London, New York, Munich, Dubai – January 29, 2026 – DataArt, a global software engineering firm that delivers breakthrough data, analytics, and AI platforms, has completed the first phase of a multi-year partnership with London Business School (LBS) to build a comprehensive data platform from scratch. The implementation addresses a challenge facing educational institutions globally: modernizing data infrastructure as the foundation for AI readiness and digital transformation.
London Business School faced a common challenge in higher education: siloed departments, Excel-based workflows, and legacy databases made it difficult to track marketing spend effectiveness or optimize campus resources. With no centralized data platform and limited data governance in place, the institution needed a custom-tailored solution. In late 2024, DataArt began building a comprehensive data platform designed to address these gaps incrementally.
Within a single month, DataArt assembled a senior technical team and just six months later delivered the initial implementation of the Microsoft Fabric-based data platform alongside the first business use case. The marketing analytics use case provides LBS with improved visibility into advertising spend and channel effectiveness, while the underlying Fabric and Purview infrastructure establishes the data governance and integration capabilities the institution will need for future use cases.
Dmitry Aleshin, Account Executive at DataArt, said:
"Universities and business schools face mounting pressure to implement AI, but most lack the underlying data infrastructure to support it.
By building strong data foundations first and focusing on clear, incremental outcomes, LBS turned a long procurement environment into steady delivery and demonstrated value at every step."
Karen Bates, Chief Digital and Information Officer at London Business School, said:
“By leveraging Microsoft Fabric, our data platform project has laid the essential foundations for a true reporting transformation. It brings our data together in one trusted, scalable ecosystem, enabling insights that are faster, and more impactful than ever before.”
The Fabric and Purview implementation establishes centralized data governance and integration capabilities that were previously absent, providing the technical foundation for multiple departments to build use cases on. The technology stack represents Microsoft's latest data platform offerings, supported by the existing partnership between LBS and Microsoft.
The second use case, currently in development in the first half of 2026, will address space allocation, helping LBS optimize scheduling across 1,000+ teaching spaces in multiple campus buildings. Subsequent phases will extend the platform to additional departments and business functions.
The partnership reflects broader shifts in higher education, where institutions must modernize aging technical infrastructure while competing for students in an increasingly digital environment. Establishing a unified data platform addresses the foundational requirement for operational efficiency improvements and future AI capabilities, while individual use cases deliver specific departmental value.
Aleshin added:
"We're establishing the data foundations LBS will need for the next decade.
That includes working directly with their technology team to coordinate implementation and ensure the platform addresses real business requirements."
The platform will expand in phases as DataArt continues working with LBS to onboard additional departments and use cases across the institution.
