The Client
Eurostar is a high-speed train service connecting the UK with mainland Europe through the Channel Tunnel. Established in 1994, Eurostar revolutionised travel between Britain and Europe by offering fast, eco-friendly train journeys as an alternative to air travel. Eurostar connects major European cities, emphasising comfort, convenience, and efficiency.
The Challenge
Eurostar's digital analytics team was positioned at a critical juncture, eager to elevate its analytical capabilities to better serve the dynamic demands of modern rail travel. The existing infrastructure utilised a Python script on a virtual machine triggered via Airflow and loaded data into BigQuery. This wasn’t scalable as it restricted data processing to 400 records per minute. During peak times, this was an extreme bottleneck, causing data to lag by up to six hours. Moreover, this process was not event-driven; it was a batch job that lacked the flexibility to adapt to fluctuating data loads. The system's non-containerised environment compounded these issues, making it difficult to migrate or scale processes efficiently across machines.
These limitations hindered Eurostar's ability to engage in real-time data analytics, which is crucial for timely marketing personalisation and comprehensive customer journey mapping. The system's limitation in scaling effectively during peak demand periods meant that Eurostar could not maximally leverage customer data when needed, thus impacting its ability to monitor and react quickly to customer behaviours. This scenario underscored the urgent need for a robust, scalable solution that could handle increasing volumes of data with lower latency, ensuring that Eurostar could maintain a seamless and highly responsive interaction with its customers across various touchpoints.
N-ZYTE's Solution
N-ZYTE recognised the complex challenges faced by Eurostar and devised a multi-faceted solution that revitalised its analytics capabilities. The first step was designing and deploying an advanced real-time data streaming platform, utilising modern event processing technologies to ensure real-time data was immediately available for analysis. To address data silos, N-ZYTE integrated transaction IT systems that captured event-based data, including call centres, agencies, distributor data, in-station engagements, and online activities, providing Eurostar with a holistic view of the customer journey. This comprehensive integration was pivotal in breaking down the barriers that previously fragmented the data landscape.
Scott Bishop, Head of Analytics at Eurostar, commented on the implementation, "The integration strategies and real-time solutions implemented by N-ZYTE have significantly streamlined our data processes, making an immediate impact on our operational capabilities."
N-ZYTE's Data Team as a Service model provided critical cost savings and efficiency enhancements. With Eurostar's one in-house data engineer, N-ZYTE's external expertise allowed the team to focus on high-value tasks, enhancing productivity and agility. The engagement included intensive collaboration: planning and knowledge transfer, system deployment, and rigorous testing, ensuring a seamless integration of the new systems.
The integration strategies and real-time solutions implemented by N-ZYTE have significantly streamlined our data processes, making an immediate impact on our operational capabilities.
Scott Bishop
Eurostar, Head of Analytics
The Impact
The real-time streaming solution N-ZYTE implemented has dramatically transformed Eurostar's operations, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and customer insight capabilities. With a 2000% increase in data processing efficiency, Eurostar's analytics team can now handle an exponentially larger volume of events per minute. This upgrade has drastically cut the time from data capture to insight generation, reducing data latency from up to six hours to just three seconds after an event occurs, which has been crucial for enabling real-time personalisation and decision-making.
Bishop reflects on these improvements: "The enhanced data processing capabilities have not only improved our responsiveness but have fundamentally changed how we engage with our customers. We can now offer a more personalised travel experience that significantly enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty."
Moreover, the advanced real-time capabilities implemented by N-ZYTE have revolutionised Eurostar's marketing strategies and customer interactions. Eurostar can more effectively manage its suppression audiences by identifying recent bookers as transactions occur, rather than relying on nightly data updates. This timely identification ensures that marketing efforts are not wasted on customers who have already completed bookings, thus optimising advertising spend and enhancing marketing efficiency.
Additionally, the immediate availability of transaction data is set to transform customer support by enabling real-time decisions and actions. This capability not only ensures higher data trustworthiness and quality but also opens new avenues for engaging customers more dynamically along their journey. For instance, Eurostar can now encourage customers to download the app immediately after booking, greatly enhancing their overall experience and engagement and potentially boosting app adoption rates.
The enhanced data processing capabilities have not only improved our responsiveness but have fundamentally changed how we engage with our customers. We can now offer a more personalised travel experience that significantly enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Scott Bishop
Eurostar, Head of Analytics
Why N-ZYTE?
Choosing N-ZYTE allowed Eurostar to bypass the challenges of scaling up internally and instead leverage N-ZYTE’s expertise in data analytics. The partnership resolved immediate analytical challenges and set a foundation for continuous improvement and innovation within Eurostar’s data management practices. "N-ZYTE's ability to understand our unique challenges and quickly implement effective solutions was pivotal. Their expertise has been instrumental in our journey towards becoming a more data-driven organisation," states Bishop.
N-ZYTE's ability to understand our unique challenges and quickly implement effective solutions was pivotal. Their expertise has been instrumental in our journey towards becoming a more data-driven organisation.
Scott Bishop
Eurostar, Head of Analytics
The Future
Building on this successful implementation, Eurostar plans to expand its data-driven strategies to further integrate customer insights across all business areas. N-ZYTE will continue to support Eurostar in these efforts, ensuring that data remains a cornerstone of their strategic decision-making process.
