About PRS Guitars
PRS Guitars is a world-class guitar and amplifier manufacturer based in Stevensville, Maryland. The company celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025 and remains committed to building high-quality musical instruments for players around the world. PRS Guitars builds its Core, S2, Bolt-On and Private Stock guitars in Maryland, USA, while the SE Series is produced in Indonesia to PRS design and quality standards.
What do they do?
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Stevan Sunny Thomas is one of four members of the IT Department and is responsible for designing and maintaining the company's data infrastructure, developing data pipelines, and creating reports and dashboards that help business users make informed decisions.
The data landscape at PRS Guitars
Starting at the source, PRS uses Hevo to consolidate data from multiple business systems into a centralized Snowflake data warehouse. Sources include Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, accessed through a replicated SQL Server database, Unleashed via its API, and various marketing and operational platforms that provide file-based data feeds. Data is then transformed using dbt and served to end users through Power BI.
Reporting is used across all departments at PRS, from tracking sales and monitoring inventory levels to planning production and purchasing activities. These reporting solutions also help analyze historical trends and forecast future demand, enabling informed business decisions.
From a siloed legacy tool to a modern stack
When Stevan joined PRS Guitars two years ago, the company's reporting environment relied on an on-premises platform that combined ETL, data storage, modeling, scheduling, and reporting. As reporting needs grew and additional data sources were introduced, PRS began evaluating a more scalable architecture. This ultimately led to the adoption of a modern cloud-based ELT platform.
For end users, adopting a more capable reporting platform eliminated the need to manually create spreadsheet-based reports from raw data. This process was not only time-consuming, particularly during peak sales periods, but also prone to errors. By providing centralized, automated reporting, users were able to access timely and accurate information with significantly less effort.
The search for the right data integration tool
With the data warehouse, transformation layer, and reporting platform selected, one key question remained: how would PRS Guitars move data from its business systems into Snowflake?
Initially, PRS Guitars implemented a self-hosted open-source data ingestion platform to support its transition to a modern data stack. While the solution performed well during the prototyping phase, reliability issues became more frequent as workloads increased. Troubleshooting and maintenance began consuming valuable development time, reducing the team's ability to focus on delivering new analytics capabilities.
The team began evaluating managed ELT solutions that could provide greater stability, scalability, and access to expert support when issues arose.
During this search, Stevan discovered Hevo through discussions on the r/dataengineering subreddit, where data engineers frequently shared positive experiences with the platform. Hevo's transparent pricing model stood out immediately, offering a cost-effective alternative to many competing solutions.
After signing up for a free trial, Stevan thoroughly evaluated both the platform and the support experience. He was particularly impressed by the responsiveness and technical expertise of the Hevo support team. Throughout the evaluation process, Hevo worked closely with PRS Guitars to understand its data requirements and design a plan that provided ample capacity for future growth without requiring the company to pay for unused resources.
This combination of reliability, responsive support, and predictable pricing made Hevo a strong fit for PRS Guitars' modern data platform.
“My goal is to capture the tribal knowledge that exists across the business in a reporting platform, so anyone can open a dashboard and quickly understand the health of the company.”
The Hevo advantage in action
Since adopting Hevo, PRS has watched the ingestion side of its stack settle into something it no longer has to manage closely.
- Reliable, hands-off pipelines. Since the launch of the new reporting stack nine months ago, EL pipelines have operated reliably with minimal intervention.
- Responsive support. Support remains the benefit Stevan values most. Response times are measured in minutes, and his primary contact has become a trusted resource for discussing new projects and solving technical challenges
3. Pricing that fits a small team. Hevo fits comfortably within budget. Several competing solutions would have cost nearly as much as PRS Guitars' annual Snowflake investment.
- A growing set of connectors. While PRS currently relies on a focused set of connectors, the breadth of Hevo's connector catalog provides confidence that future business systems can be integrated without requiring custom development or additional tooling.
The effect on day-to-day work is measurable. Time spent by end users to generate reports is down by 60% and Stevan's goal is to eliminate manual report creation through self-service, one-click dashboards.
"With a lean IT team supporting the business, offloading data ingestion to Hevo allows me to focus on delivering business value instead of maintaining data pipelines. As a result, I can spend more time on building reports and implementing process improvements that directly support decision-making across the organization"
Looking ahead
PRS Guitars is still in its infancy with the new reporting platform. The additional capabilities have generated significant interest across the business, with teams looking to incorporate new data sources and expand reporting capabilities. Stevan is confident in taking on these projects knowing that Hevo has data ingestion covered behind the scenes.
Excited to see Hevo in action and understand how a modern data stack can help your business grow? Sign up for our 14-day free trial or register for a personalized demo with our product expert.
