Case Study
UST migrates 20 years of data, unifies employee experience using Microsoft Fabric
OUR CLIENT
Founded in 1999, UST is a leading digital transformation solutions company, providing Global 1000 companies with an expansive array of technology services and consulting, including cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. The multinational company employs more than 30,000 people across 30+ countries and strives to help customers become more agile, efficient, and secure while emphasizing solutions that positively impact human experiences.
THE CHALLENGE
Rapid global expansion led to employee data management and integration issues
With an ethos of transforming lives through technology, UST entwines its core values of humanity, humility, and integrity into every interaction with customers and employees. “We pay attention, listen, and expand while helping our customers grow,” says Ramya Kannan, Chief of Staff and VP Information Services at UST. “This approach leads to relationship longevity. Many customers have been with us for over a decade, working with the same UST engineers they started with.”
Since 2023, the company’s client-centric, people-first approach and drive for innovation have catalyzed significant growth. UST expanded into 34 countries and hired thousands of technical experts, including 2,000 entry-level engineers. However, rapid growth brought challenges in managing and integrating employee data across diverse regions and systems, which is needed for cross-team productivity, decision-making, and innovation.
“We needed a unified data platform to bring everyone together—and support more efficient employee integration, providing our personnel with real-time data accessibility,” says Kannan.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Unifying employee data with a secure, modern Microsoft Fabric solution
UST decided to build a comprehensive employee data platform on Microsoft Fabric to leverage its earlier investments in Microsoft technologies, including Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Power BI.
“Our aim was a hyperscaler SaaS data platform that could integrate generative AI and copilots into analytics solutions,” says Sumesh Sukumaran, Data Integration Architect at UST. “Microsoft Fabric offered a one-stop solution for this and all UST data needs, efficiently integrating various data sources and systems with enhanced security and data governance.”
UST transitioned to a modern data lakehouse on Microsoft Fabric, using a medallion architecture to amalgamate data from diverse systems. UST strengthened data governance and implemented a metadata-driven data integration framework to facilitate efficient data integration from various systems and acquisitions.
“We are looking at Fabric as a journey in our efforts to bring actionable insights to different stakeholders on demand,” adds Kanna. “The end goal is to put the power of data in the hands of our users, enabling them to extract data on demand, trust the reliability of the data, and use analytics and insights for decisions and actions.”
“We migrated 20 years of employee data into Microsoft Fabric with all security measures in under a year,” says Sukumaran. “The meta data-driven integration framework in Fabric has also reduced data ingestion time by 50%, allowing employees to focus more on analysis and less on preparation.”
UST is also utilizing Power Platform for robotic process automation (RPA), Power Apps to support creativity and productivity, and Power BI to augment data accessibility and support self-service, plus Azure Entra ID for access management.
THE IMPACT
Human-centric technology transforms employee experiences
Employees report feeling more connected and better able to manage their workloads, as well as access real-time data for informed critical decisions. They also spend more time working together, advancing customer solutions. “Empowering individuals with the right information at the right time eliminates data gatekeeping and lets people focus on doing what they love,” says Kannan. “This translates directly into great customer experiences.”
Sukumaran adds that being new to Fabric inspired new ways to collaborate and innovate. Junior engineers mentored by senior architects worked together to build the platform, with both groups learning together. “Everyone gained invaluable, transferable skills that we can now bring to customers.” Employees are participating more in hackathons, and new plans are underway for automating test data generation and ingesting data from specific functions, ensuring seamless interaction with existing data.
“Fabric helps us put our values into action,” concludes Kannan. “This enhances our mission to put people first and to lead by using technology to make a positive difference.”
To discover more about UST’s Microsoft expertise, click here.
RESOURCES
https://www.ust.com/content/dam/ust/documents/UST-and-Microsoft-Infographic.pdf
https://www.ust.com/en/who-we-are/ust-newsroom/ust-earns-azure-expert-msp-recognition-from-microsoft