A merger of two aggressive manufacturers in the United States and Canada formed a company that brought unique value to the agricultural, construction, materials handling and transportation industries.
As a multinational firm which has undergone mergers and acquisitions, the new company had multiple and disparate IT systems. They were seeking a more simple and timely way to access business data and improve its decision-making process to successfully serve customers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
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.
A 'Bridge and Gasket' Approach to Consolidated Business Intelligence
The client was surprised to learn how datacubes could be used to 'bridge' data from their various ERP systems and other sources including Excel. Business users would then have access to a consolidated view of sales and profits across divisions and regions.
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').
Discovery of Outdated Business Practices
A business analyst found a drain on profits by being able to dig into the datacubes from multiple perspectives and found that that Customers ordering online always paid the full product price but Customers placing orders via the call center typically received a discount, 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.
Poor Forecasting and the China Syndrome
In the past, sales were forecast based on key attributes including customer group, geographies, product classes, and related criteria. Over time the accuracy of the forecasts was steadily decreasing as more and more products were sourced overseas, particularly China.
The current practice for the company was to source the majority of products from Asia and perhaps one-third from the US and Canada. About half of the suppliers were Chinese and even more of their business would be going to China in the future. Customers had more options and were more sensitive to price.
Customers took advantage of the competitive price and quality combinations. As supplier substitutions increased, sales forecasts based on the old model became less and less accurate. The business model was changing from customer driven to product driven.
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
As a multinational firm which has undergone mergers and acquisitions, the new company had multiple and disparate IT systems. They were seeking a more simple and timely way to access business data and improve its decision-making process to successfully serve customers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
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.
A 'Bridge and Gasket' Approach to Consolidated Business Intelligence
The client was surprised to learn how datacubes could be used to 'bridge' data from their various ERP systems and other sources including Excel. Business users would then have access to a consolidated view of sales and profits across divisions and regions.
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').
Discovery of Outdated Business Practices
A business analyst found a drain on profits by being able to dig into the datacubes from multiple perspectives and found that that Customers ordering online always paid the full product price but Customers placing orders via the call center typically received a discount, 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.
Poor Forecasting and the China Syndrome
In the past, sales were forecast based on key attributes including customer group, geographies, product classes, and related criteria. Over time the accuracy of the forecasts was steadily decreasing as more and more products were sourced overseas, particularly China.
The current practice for the company was to source the majority of products from Asia and perhaps one-third from the US and Canada. About half of the suppliers were Chinese and even more of their business would be going to China in the future. Customers had more options and were more sensitive to price.
Customers took advantage of the competitive price and quality combinations. As supplier substitutions increased, sales forecasts based on the old model became less and less accurate. The business model was changing from customer driven to product driven.
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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