case - EyeOn

A challenging supply chain migration that delivers immediate added value

Question

Supporting the migration from Honeycomb to Databricks.

Solution

Technical implementation and adoption by the team.

Result

A new 'way of working' that quickly feels familiar.

EyeOn and Blenddata have collaborated to further develop the Supply Chain Decision Intelligence platform, which has been at the core of EyeOn’s global supply chain planning and forecasting services for many years. To enable further growth and innovation, the Honeycomb platform has been migrated from Dataiku to Databricks.

The new data architecture provides support for AI and machine learning. Advanced optimisations are easier to integrate, without interventions in the base. This allows customers to continue to benefit from new functionality within a stable environment.

Bringing the team along with the change

EyeOn Product Lead Rijk van der Meulen: “Getting the team on board has been one of the bigger challenges in this project. Our old platform fell short in a number of areas, but was easy to work with. The new platform is technically stronger, but also has a steep learning curve. A key priority was to make it workable for our people.”

I am mega satisfied with how the migration went. After three-quarters of a year, it seems like we have been working with it for years. The adoption has been with me in every way.

Rijk van der Meulen

Product Lead | EyeOn

I am mega satisfied with how the migration went. After three-quarters of a year, it seems like we have been working with it for years. The adoption has been with me in every way.

Rijk van der Meulen

Product Lead | EyeOn

services and consultancy

Operating at the intersection of supply chain and data science

In the collaboration, the emphasis was on making the right choices. The platform had to support both consultancy and services, each with its own requirements and usage.

The platform was set up around the specific work of data scientists at EyeOn. “By not simplifying too quickly to training or transfer, but instead making strong technical choices, Blenddata made the difference,” says Rijk.

“EyeOn is originally a supply chain consultancy. Over the years, we have seen that data science has started to play an increasing role in it. The intersection of supply chain and data science is exactly where our platform operates. It is a toolkit for our data scientists. They no longer have to deal with the technical foundation, but can focus entirely on what it brings to our customers.”

Other skills

Muscle and brains for the data platform

EyeOn has a strong team of data scientists with in-depth knowledge of supply chain analytics. To set up a scalable data platform, EyeOn was looking for other skills. “Blenddata has already done many such implementations and knows what the trade-offs and pitfalls are. Apart from extra hands, we also needed their experience. They gave us the muscle to get this through within a short time and were also able to advise on a conceptual level.”

Improved reliability and maintainability

The data pipelines for services have been greatly improved for EyeOn. Rich: “The reliability and maintainability of our production pipelines for services are a big improvement on what we had before. We now have robust pipelines that are easy to maintain.”

Many times more cost-efficient

Paying for unnecessary functionalities is a thing of the past. Rijk: “Our old platform was about six times as expensive, mainly due to functionalities we didn’t use in practice. The new platform is simpler and therefore a lot more cost-efficient.”

Rapid adoption by the team

Blenddata worked with Rijk to ensure that the platform was adopted by all users. “A good data engineer not only provides technical solutions but also makes sure it lands,” says Rijk. “So not just training but also making technical choices that ensure our people are actually comfortable working with the platform.”

The click in culture increases success

Data engineers Jeroen and Levy and project leader Harm from Blenddata worked intensively with EyeOn’s team. Apart from implementation, this also brought a broader perspective. What makes the cooperation extra strong is the match in mentality and culture.

According to Rijk, Blenddata’s way of working fits well with EyeOn: “No-nonsense, pragmatic and collaborative.” That personal click is more than pleasant and also contributes to the project’s substantive success. The collaboration even inspired Blenddata to start a new tradition. “What says a lot for me about the click is that Blenddata adopted one of our internal traditions. We at EyeOn have the LAMB award, ‘Look At My Bug’, where we share mistakes and learn from them. Jeroen informed me that Blenddata has started doing the same.”