In telecommunications, data is abundant, but turning it into useful insights can be extremely difficult. Communication Service Providers (CSPs) operate in a fast-paced, highly competitive market, where success depends on efficiently managing massive volumes of data quickly and reliably.
But that’s easier said than done.
Legacy systems, siloed data, inconsistent metrics, and the sheer complexity of telecom operations make analytics a persistent challenge. Many CSPs rely on outdated OLAP systems for mission-critical reporting—tools never built to handle today’s scale, complexity, or cloud-native architectures. As digital transformation accelerates, constraints become more than just technical—they become strategic liabilities.
Vodafone Portugal recognized this early. As part of a broader corporate push to modernize data infrastructure, the team at Vodafone Portugal knew they needed to evolve their analytics foundation. They needed to unify their data, empower business users with self-service access, and eliminate the delays associated with legacy OLAP systems.
From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs
Vodafone’s legacy on-premises OLAP system—based on Microsoft SSAS—had become a blocker to analytics agility. It struggled to integrate with a growing Google Cloud (GCP) environment and created reporting delays that impacted day-to-day operations and financial processes. Processing times were as long as three hours for the largest workloads.
In partnership with Celfocus, AtScale set out to solve this.
The solution, deployed directly on GCP, was centered on migrating Vodafone’s OLAP workloads from SSAS to AtScale’s Universal Semantic Layer platform. This allowed Vodafone Portugal to preserve the familiar multidimensional analysis capabilities while eliminating inefficiencies of their legacy architecture. Thanks to Celfocus’s expertise—from assessment to execution—the migration was both seamless and strategic.
Pedro Fonseca, Account & Delivery Director at Celfocus, captured the impact well:
“Our aim in deploying AtScale was to add flexibility and effectiveness to the business without disrupting the way users were used to exploring their data. The result was highly satisfying for all stakeholders involved, with seamless adoption while extending data insights and awareness.”
The Results: Performance, Governance, and Empowerment
The benefits of migration go far beyond speed alone. Vodafone Portugal achieved:
- Faster Decision-Making: Processing times for the largest cubes are improved from 3 hours to under 45 minutes.
- Cost Optimization: Infrastructure and operational costs are reduced by removing third-party connectors and automating data engineering tasks.
- Stronger Data Governance: Business units can operate from a single source of truth via centralized metrics and role-based access.
- Self-Service at Scale: Business users can perform complex analysis using familiar tools like Excel, without relying on IT teams.
- Future-Readiness: The solution can scale to support analytics growth, extending OLAP capabilities to other business domains and OpCos.
Nuno Heitor, Head of Data & Analytics at Vodafone Portugal, summed it up:
“This implementation has significantly empowered all our Financial, Operational, and Business units. They now have the capability to access and analyse extensive data sets, streamlining daily workflows and enabling quicker decision-making.”
The Power of Partnership
While AtScale’s semantic layer provided the foundation, collaboration with Celfocus made the transformation possible. Their domain expertise, technical leadership, and deep understanding of Vodafone’s operational landscape were instrumental to the project’s success.
This engagement wasn’t just about OLAP modernization—it was about building a strategic analytics platform that enables Vodafone Portugal to act on data at scale, with trust, speed, and agility.
Together, we’ve set the stage for a new era of telecom analytics—where insights are immediate, access is democratized, and business users are fully empowered to drive smarter decisions.
If you want to learn more about how Vodafone Portugal modernized its analytics stack and how Celfocus and AtScale partnered to make it happen, don’t miss their joint session at the upcoming Semantic Layer Summit. This customer case study will explore the technical approach, key lessons learned, and the long-term value of building a semantic layer on the cloud.
Register now to save your spot and explore how leading organizations are unlocking the full potential of their data.
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Case Study: Vodafone Portugal Modernizes Data Analytics