Architecture simulation
Northwind AI Platform
A retailer wants an assistant for customer service. The CISO wants no second data breach, the CFO no open-ended invoice, and the business wants to go live before the November peak.
The engagement
Northwind is a retail chain with 180 stores and a webshop. Customer service handles 12,000 questions a week about orders, returns and product information. Agents search four systems at once to find an answer. The board has named AI a priority for this year.
- Budget
- 250,000 euro for the first year, including licences, consumption and implementation. Finance has made clear this is not a guideline figure.
- Existing platform
- Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Dynamics 365 Commerce, Microsoft Entra ID, SharePoint Online
What the customer wants to achieve
- Help customer service agents find an answer faster, with the source attached.
- Open up internal knowledge about products, returns policy and suppliers to the whole company.
- Stay demonstrably in control of what the model can and cannot see.
Constraints
- The platform team is four people and already delivers Fabric and Power BI.
- The business wants something in production within eight weeks, before peak season.
- There is no separate AI operations team and there will not be one this year.
Security requirements
- Customer data from the order system must not leave the tenant boundary.
- Agents must not see anything through the assistant that they could not see without it.
- There is an audit obligation: every answer must be traceable to a source.
At the table
Marieke de Vries
CIO
“I do not want a fourth platform. Whatever we build has to sit on what we already run.”
Ruben Okonkwo
CISO
“If an agent can reach a customer record through the assistant that they are not allowed to see, I stop the project.”
Sanne Hoekstra
Data Platform Lead
“There are four of us and we already run Fabric. Whatever gets added, we have to be able to operate it on a Monday morning.”
Peter Lammers
Finance Director
“250,000 euro. If I see an invoice in March that goes over that, the conversation is over.”
Aisha El Amrani
Director Customer Service
“My team handles 40 percent more volume in November. I need something before peak season, not after it.”
Sasha Brandt
Legal Counsel
“An assistant that can reach personnel files is processing personal data. Without a DPIA and a retention period I am not signing anything.”