Case Study 1: Airbnb – Improving Search Experience through Data Insights
Background
Airbnb is a global marketplace for short-term lodging. Its success depends heavily on delivering personalized and relevant listings to users during search.
Challenge
Users were often overwhelmed with too many listings or not seeing the most relevant results. Airbnb needed to enhance the search ranking algorithm using user behavior data.
SQL Application
- Window functions like
RANKandDENSE_RANKwere used to identify top-performing listings by bookings, ratings, or user clicks in different regions.
- Common Table Expressions (CTEs) helped break down complex user journeys (like search → click → book) into logical steps.
- UNION and INTERSECT operators allowed analysis of cross-listed properties or users who used both web and mobile apps.
Outcome
Using SQL-based exploratory analysis, Airbnb improved the way it surfaces listings—leading to higher engagement, better booking rates, and more personalized user experiences.
Case Study 2: Razorpay Payroll – Optimizing Payroll Processing for SMEs Background
Razorpay Payroll is a product that helps startups and small businesses automate employee salary payouts, tax calculations, and compliance.
Challenge
The payroll team needed insights into payroll delays, tax compliance issues, and salary breakdown patterns across companies. These insights were critical to optimize the system for both operational and regulatory efficiency.
SQL Application
- SQL aggregations helped summarize salary data: average salaries per role, TDS breakdowns, and tax slabs.
- Subqueries were used to identify employees whose taxes were misclassified based on income.
- EXCEPT operator was used to find companies missing statutory compliance (e.g., not filing EPF for eligible employees).
- Date-Time functions helped track delays in payroll disbursal and match them against predefined SLAs.
Outcome
By leveraging SQL-powered analytics, Razorpay Payroll improved its dashboard alerts, automated compliance reminders, and enabled real-time salary report generation for clients—enhancing trust and satisfaction.
