Baltika Brewery, based in St. Petersburg, Russia, is the second-largest brewery in Europe after Heineken. The company merged with three other breweries in 2006, creating a beer-making powerhouse with 12 production facilities and 10,000 employees. At the same time, it created a massive data flow situation and challenges with logistics, data warehousing and reporting. Baltika needed a new system for its managers to monitor performance at far-flung operations, quickly generate reports and collaborate more effectively.  

For Baltika's CIO, Herman Epstein, the challenge was not only to get the right data to and from the right breweries at the right time, but also to make sure the information flows optimally among sales centers, suppliers, distributors and delivery operations. Epstein wanted a technology that would be easy for managers to use, providing them not just with numbers but with information in a format that enables them to visualize key trends. In an interview with FierceCIO, Epstein discussed how he deployed business intelligence tools to achieve these results.

FierceCIO: What were the greatest business challenges driving you to deploy a unified business intelligence system following your company's mergers a few years back?

Herman Epstein: We have a lot of sites across Russia and in other countries in our region, and we faced a lot of questions about harmonizing our operations. There is a 10-hour time difference between sites, and we have about 10,000 users on our information systems. With so many users, so many sites and so much information, our total database is more than 300 terabytes. 

When you don't have enough information on hand you have a problem for decision-making, and when you have too much information you have almost the same problem. Even a seemingly simple thing like sales data can be complicated. Sales information for marketing is one thing. Sales for production is another thing. Sales for logistics is another thing. 

FCIO: I regret to say I'm not familiar with your beer. Can you tell me more about it?

Epstein: We have about 40 percent market share here in Russia. It's also very popular in the rest of the former Soviet Union, and it is one of the biggest brands in the Ukraine. We have big sales in Germany. We have licensed production in Australia, and we also have good sales in the United Kingdom. In California, you can find it at Beverages & More! (BevMo!).

FCIO: How did you first begin to tackle the data reporting and analysis challenges of the merged operations?

Epstein: We decided a couple years ago to start a business intelligence project and to harmonize all of our definitions and deal with some kind of hierarchy of reports. We started with key performance indicators, such as profit and loss, balance sheets, sales volumes, so managers can see where the negative trends are and drill down from the basic reports to the low-level operational information. We deployed a BI tool from Panorama Software (called NovaView) to help develop the reports, visualize them in the right way, and deliver them over the web or the company Intranet to the screens of decision makers. 

FCIO: Can you give us more details on how data flows throughout your massive network of employees, distributors, delivery operations and suppliers?

Epstein: About 10 years ago, there was just a data warehouse, and there were a lot of different data systems. Today we have unified, centralized and standardized all information systems. We have only one ERP system. We have about 4,500 sales reps who work around Russia, and they gather orders from almost 300,000 points of sales. All of the orders arrive in our central CRM. Our distributors, wholesale delivery and other points of sale transfer these orders from our ERP. From there, we can see how our orders are fulfilled. We have a lot of suppliers and we link with them. We trace the stock they have so that we can maintain just-in-time delivery. In total, we have links to about 1000 different information systems. 

FCIO: What kinds of concrete business benefits have you gained as a result of deploying BI tools?

Epstein: This past summer it was very hot in the European part of Russia. We had some problems trying to fulfill the orders of our customers. Using BI tools, we could see on the screen what was not fulfilled and where, and managers could decide what action to take. This is just a classic example of how we use it.

Another example involves transportation. Russia is a huge country, and we have a lot of goods on the way at all times. We use railroads, ferries, distribution trucks, and many distribution warehouses. There are huge distances to cover. With business intelligence tools, we can see exactly where our goods are located, and we can ensure our distributors receive the goods when they need them. 

FCIO: How would you sum up the benefits of the BI technology you're using?

Epstein: The main aim of our business intelligence isn't just to help us concentrate information, but to analyze this information and deliver reports with key figures and trends. Our decision makers should not concentrate just on the figures. If you can give them the figures in a graphic form, then they can identify any problem and drill down for details. Our decision makers can make better corrective or preventive actions than they ever could before. This is the real benefit. It simplifies life for us.

Related Articles:
Why "data scientists" are in demand 
Prediction for predictive analytics 
Business Intelligence grows in scope and profile 
Turning data into a business