"A lot of our old infrastructure was on-premise software, including our data warehouse," he explains. "Each morning, we transported large amounts of data from the on-premise solutions into cloud-specific formats to view dashboards and reports. Maintaining all that took significant time and resources." Not only was on-premise data storage leading to inefficiencies and high maintenance costs, it was making it difficult to track real-time performance. "Our sales reporting was nearly 24 hours old each morning. For specific needs, like tracking net sales of specific products in real time, we had to create special solutions. These processes didn't align with our broader sales reporting system and resulted in duplicate solutions." Ingierd's team was also spending a significant amount of time copying data between solutions. 

The company's vision was to create a smarter, future-proof data warehouse solution where each domain takes responsibility for its data. "We brought the team together to look at our architectural requirements, and collaborated extensively with Google specialists to map out how we could set this up," Ingierd says. "The focus was to move forward gradually, starting with a confined area, which we could then build upon and adapt as we progressed." This approach enabled the team to test and refine processes before scaling them across the organization, adapting strategies in real time and ensuring minimal disruption to ongoing operations while building a foundation for the broader migration.

Access and usage of the platform are managed through Telenor's Nova platform, which connects the cloud tools and ensures seamless operation across different teams and business functions.

"One major benefit has been moving insights closer to the business areas. We've established over 20 expert users of Looker, and many people can now write LookML themselves," Ingierd says. LookML allows expert users to set up data models that in turn enable non-technical employees to easily build and customize dashboards, reducing reliance on technical teams and streamlining decision-making processes across the company. "This decentralization of analytics has been a huge success, and feedback on Looker and the new tools has been very positive," Ingierd continues. "We now have more users navigating dashboards in Looker than we had with our previous tool. Dynamic filtering and the ease of building dashboards and reports have made the tools much more accessible to non-technical users."

"Vertex AI is much more user-friendly than what we had before. It also allows us to include more applications and provide broader access to data," says Ingierd. The platform also opens possibilities for more personalized interactions, such as tailored responses and solutions based on customer data, and emotion analysis during calls to further refine customer understanding.

The goal is to create a more intuitive platform that not only generates actionable insights, but also drives meaningful customer engagement and enhances overall user experience.

"We hope AI technology will continue to improve customer service and uptime. For instance, better integration between our Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) systems and Vertex AI, using APIs, can enhance customer service interactions. This could also extend to other channels and digital touchpoints, improving customer experiences overall," Ingierd says.

Ingierd and his team are looking forward to continuing to work with Google Cloud as the migration progresses. "Google Cloud tools work seamlessly together and are easier for more people to use than anything we've had before," he says. "Working with Google has been a great experience. They've been incredibly supportive and committed to helping us succeed."