Hutten, a leading player in the catering industry, strives for data-driven efficiency. However, with no fewer than five different source systems, they faced a challenge in bringing all the data together. That's where we came in with a brand new data platform! Read more about our approach, how Hutten optimizes business processes and improves predictions with this data foundation.
About Hutten
Hutten Catering B.V. was founded 94 years ago and has since established itself as a recognizable partner in the catering industry. They do everything to make the day of employees, guests and patients tastier, healthier and more fun. With offices and restaurants throughout the Netherlands, they serve hospitals, stadiums and other large companies.
Challenge: efficiency, data integration and insight
Hutten wants to work data-driven, but this was difficult due to the five different source systems. An enormous amount of data was generated and stored here. And the insights you can gain from this - in theory - are perfect for data-driven working. Hutten would like more and faster insight into:
The margin per location;
The degree of waste;
The ecological footprint of their business.
In practice, this was not yet possible. The goal became clear soon enough: Hutten wants one place where all data comes together, with which they can create automatic and up-to-date reports. Why? To work more efficiently and predictably.
Read on to find out how we achieved this.
Incentro is a smooth partner who quickly brought our ideas to life! The close collaboration allowed us to make good adjustments, so the right technologies were applied in exactly the right place. Our wishes have been translated into a smart, user-friendly data platform.
A data platform with Azure and Workato
The assignment was clear: create one central data platform. A data hub for Hutten. (Or in the corridors at Hutten: a ‘data hut’).
And that may sound simple in theory, but reality turns out to be more complex. The more sources, the more complex it becomes. Every source records data in its own way. Before you link source A to B, you must ensure that you combine them at the same level. We also call this the aggregation level of the data. One apple slice cannot be compared to a bag of pears.
To address these challenges, we decided to integrate both Workato and Microsoft Azure into Hutten's data platform. Workato makes it easy to access sources and retrieve data, allowing us to use diverse data seamlessly. Workato is a so-called Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) that allows users to realize seamless integration and automation of business processes. On the other hand, the choice of Microsoft Azure was equally logical, given that Hutten already had this technology in-house. The synergy between both platforms allows us to build an efficient data model, where Workato reads the sources and feeds the data to Azure.
From this point on, the data started to come alive! In collaboration with Hutten's data visualist, beautiful data tables were created in PowerBI, which revealed even more insights.
By using Workato, we have stayed with the available Hutten systems and have managed to create one central platform in which all source connections are managed.
The road to a data platform
When Hutten says 'Give me a data platform', there are of course a number of steps we go through before we start building. We start with an analysis using the Data Maturity Model. This model says something about how mature an organization deals with data and data management.
The analysis phase reveals, among other things:
What level of data maturity does your organization fall into;
What level we are working towards;
How many sources we unlock (or the scope of the project);
Which use cases we realize;
And of course the budget.
After this, the implementation phase starts, in other words: building, building, building! We are laying the foundation for the robust Datahut, where we not only focus on current needs, but also look ahead to the future steps that Hutten wants to take.
We also ensure that our own employees can use and maintain the platform. We transfer knowledge, allow Hutten employees to join our team and provide aftercare, so that Hutten can continue to grow independently.
Data-driven working and thinking
Thanks to the new data platform, Hutten has not only become more efficient, but also more predictable. The platform offers new insights every day, such as a detailed overview of the margin per location, the waste rate, and the ecological footprint. This makes the company even better prepared for future challenges. That’s what we call a data revolution with impact!
