How Grupo Casas Bahia Uses Databricks AI/BI Genie to Cut Analysis Time from Hours to Minutes

Grupo Casas Bahia operates at a scale that generates enormous volumes of data across logistics, sales, and fraud prevention—data that, until recently, only a handful of SQL-proficient analysts could effectively access. The company’s scale demanded a faster, more distributed approach to decision-making, yet the tools in place created bottlenecks rather than flow.

Before deploying Databricks AI/BI Genie, the retailer ran its analytics workflows through Power BI, and the reliance on SQL expertise was a persistent constraint. Analysts spent significant time constructing queries, business units applied inconsistent logic across departments, and the central data team fielded a constant stream of ad hoc requests that pulled them away from strategic work. “We were constantly answering questions or helping build queries,” noted Maro Lopes de Souza Neto, Business Analytics Specialist at Grupo Casas Bahia.

With Genie, Grupo Casas Bahia gave all employees—including logistics directors and C-suite executives—the ability to query data in plain Portuguese. Genie translates natural language into data-driven answers aligned to standardized business logic, resolving the inconsistency problem at source. The team also integrated Genie with Microsoft Teams via the Genie Conversation API, so that insights are accessible directly within the platform employees use daily. For predictive use cases, Genie connects to models created in Databricks AutoML, enabling stockout forecasting and real-time fraud risk scoring.

The results were immediate and concrete. Tasks that previously demanded five to six hours of analyst time now return answers in approximately two minutes. The logistics director can retrieve operational status with a single natural-language question. The fraud prevention team queries transactional risk scores on demand, prioritizing investigations without manual data pulls. “Genie gives us the ability to focus on high-risk orders by providing fraud scores and relevant signals,” said Cezar Steinz, Data and AI Senior Manager.

For Grupo Casas Bahia, the shift goes beyond time savings. The company describes the integration of Genie within Teams as a turning point for data democratization—removing the barrier of new-tool adoption by embedding AI-powered analytics into workflows that employees already follow. The retailer is now planning to extend Genie’s predictive capabilities by connecting additional machine learning models, and to embed natural-language querying directly within Power BI dashboards, deepening the integration between AI and everyday business operations.