GEODIS elevates customer experience using Talend Change Data Capture (CDC)

GEODIS | Distribution & Express, a subsidiary of GEODIS, is the leader in France for reliable last-mile delivery service (deliveries within 24 to 48 hours). In 2020 alone, its 115 agencies handled 100 million parcels and carried out 5,000 rounds per day in more than 35 countries across Europe. 

Nathalie Mandjee, Business Intelligence Manager at GEODIS, discovered that this part of the company was growing into a profit center for the larger business. But as growth soared, the cracks began to show in the company’s legacy technology, threatening to slow its trajectory.  

Stale analytics lacked real-time data 

Mandjee’s Business Intelligence teams had been using the same transport management and optimization software for years to manage their most critical data. The limitations were frustrating; for example, reports could only be generated once daily, often after everyone had left the office for the night. The stagnant data was sabotaging their operational efficiency and falling short of their customer’s evolving needs. 

"Customers expect more responsiveness in their search for information: they want to know, every hour or two, the status of their orders, the status of their deliveries, where the drivers are and when they will arrive," explains Gaëtan Saury, Director of Studies/ISD at GEODIS | Distribution & Express. 

What they needed was a solution that could collect and process data in real time, providing up-to-date reporting for their customers and employees alike. Internally, this would solve several issues. For example, one challenge was to keep track of each team’s performance. "Our branch managers need to follow the evolution of sales hour by hour. This is essential for adjusting the allocation of resources in order to better monitor the profitability and performance of the teams,” Saury continues. 

 "Our priorities were clear and the specifications precise," Mandjee asserts. "We were looking for a solution capable of retrieving large quantities of data in real time. That’s when our partner, Viseo, put us in touch with Talend.”  

Reliable business intelligence for confident business decisions 

While Talend CDC was initially deployed in early 2018 to alleviate immediate reporting needs, the use case didn’t stop there. The COVID-19 pandemic created additional pressure with more stringent expectations around logistics and transportation activities. As a result, the solution’s scope expanded. "Today, all of our business intelligence analytics and reports exclusively depend on Talend CDC for up-to-date and accurate data. Our users can retrieve the data they need faster than ever – delivering reliable customer value in times of rapid change," reveals Mandjee. 

Talend CDC quickly and consistently proved to be the high-performance fuel this delivery machine needed. "First, its ability to replicate data while also being non-intrusive is unparalleled,” Mandjee explains. “But above all, we’ve been most impressed with Talend CDC’s ability to deliver truly useful, fresh data with speed, agility, and cross-team alignment. This has not only been a point of competitive differentiation, but a complete game-changer for us!" 

"With Talend CDC, all new information that appears in the source can be used in almost real time,” Mandjee elaborates. “This allows us to respond to new business intelligence requests that arise within our teams with greater flexibility and agility."  

Saury agrees with Mandjee’s assessment and adds: "Today, business intelligence also gives us visibility and effective management of company activities by the hour with accurate data from multiple sources. This means we’re able to make informed decisions with reliable data at all levels of the business.” 

The Talend CDC / GEODIS | Distribution & Express partnership has given perspective – and opened up a whole new world of possibilities. "We are currently thinking about the evolution of our technology architecture to better serve our customer and anticipate their needs,” reveals Mandjee. “We are just at the beginning of the process, but with the Talend team in close proximity and scaling as we do, we’re confident we can deliver.”