More than just implementing BI software – inspiring users  

The Otsuka Group was founded more than 100 years ago. Today it has over 47,000 employees in 33 countries around the world. The group includes 44 research institutes and 175 production sites worldwide. Otsuka Pharmaceutical is a global company in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare market. With more than 70 employees, Otsuka Pharma GmbH based in Frankfurt/Main is responsible for sales and marketing of the products in Germany. Employees in sales at Otsuka depend on access to extensive data analyses, studies, and customer histories, both in the office and on site with the customer.

Implementation of Power BI with a tailor-made training concept

Otsuka Pharma GmbH decided to implement Microsoft Power BI to make work easier for the sales staff and use extensive analyses even more effectively in sales going forward. Users can adapt and use business analyses and interactive visualizations with the business intelligence solution. As a central platform, Power BI will make all relevant market and performance data accessible in one place. Yet the implementation of such a system alone is not enough: Users need to be familiarized with the functions and possibilities through training events.

Otsuka Pharma GmbH therefore sought an IT service provider to assist the internal IT team with employee training. Sycor brought extensive experience from numerous training projects to the table along with certified Microsoft expertise. “Sycor adapted the training to our needs rather than offering a ready-made concept,” recalls the Power BI project launch team at Otsuka. “We wanted to get the employees excited about Power BI based on concrete questions that are relevant for our business.” The project therefore started with a kick-off where the goals, training methods, and also the use of practical case studies with everyday relevance were discussed.

Practical examples and motivation support learning

All of this information was ultimately incorporated in the training concept. “We did not conduct general Power BI training, but trained the employees directly in their own system,” is how Sycor Project Manager Peter Schneider describes the implementation of the concept. “In addition to providing general information, we demonstrated the actual everyday benefits through practical exercises.” The game-based learning platform Kahoot, which enables the playful and motivating communication of content, was also used. In just two months, 35 employees of Otsuka Pharma GmbH were thus familiarized with Power BI in half-day live training sessions. All of that was accomplished in parallel with the system roll-out. This meant the Sycor experts had to be very flexible and responsive, since the training content changed now and then and preparation times were short.

“Training laid an important foundation and gave the users a good feel for what Power BI can do for them,” the launch team comments. Following the implementation of individual adaptations, the software is now in use. The accomplished users have access to comprehensive data analyses and clear visualizations they can use as the basis for decision-making.

About the project