Analyzing “a whole universe of data” at AeroMéxico


Mexico City-based airline, AeroMéxico, operates over 600 flights on daily basis. The AeroMéxico network spans over 80 cities across the globe; the airline owns over 120 aircrafts. Previously, AeroMéxico dealt with several data sources and formats. The bulk of analysis took place in flat Excel files—limiting the insights that they could find in their data. Now with Tableau, teams create dynamic dashboards, allowing them to manage large amounts of data with “practically a single click.” In this video, Subdirector of Information Security, Jesús Vega Lopez and Internal Audit Manager, Julio Magdaleno Magaña discuss how Tableau allows AeroMéxico to:

  • Consolidate data from several systems in one place
  • Improve processes by quickly identifying errors
  • Create dynamic visualizations that help identify trends

Tableau: How would you summarize your thoughts about Tableau? Jesús Vega Lopez, Subdirector of Information Security: This kind of tool is really vital. Having dashboards and the detail of the data in a practical, user-friendly format and in real time has definitely helped us. It's extraordinary! Tableau: How did you work with data before Tableau? Jesús: Previously, we administered that data using different database management systems, in different text formats, and different sources. Julio Magdaleno Magaña, Internal Audit Manager: Before using Tableau, we handled all of our data, well, let's call it manually—Excel spreadsheets, it took a lot of time. We were limited when it came to handling our data. Tableau: And how did that change with Tableau? Julio: When we started using Tableau, that completely changed. Jesús: Tableau doesn't have any limitations, it allows us to handle any kind of data and allows us great flexibility. We are able to handle a large volume of data from different platforms, even on different systems. Tableau: Can you give an example? Julio: So, for example, there are areas where we apply resources of heavy investment and we can analyze whether or not the process is in order. When we have a deviation or an exception, we automatically identify its origin in a very short time and we are able to take the appropriate action so that the error doesn't reoccur. Tableau: What are some of your favorite things about Tableau? Jesús: The main aspects are definitely the great ease of use and the fact that we don't depend on a technological development area to be able to carry out our analyses.

Tableau provides us with all of the results that the organization wants in a very quick, interactive, and visual way.

Tableau: What are some of your favorite things about Tableau? Jesús: We haven't come across any other software on the market that enables us to have such a variety of graphs and dashboards. They provide us with all of the results that the organization wants in a very quick, interactive, and visual way. Julio: We can really measure the improvements that this tool has brought us by how we are able to identify our weaknesses during audits, how we are able to strengthen and test our standards to make sure they are efficient. Now we are about to easily manage a whole universe of data. Tableau: What would you do if you didn’t have Tableau? Jesús: I think that if we didn't have Tableau then we'd have to go back to fully depending on the IT Department, to visualizing the data in a very flat way, in reports, we wouldn't have graphs, which are very suited to our needs. Not having that, the IT Department, for example, with its BI Department, would simply process statistical information, flat information that really doesn't quickly identify trends or process deviations. Tableau: How did your team react when they started using Tableau? Jesús: In fact, those in areas using Tableau are surprised when they come across a particular dashboard that shows them information from different systems or different platforms, and when they can visualize it in one single graph, they really can't understand how it happens. They say: "I don't understand, how did they do that? How did they combine that information?" Tableau: How has Tableau had a positive effect on the company? Jesús: Above all, having a number of tools, such as drill down, enables us to manage our graphs very quickly and to see different views and manage a large volume of data with practically a single click.