Case Study: How Swiss Federal Railways Challenges Passenger Assumptions with Market Logic AI Personas
By Market Logic
- case study
- AI Personas
- Artificial Intelligence
- AI
- Data Connectivity
- Insight Activation
- Insight Transformation
- Survey Data Centralisation
- Knowledge Management
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) is a central part of Switzerland’s public transport system. Its passengers include commuters, leisure travellers, international visitors, and people with reduced mobility. Customer research existed but was hard to access. Finding relevant evidence could take several days. Teams had to search SharePoint, ask colleagues, and review files manually. The quality of the answer depended on who received the question. There was also a cultural challenge. Employees’ own experience of rail travel could create blind spots. This made it harder to understand passengers whose journeys were different from their own.
Market Logic’s DeepSights platform gave selected employees access to a curated research base. Users could ask questions in natural language in German, French, and Italian. Answers were linked to their sources. Checking existing evidence became the first step in research planning. DeepSights Personas were introduced separately in December 2025. Ten scenario-based AI personas covered a broad range of passenger and stakeholder needs. They are used to explore perspectives, not to retrieve evidence. They are not based on a statistically representative customer segmentation. The rollout used a focused and governed approach, with curated content and role-based access. SBB kept a clear line between exploration and evidence.
The personas were presented at a leadership conference attended by around 1,500 managers. Structured three-hour leadership sessions were then planned across up to 20 groups of around 20 participants. The leadership pilot team said persona conversations surfaced new perspectives, clarified questions, and challenged preconceptions. SBB acknowledged that wider behaviour change takes time and that the impact of AI is still being assessed. A presentation can explain why customer centricity matters. A persona conversation makes people practise it.
“The personas give different answers, which is really important for our leaders to understand: there is not just one customer, and one size does not fit all.” — Dr. Alexandra Daniela Zaugg, Senior Customer Insights Manager, SBB CFF FFS
