How Fabi.ai helped Hologram go from delivering complex insights in days to minutes

Summary

Hologram, a leading cellular data provider for IoT companies, faced challenges in delivering timely, ad hoc data insights for customer negotiations and strategic decision-making. By implementing Fabi.ai, they significantly reduced analysis time, accelerated deal negotiations, and freed up their data team to better act as a strategic partner to the C-suite.

Empowering IoT connectivity with data-driven operations

Hologram’s mission is to ensure IoT devices remain consistently online and operational, so customers can deliver uninterrupted services and maintain a healthy bottom line. From the outset, Hologram has been committed to building a scalable and sustainable business model. To make this a reality, their whole team–from the c-suite through new hires–need a way to easily understand metrics, with a particular focus on tracking margins, costs, and usage at both customer and product levels.

Navigating complex data requests in a fast-paced environment

Zaied Ali, business intelligence lead at Hologram, faced significant challenges in his role managing the company's data analytics. As the primary data analyst, Zaied was responsible for extracting insights from Hologram's complex data infrastructure, which included tracking margins, costs, and usage at both customer and product levels.

Data plays an integral part in Hologram’s customer negotiations and strategic decision making, but their previous setup often meant Zaied was too time-constrained to scale data ops alongside the company’s growing needs. The core issues they were facing came down to:

1. Lengthy turnaround time: The lengthy turnaround times for ad hoc or exploratory data analysis slowed down customer and prospect conversations, potentially impacting revenue growth.
2. Difficult data extraction & complex workflows: Zaied had to use Looker SQL Runner to extract data and write very long SQL queries or export data as CSV and then re-import it into Google Colab for further analysis.
3. Lack of versioning: There was no versioning or saving capability within SQL Runner, making it difficult to track changes or refer back to previous work.
4. Juggling multiple tools: Zaied had to use multiple tools (SQL Runner, Google Colab, dbt) in order to do complex analyses, which complicated workflows and slowed time to insight down.
5. Time constraints: Because of the amount of time and task switching he had to invest in ad hoc requests, Zaied wasn’t able to zoom out to focus on macro strategic work or think about better solutions to company needs.
6. Potential for errors: Their previous stack set up required a bunch of double checking to ensure messy data wasn’t causing serious mistakes in the end analysis.

These challenges were hampering the data team's ability to provide timely insights, distracting them from more important strategic work and making it difficult for non-technical stakeholders to make data-driven decisions quickly. Streamlining analysis with Fabi.ai's integrated AI-powered platform.

Streamlining analysis with Fabi.ai's integrated AI-powered platform

The ad hoc questions are always very existential and complex to answer. It’s never about just ‘get this data.’ Instead, it’s like ‘can we re-price our whole product and what is the impact if we do that?' It’s exciting to figure out. And, now, the tool is no longer the blocker to figuring it out.

Zaied Ali

BI Lead @ Hologram

To address these challenges, Hologram implemented Fabi.ai as a key component of their data stack, alongside Redshift, dbt, Sigma, and Google Sheets.

Zaied wasn’t actively looking to add another tool to their stack when he came across Fabi.ai for the first time, but quickly saw the value because:

1. Fabi.ai offered a unified platform where he could perform all aspects of their analysis, from SQL queries to Python scripts, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools.
2. The platform's AI capabilities, trained specifically on Hologram's data and schema, allowed for rapid initiation of complex analyses.
3. Fabi.ai's direct connection to Hologram's data sources streamlined the data access process, reducing time spent on data preparation.
4. The ability to interweave SQL and Python within the same environment provided the flexibility needed for diverse analytical tasks.
5. The integration with Google Sheets meant he could deliver complex analyses in a format familiar to the CFO and CRO teams, accelerating adoption among non-technical users.

At the end of the day, adding Fabi.ai to their stack was an easy decision that started adding value and reducing stress from day one.

Unlocking ad hoc data analysis as a strategic asset

I've become a 5x data analyst or 10x data analyst through Fabi.

Zaied Ali

BI Lead @ Hologram

The implementation of Fabi.ai led to remarkable improvements in Hologram's data operations and strategic capabilities:

1. The time to complete ad hoc analysis and exploratory data analysis was significantly reduced, with processes that once took days or hours now completed in minutes.
2. Deal negotiations were significantly accelerated, with customer deep dive analysis now delivered in 30 minutes instead of the previous 1-2 day turnaround.
3. Zaied could field more requests from stakeholders every day, providing them with a richer understanding of key business drivers.
4. The data team's role evolved from a support function to a strategic partner for the CRO and CFO, directly impacting the company's bottom line.
5. The adoption of data-driven best practices among non-technical stakeholders increased because of the seamless integration with familiar tools like Google Sheets.

"With Fabi.ai we've accelerated our deal negotiation. When I received a request for a customer deep dive analysis going into pricing discussions, I went from a day or two day turnaround to 30 minutes."

These improvements not only enhanced the efficiency of Hologram's data operations but also positioned the data team as a crucial driver of strategic decision-making and revenue growth.

Ready to improve your data workflows? You can get started with Fabi.ai for free in less than five minutes and make complex analysis a breeze.