Democratizing retail data to power better customer experiences
Grupo Casas Bahia uses Databricks Assistant to streamline migration from SAS
Cost reduction by migrating from SAS to Databricks
Automation of ETL scripts with Databricks Assistant
Nonengineering employees upskilled to transform data into insights
Grupo Casas Bahia, a leading Brazilian retailer, faced challenges with their outdated SAS infrastructure, hindering data-driven decision-making. By migrating to Databricks, the company streamlined operations and empowered users. Key improvements included automated SAS ETL script conversion with Databricks Assistant, intuitive data exploration with AI/BI Genie for all data users and robust data governance with Unity Catalog. This transition enabled personalized customer experiences and paved the way for future AI initiatives, enhancing Casas Bahia’s ability to serve millions of customers across online platforms and 800+ physical stores.
Legacy SAS infrastructure impeded data democratization
Grupo Casas Bahia, one of Brazil’s leading retail and e-commerce brands, has long relied on data to drive their operations and customer engagement. Over time, however, reliance on a legacy SAS warehouse began to hinder their ability to scale and innovate. The SAS environment supported over 400 jobs and 170 users but posed significant challenges that limited their progress. “SAS had great limitations in accessing and utilizing our data lake, making it difficult for our business units to perform timely analysis and model development,” shared Cezar Steinz, Data and AI Senior Manager at Grupo Casas Bahia. “With SAS, our data analysts were disconnected from our data lake, forcing us to move information manually — a time-consuming and inefficient process.” Additionally, the system lacked scalability and required costly, complex reengineering efforts to upgrade to newer versions.
These challenges extended to productivity and accessibility. The disconnected nature of the SAS environment forced manual workflows, making it harder for nontechnical users to explore and leverage data effectively. Over a decade of accumulated scripts, many without proper documentation, compounded the issue. “The people who originally built these scripts are no longer at the company, and without documentation, understanding or modifying the code became a major roadblock,” Steinz noted.
In parallel with addressing these operational challenges, Grupo Casas Bahia was pursuing new use cases to improve customer experiences. Guided by a mission to be a platform for consumption and relationships “whenever, wherever and however" Brazilians need, the retailer integrated social, environmental and governance principles into their operations. These included automating product categorization, generating enriched digital content for their marketplace and developing fraud detection models. However, reliance on SAS impeded their ability to execute these use cases efficiently. Performance bottlenecks, high costs and a lack of integration with modern AI tools highlighted the urgent need for a more adaptable and scalable data platform.
These limitations ultimately set the stage for a transformative migration — one that would allow Grupo Casas Bahia to evolve their data infrastructure and empower broader data use across the organization.
Automating legacy migration with Databricks Assistant
Enter Databricks, which had already been in use for five years at Grupo Casas Bahia. Leveraging key components of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, the retailer was able to modernize their data infrastructure and simplify their migration process.
Central to this effort was Databricks Assistant, an automated tool powered by GenAI that played a pivotal role in converting Grupo Casas Bahia SAS scripts into Databricks–compatible formats. “Databricks Assistant was the core data intelligence tool for our successful migration,” said Steinz. “It automated much of the ETL script conversion and helped us address challenges with outdated and undocumented SAS code.” Using Databricks Assistant to generate Python and SQL code, identify and resolve bugs, and even create documentation significantly reduced the complexity of the migration. “The Assistant didn’t just help with migration, it also disseminated knowledge, enabling our teams to gain a deeper understanding of the data and the scripts,” Steinz added.
Another cornerstone of Grupo Casas Bahia’s data evolution is AI/BI Genie, which bridges the gap for nontechnical users by allowing them to explore and interact with data more intuitively. By enabling users to query the data lake directly through conversational AI, Genie has democratized data access and analysis. “With Genie, users who previously lacked technical skills now have the autonomy to perform their own studies, build models and access insights — something that was unimaginable in the SAS environment,” said Steinz.
To ensure secure and scalable data management, Grupo Casas Bahia adopted Unity Catalog as a governance layer. Unity Catalog provides comprehensive visibility into their data ecosystem, allowing teams to manage access, track table usage and clean up unused assets. “Unity Catalog is the heart of everything we do now,” Steinz explained. “It not only ensures governance but also streamlines operations by helping us automate documentation and track data utilization.”
These components of the Databricks Platform have enabled Grupo Casas Bahia to modernize their data infrastructure and empower users across the organization to harness the power of data, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.
Lowering costs while enabling data access for all users
With Databricks Assistant, AI/BI Genie for intuitive data exploration and Unity Catalog for robust data governance, Grupo Casas Bahia has laid the foundation for innovation and data-driven decision-making, ensuring that their mission aligns with the evolving needs of their customers. The retailer has achieved significant cost savings, enhanced data democratization and improved productivity across the organization.
The migration itself resulted in a 70% cost reduction compared to the legacy SAS system, driven by Databricks lower operating costs and streamlined processes. “Databricks offers a cost that is five to six times lower than SAS, making it a much more efficient and scalable solution for our needs,” Steinz explained.
“The success of the SAS migration was driven by business collaboration, the excellence of the data team and the strategic support of Databricks,” shared Patrick Nakazone, Data Engineering Manager at Grupo Casas Bahia.
Moreover, by automating script conversion with Databricks Assistant, the company reduced the time needed for documentation and code migration from months to just minutes in some cases. This automation allowed business users to adopt Python and SQL. According to Steinz, “Databricks Assistant automated 80–90% of ETL script conversion, enabling our team to upskill quickly. After the migration, we had 107 team members who didn’t previously know how to code, now actively working with SQL and Python.”
Empowering nontechnical users to engage with data independently has removed bottlenecks and accelerated decision-making. Thanks to AI/BI Genie, over 200 users now access and analyze data directly. “Genie has allowed users to move beyond simple queries and start building their own models, enabling stronger, more complex analyses than ever before,” shared Steinz.
On the governance side, Unity Catalog has ensured robust data management, providing visibility into data usage and facilitating cleaner, more efficient processes. This governance layer has not only improved security but also enhanced operational efficiency by enabling the organization to retire unused assets and streamline workflows.
“The migration from SAS to Databricks was an absolute success, the result of partnership and collaboration between the areas. Together we achieved a more agile and innovative future for the company,” explained Valmir Rogério, Data Engineering Tech Lead at Grupo Casas Bahia.
Looking ahead, Grupo Casas Bahia is focused on expanding their use of AI and deepening data democratization across the organization. Their next steps include integrating AI/BI Genie more extensively into workflows, enabling even more employees to leverage data without technical expertise. “We’re working hard to ensure that Genie can bring everyone into the data-driven fold,” said Steinz. Additionally, the company is exploring ways to embed AI capabilities into customer-facing applications, such as personalized marketing campaigns and product recommendations, to further enhance customer experiences.
With the Databricks Platform as their foundation, Grupo Casas Bahia is not only addressing their current data challenges but also building a scalable, innovative platform for future growth. “Databricks has allowed us to move beyond the limitations of SAS and fully realize the potential of our data,” Steinz concluded. “The impact has been transformative, and we’re just getting started.”