Many of Grano Oy’s customers are committed to sustainability; they not only establish internal benchmarks but also adhere to local regulations that can change frequently. These customers often seek reports from Grano Oy to gauge their environmental impact, focusing on different data points. Grano Oy can use its data management solution to promptly retrieve and analyze key sustainability metrics, effectively meeting its customers’ fluctuating needs. “Sustainability reporting is quite complex,” says Yli-Pietilä. “You will likely encounter many challenges and inconsistencies if you perform the process manually. Our central data repository will facilitate the reporting process and help us meet our sustainability targets.”

Unlocking Deeper Insights and Driving Future Innovation on AWS

By adopting AWS for data management, Grano Oy initiated more than just a technological shift: it sparked a transformation that has boosted staff productivity and brought order to its data governance. Every day, the company is unlocking deeper insights and empowering employees to make smarter, more precise decisions.

Grano Oy’s journey is just beginning. To enrich and advance its future-proof cloud architecture, it plans to adopt machine learning and artificial intelligence services from AWS. In the future, Grano Oy envisions a centralized data hub where users from all business units can share insights, analyze data, and collaborate on innovative projects.

The company’s goal is to have a seamless environment that promotes information flow and sparks new ideas—and on AWS, Grano Oy is one step closer to achieving it. “We can build up competencies around AWS to take our data a step further,” says Yli-Pietilä. “In the long run, it will become the central place for all the data that we need in our business.”