In the early stages of SBB’s digital transformation, data collection was the primary challenge. While the initial website and app tracking was manageable at first – over time, more websites and apps were created for different teams and use cases. And as channels multiplied, so did complexity. It became too overwhelming – with many different tools, limited access, and only one small analytics team that could answer questions across the business. Data literacy* became an ongoing challenge, since many teams were intimidated to work with data.

Important touchpoints like smart information displays and accessibility tools were difficult to measure, making it harder to understand how customers actually experienced SBB’s services.

As digital became central to everyday travel, SBB needed a clearer, more connected way to understand customer behavior – and to make insights available to all teams improving the experience.

*Data literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and communicate with data in context, enabling people to make informed decisions, solve problems, and drive action.

Challenge

In the early stages of SBB’s digital transformation, data collection was the primary challenge. While the initial website and app tracking was manageable at first – over time, more websites and apps were created for different teams and use cases. And as channels multiplied, so did complexity. It became too overwhelming – with many different tools, limited access, and only one small analytics team that could answer questions across the business. Data literacy* became an ongoing challenge, since many teams were intimidated to work with data.

Important touchpoints like smart information displays and accessibility tools were difficult to measure, making it harder to understand how customers actually experienced SBB’s services.

As digital became central to everyday travel, SBB needed a clearer, more connected way to understand customer behavior – and to make insights available to all teams improving the experience.

*Data literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and communicate with data in context, enabling people to make informed decisions, solve problems, and drive action.

Challenge

In the early stages of SBB’s digital transformation, data collection was the primary challenge. While the initial website and app tracking was manageable at first – over time, more websites and apps were created for different teams and use cases. And as channels multiplied, so did complexity. It became too overwhelming – with many different tools, limited access, and only one small analytics team that could answer questions across the business. Data literacy* became an ongoing challenge, since many teams were intimidated to work with data.

Important touchpoints like smart information displays and accessibility tools were difficult to measure, making it harder to understand how customers actually experienced SBB’s services.

As digital became central to everyday travel, SBB needed a clearer, more connected way to understand customer behavior – and to make insights available to all teams improving the experience.

*Data literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and communicate with data in context, enabling people to make informed decisions, solve problems, and drive action.

A single view of the customer journey

Piano’s flexible data model allowed SBB to start tracking how people move across digital and physical channels in a centralized and standardized way, despite having an overwhelming setup. This made it easier to answer what customers are looking for, where they get stuck, and what helps them move faster.

“For a company that has a lot of customized channels and ways to approach customers and a lot of different digital processes which aren’t very standard, [Piano’s flexible data model] is one of the biggest advantages.”

Turning insight into better user journeys

SBB analyzed more than websites and apps. With Piano, teams started tracking how people interact with digital services and physical touchpoints at stations, including smart information displays* and accessibility tools.

*digital timetables showing the departures and arrivals, and the route network maps.

By analyzing traffic across devices, search engines, and countries, SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized, such as leisure travelers and international visitors. These insights pointed to changing travel behavior – most notably a shift from weekday commuter travel to weekend and leisure travel following COVID-19, as flexible work became the norm. The data also showed "a rising demand from countries you would not directly think of", prompting SBB teams to research these new international audiences and create multilingual content to better support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.

The same data helps teams understand critical moments across the journey. They can see what customers are looking for, where friction appears in the purchasing process, and how people interact with services while traveling – from finding tickets in the app to checking platform changes or the fastest route to their destination.

“Thanks to the data that we collect, we can see the needs of our customers, what they are looking for, what topics to make more prominent on the website or what’s trending”.

By understanding what customers searched for, including services not yet available online, SBB prioritized the right features. This led to steady growth in digital ticket sales and an increase in services conducted online.

Solution & Results

A single view of the customer journey

Piano’s flexible data model allowed SBB to start tracking how people move across digital and physical channels in a centralized and standardized way, despite having an overwhelming setup. This made it easier to answer what customers are looking for, where they get stuck, and what helps them move faster.

“For a company that has a lot of customized channels and ways to approach customers and a lot of different digital processes which aren’t very standard, [Piano’s flexible data model] is one of the biggest advantages.”

Turning insight into better user journeys

SBB analyzed more than websites and apps. With Piano, teams started tracking how people interact with digital services and physical touchpoints at stations, including smart information displays* and accessibility tools.

*digital timetables showing the departures and arrivals, and the route network maps.

By analyzing traffic across devices, search engines, and countries, SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized, such as leisure travelers and international visitors. These insights pointed to changing travel behavior – most notably a shift from weekday commuter travel to weekend and leisure travel following COVID-19, as flexible work became the norm. The data also showed "a rising demand from countries you would not directly think of", prompting SBB teams to research these new international audiences and create multilingual content to better support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.

The same data helps teams understand critical moments across the journey. They can see what customers are looking for, where friction appears in the purchasing process, and how people interact with services while traveling – from finding tickets in the app to checking platform changes or the fastest route to their destination.

“Thanks to the data that we collect, we can see the needs of our customers, what they are looking for, what topics to make more prominent on the website or what’s trending”.

By understanding what customers searched for, including services not yet available online, SBB prioritized the right features. This led to steady growth in digital ticket sales and an increase in services conducted online.

Solution & Results

A single view of the customer journey

Piano’s flexible data model allowed SBB to start tracking how people move across digital and physical channels in a centralized and standardized way, despite having an overwhelming setup. This made it easier to answer what customers are looking for, where they get stuck, and what helps them move faster.

“For a company that has a lot of customized channels and ways to approach customers and a lot of different digital processes which aren’t very standard, [Piano’s flexible data model] is one of the biggest advantages.”

Turning insight into better user journeys

SBB analyzed more than websites and apps. With Piano, teams started tracking how people interact with digital services and physical touchpoints at stations, including smart information displays* and accessibility tools.

*digital timetables showing the departures and arrivals, and the route network maps.

By analyzing traffic across devices, search engines, and countries, SBB uncovered demand from audiences they hadn’t previously prioritized, such as leisure travelers and international visitors. These insights pointed to changing travel behavior – most notably a shift from weekday commuter travel to weekend and leisure travel following COVID-19, as flexible work became the norm. The data also showed "a rising demand from countries you would not directly think of", prompting SBB teams to research these new international audiences and create multilingual content to better support travelers before they arrive in Switzerland.

The same data helps teams understand critical moments across the journey. They can see what customers are looking for, where friction appears in the purchasing process, and how people interact with services while traveling – from finding tickets in the app to checking platform changes or the fastest route to their destination.

“Thanks to the data that we collect, we can see the needs of our customers, what they are looking for, what topics to make more prominent on the website or what’s trending”.

By understanding what customers searched for, including services not yet available online, SBB prioritized the right features. This led to steady growth in digital ticket sales and an increase in services conducted online.

"

Digital sales, of course, rose to 29% CAGR from 2021 to 2024.”

"

Digital sales, of course, rose to 29% CAGR from 2021 to 2024.”

"

Digital sales, of course, rose to 29% CAGR from 2021 to 2024.”

Confidence to try more

Teams that were previously intimidated by data began exploring on their own. Instead of waiting for answers, product managers, marketers, and content teams could see what was happening and decide what to do next. “It also gives a lot of freedom in trying out things knowing you can’t destroy anything, because that sometimes seems to be a hurdle as well,” says Lea.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. It includes:

Piano AI Reveal that transformed data from dashboards into comprehensive summaries with recommendations on next steps
Piano’s Boards that let teams explore data dynamically rather than just view it in a static dashboard. Users can apply global filters, change variables, adjust visualizations, and drill into results directly on the board.
Self-service configuration capabilities that let SBB create new properties, metrics, segments, and visualizations independently

These features helped strengthen data literacy across the organization, as more teams began feeling more confident working with data on a daily basis.

Confidence to try more

Teams that were previously intimidated by data began exploring on their own. Instead of waiting for answers, product managers, marketers, and content teams could see what was happening and decide what to do next. “It also gives a lot of freedom in trying out things knowing you can’t destroy anything, because that sometimes seems to be a hurdle as well,” says Lea.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. It includes:

Piano AI Reveal that transformed data from dashboards into comprehensive summaries with recommendations on next steps
Piano’s Boards that let teams explore data dynamically rather than just view it in a static dashboard. Users can apply global filters, change variables, adjust visualizations, and drill into results directly on the board.
Self-service configuration capabilities that let SBB create new properties, metrics, segments, and visualizations independently

These features helped strengthen data literacy across the organization, as more teams began feeling more confident working with data on a daily basis.

Confidence to try more

Teams that were previously intimidated by data began exploring on their own. Instead of waiting for answers, product managers, marketers, and content teams could see what was happening and decide what to do next. “It also gives a lot of freedom in trying out things knowing you can’t destroy anything, because that sometimes seems to be a hurdle as well,” says Lea.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. With less time spent pulling reports or explaining metrics, analysts could focus on working alongside teams, making data become part of everyday decision-making.

Piano’s capabilities helped teams get answers faster and understand context more easily. It includes:

Piano AI Reveal that transformed data from dashboards into comprehensive summaries with recommendations on next steps
Piano’s Boards that let teams explore data dynamically rather than just view it in a static dashboard. Users can apply global filters, change variables, adjust visualizations, and drill into results directly on the board.
Self-service configuration capabilities that let SBB create new properties, metrics, segments, and visualizations independently

These features helped strengthen data literacy across the organization, as more teams began feeling more confident working with data on a daily basis.

"

It's super easy to have a lot of configurations done by yourself, compared to other tools"

"

It's super easy to have a lot of configurations done by yourself, compared to other tools"

"

It's super easy to have a lot of configurations done by yourself, compared to other tools"

Trust built into the foundation

"Piano Analytics has very strict data protection guidelines and that's a huge burden that was taken off our shoulders.”

Privacy and transparency are non-negotiable for SBB. With full control over what data is collected and how it’s processed, teams can work confidently – and respond clearly to questions.

“We’re in full control of data collected and how it’s processed. It helps knowing we can fully trust the data"

Looking ahead

SBB’s analytics journey began with data spread across tools and teams. Today, that data has a foundation that makes insights easier to access, understand, and use.

Connected digital and physical touchpoints help understand how customers plan, purchase, and travel – and see which experiences work well and where they need improvement.

With fewer barriers between teams, SBB can continue improving digital services, support accessibility, and adapt to changing travel needs – while staying focused on the people it serves.

Trust built into the foundation

"Piano Analytics has very strict data protection guidelines and that's a huge burden that was taken off our shoulders.”

Privacy and transparency are non-negotiable for SBB. With full control over what data is collected and how it’s processed, teams can work confidently – and respond clearly to questions.

“We’re in full control of data collected and how it’s processed. It helps knowing we can fully trust the data"

Looking ahead

SBB’s analytics journey began with data spread across tools and teams. Today, that data has a foundation that makes insights easier to access, understand, and use.

Connected digital and physical touchpoints help understand how customers plan, purchase, and travel – and see which experiences work well and where they need improvement.

With fewer barriers between teams, SBB can continue improving digital services, support accessibility, and adapt to changing travel needs – while staying focused on the people it serves.

Trust built into the foundation

"Piano Analytics has very strict data protection guidelines and that's a huge burden that was taken off our shoulders.”

Privacy and transparency are non-negotiable for SBB. With full control over what data is collected and how it’s processed, teams can work confidently – and respond clearly to questions.

“We’re in full control of data collected and how it’s processed. It helps knowing we can fully trust the data"

Looking ahead

SBB’s analytics journey began with data spread across tools and teams. Today, that data has a foundation that makes insights easier to access, understand, and use.

Connected digital and physical touchpoints help understand how customers plan, purchase, and travel – and see which experiences work well and where they need improvement.

With fewer barriers between teams, SBB can continue improving digital services, support accessibility, and adapt to changing travel needs – while staying focused on the people it serves.