To run nightly data collection processes faster and support subscriber growth, Digicel migrated its 38 TB data warehouse to Oracle Exadata Database Machine. “We
needed a system that could handle an increase in the amount of data,” says Marwan Salman, head of I T at Digicel.
In 2011, the organization set out to solve a problem with its data
warehouse—the nightly data collection processes were simply taking
too long for the company’s existing server infrastructure to process,
and the business-critical daily reports were not reliably delivered
on time. To overcome that problem and support substantial growth
in its subscriber base, Digicel migrated its 38 TB data warehouse
to Oracle’s Exadata Database Machine X2-2 Half Rack with high-capacity disks.
For Digicel, the benefits of implementing Oracle Exadata went
far beyond solving the company’s immediate reporting problems.
Indeed, the new solution significantly improved analysis and report
performance across the board, with reports
showing response time improvements of
up to 16 times. And yes, daily reports are
now processed and delivered on time each
morning before the employees walk in the
door, giving them the tools they need to
strengthen and refine sales strategies and
marketing plans.
But Oracle Exadata is also helping Digicel
address a key strategic requirement for
growth and customer retention that the
company simply couldn’t address without a
robust, highly scalable, and integrated engi-
neered system. On its old systems, Digicel couldn’t run antichurn
reports. Now, antichurn reports allow the company to identify situa-
tions of potential customer loss and attempt to address them.
MEE TING NE W CHALLENGES
A relative newcomer to the communications field, Digicel Haiti is
part of the privately owned Digicel Group, which was launched in
2001 and currently serves more than 11 million subscribers across
several markets in the Caribbean, Central
America, and the Pacific. Digicel Haiti’s goal
is to provide customers with reliable cellular
service. It’s an important mission, because
for many Haitians, their cell phone is the only
phone they have.
Digicel knew that its existing data warehouse would not scale effectively enough
for the rapid expansion of services it needed
to provide. “To be able to grow and accommodate all our new subscribers, we needed a
system that could handle an increase in the
amount of data,” says Salman.
BEN DEPP/GETTY IMAGES
Digicel Haiti
digicelhaiti.com
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Industry: Communications
Employees: 1,000
Oracle products and services: Oracle Exadata
Database Machine, SPARC Enterprise M5000
servers, Oracle Solaris, Oracle Enterprise
Manager, Oracle Consulting Advanced
Technology Services, Oracle Advanced
Customer Support Services
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