Unified data as a company-wide asset
The Valio Data Platform has transformed how Valio leverages data. Previously fragmented data warehouses have now been consolidated into a centralized data platform, providing a unified view of data across the organization and improving its use in all business areas.
Valio’s Planning and Analytics Director, Osmi Hämäläinen, also highlights the benefits for end users:
"Having easy access to a wide range of data in a single view, and the ability to seamlessly combine different data sets, significantly improves data usability."
Tangible business benefits
As business needs have grown and the importance of data utilization has increased, Valio made a strategic decision to modernize the foundation of its data-driven management.
"We wanted a shared data platform to consolidate all our reporting needs – a central hub for our company’s data," says Sinisalo.
The transformation has delivered several tangible benefits to daily operations:
• Improved profitability analysis: VDP replaced the previous product and customer profitability system and enhanced it, enabling the use of new data types.
• More accurate sales forecasting: Business-critical sales forecasting and its reporting are now centrally managed through VDP.
• Enhanced delivery reliability: In logistics, VDP is used not only for reporting but also for calculating delivery reliability.
• Harmonized group reporting: Valio’s subsidiaries in Sweden, Estonia, the United States, and China now report consistently through VDP.
The platform is used to store and analyze data and produce reports. In addition, it serves as a source system for operational applications. The solution is designed to efficiently and scalably handle large and continuously growing volumes of data.
Smooth delivery and reliable maintenance
The data platform renewal was delivered as a series of projects. First, Digia built the cloud-based data platform, after which data and workloads from different functions were gradually migrated from legacy systems to the new environment. The scale of the initiative initially raised some concerns.
"The planned data volumes were so massive that at first I wondered whether any solution could handle it all. I’m pleased to say those concerns proved unfounded," Sinisalo recalls.
The Valio Data Platform is deeply embedded in the core of Valio’s business and system landscape. Digia is responsible for maintaining the platform and ensuring continuous service availability.
"There have been no major technical issues affecting service availability, and response times to incidents have been short," says Sinisalo.
According to Hämäläinen, the business side is also satisfied:
"From an end-user perspective, there have been no major issues. Occasionally, there may be minor performance slowdowns, but in an environment of this scale and with such diverse user groups, that is to be expected."
The joint development journey continues
The close collaboration between Valio and Digia continues even after the implementation of the VDP platform. Most recently, integrations were built for Valio’s sales pricing system. In addition, a major development initiative is underway to upgrade Valio’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, renew VDP integrations, and migrate financial reporting to the platform.
"There is still plenty to do together with Digia around VDP and beyond," say both Sinisalo and Hämäläinen.
