Aenova Takes Its Data Strategy to the Next Level

Solution

Led by Aenova CIO Ulrich Pethe, the b.telligent team worked closely with the responsible business units to advance existing initiatives in a structured way. Rather than opting for traditional consulting, Aenova chose an agile, hands-on approach—one that enabled immediate impact, rapid responses to new input, and strong team engagement throughout the process.

This is familiar territory for b.telligent. Through numerous interim management engagements over the years, the company has developed deep technical expertise as well as strong interpersonal and change management skills. In addition to the interim manager, subject-matter experts provided targeted support in areas such as data modeling, analytics and report development, and deployment. The broad expertise across b.telligent’s various domains was a clear contributor to the project’s success.

The Key to a Fresh Start: A Clear Vision and Clear Roles

One of the first and most decisive steps was to define a clear vision and mission for Aenova’s Data & Analytics team. Building on the company’s IT strategy, the team developed its new direction. From there, clear roles and responsibilities were defined across the entire value chain. Every team member knew exactly what they were accountable for—an important factor in increasing both efficiency and motivation.

Agile Ways of Working for Faster Results

At the same time, the Aenova team redesigned its ways of working:

• Iterative approach: A delivery pipeline built around mockups, proofs of concept, and minimum viable products (MVPs) generated quick, tangible results and direct feedback from business units.
• Focus on value creation: Low-priority tasks and overly ambitious concepts were set aside, allowing the team to focus on what mattered most.
• Closer integration of business and technical expertise: Cross-functional collaboration enabled the team to migrate essential elements from legacy reports to Power BI more quickly, effectively combining business knowledge with technical capabilities.

Data Platform and Visualization: From Workarounds to Clarity

A central objective was to optimize the data platform and data visualization. The existing reporting environment had evolved over many years and through multiple acquisitions, consolidating KPIs from 14 sites across three platforms and relying on a range of workarounds as a result. A significant amount of business logic had been embedded directly in reports, often without documentation.

Untangling this logic required extensive reverse engineering before it could be translated into high-performance, modern data pipelines. The resulting solution was consolidated in a centralized cloud data warehouse architecture, together with the operating model needed to support the platform over the long term. A new, consistent design with intuitive visuals—supported by a jointly developed Power BI style guide—reflected the team’s growing commitment to data quality and usability.

Data Culture as a Success Factor

Another key focus was aligning ways of working and communication. The team received in-depth training in data storytelling, a method for making abstract numbers more accessible and meaningful through narrative structures. Insights became not only easy to identify in reports, but also easier to communicate effectively to stakeholders.

To ensure the long-term quality and consistency of both the data and the overall data platform, Aenova also introduced data governance elements, including a Data Steering Committee and Data Domain Leads.

This new way of working also drove a fundamental shift in the relationship between IT and the business units. What had been a traditional, siloed model evolved into a genuine partnership on equal footing: IT transitioned from an “order taker” to a strategic partner and now works hand in hand with the business as a well-coordinated team to develop and advance data-driven solutions.

Sustainable Change With a Long-Term Perspective

Particular attention was given to securing the project’s results in a lasting, structurally embedded way. b.telligent’s goal is always to hand off successfully established processes fully to the internal team, preparing employees as thoroughly as possible to independently own and operate their systems through knowledge transfer and organizational change.

Throughout the engagement, stabilizing and expanding the data platform while transferring knowledge to internal staff remained the top priorities.