Two manufacturing firms - one in the US and one in Canada - were merged to provide a strategic advantage in the market. Their blend of capabilities allowed them to provide distinct value to multiple industries such as construction, materials handling, agriculture, and transportation.
This new multinational company had undergone mergers and acquisitions in the past and had several different IT systems. There were looking for ways to enable access to consolidated information to better serve customers across the globe.
Numerous mergers and acquisitions stimulated an urgent need to reconcile disparate sales and distribution models and to gain a clearer picture of business activity. Its existing systems caused redundant work for staff and there was a critical need to deliver more consistent and accurate business information to support management decisions and business users.
To the Rescue - A BI Bridge and Gasket Solution
It was determined that datacubes could be developed to combine data from the different systems, including Excel, that would allow users to create overlays of data for a consolidated view of profits and sales across business units. We refer to this as a Bridge.
Not only did this approach accelerate their ability to analyze important information, it also reduced the current IT report backlog. Users were empowered to mine the information to meet their own reporting requirements (the 'gasket').
Leaking Profits Saved by a Web Store
A manager in the call center overheard an agent taking an order and discounting the price of a popular item. On a hunch, he ran a query against one of the datacubes and found that this happened quite frequently. Customers ordering online always paid the full price, so a decision was made to minimize the discounts on certain items. This simple change reduced the volume of incoming calls as more customers ordered online while improving margins in the call center.
Discovery of Outdated Business Practices
The sales forecasting process in use for some time depended on Sales reps and managers forecasting based on product sales history plus traditional criteria such as product class and customer group. But this approach didn't factor in an increase in the number of comparable products offered by the company's Chinese manufacturers.
As more and more products were sourced overseas, the purchasing options for end customers increased. Often there were similar products offered by Chinese suppliers that were only slightly different from similar products sourced in North America.
Over time the business model had changed. It was becoming more product driven and less customer driven. Price and quality options resulted in more competition and supplier substitution. The forecasting model was now obsolete.
A unique approach was adapted to their growing problem of dealing with product driven business models and forecasts. Yet another way a perspective-driven business intelligence approach increases margins and drives profits for companies in aggressive industries. - 29875
This new multinational company had undergone mergers and acquisitions in the past and had several different IT systems. There were looking for ways to enable access to consolidated information to better serve customers across the globe.
Numerous mergers and acquisitions stimulated an urgent need to reconcile disparate sales and distribution models and to gain a clearer picture of business activity. Its existing systems caused redundant work for staff and there was a critical need to deliver more consistent and accurate business information to support management decisions and business users.
To the Rescue - A BI Bridge and Gasket Solution
It was determined that datacubes could be developed to combine data from the different systems, including Excel, that would allow users to create overlays of data for a consolidated view of profits and sales across business units. We refer to this as a Bridge.
Not only did this approach accelerate their ability to analyze important information, it also reduced the current IT report backlog. Users were empowered to mine the information to meet their own reporting requirements (the 'gasket').
Leaking Profits Saved by a Web Store
A manager in the call center overheard an agent taking an order and discounting the price of a popular item. On a hunch, he ran a query against one of the datacubes and found that this happened quite frequently. Customers ordering online always paid the full price, so a decision was made to minimize the discounts on certain items. This simple change reduced the volume of incoming calls as more customers ordered online while improving margins in the call center.
Discovery of Outdated Business Practices
The sales forecasting process in use for some time depended on Sales reps and managers forecasting based on product sales history plus traditional criteria such as product class and customer group. But this approach didn't factor in an increase in the number of comparable products offered by the company's Chinese manufacturers.
As more and more products were sourced overseas, the purchasing options for end customers increased. Often there were similar products offered by Chinese suppliers that were only slightly different from similar products sourced in North America.
Over time the business model had changed. It was becoming more product driven and less customer driven. Price and quality options resulted in more competition and supplier substitution. The forecasting model was now obsolete.
A unique approach was adapted to their growing problem of dealing with product driven business models and forecasts. Yet another way a perspective-driven business intelligence approach increases margins and drives profits for companies in aggressive industries. - 29875
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