Philips SA has completed the implementation of a BI solution based on the Microsoft SQL platform and ProClarity analysis environment. The solution, which had to meet Philips` requirement for low costs and ease of use, was recommended and implemented by Microsoft Gold Partner for business intelligence, IS Partners. While proving inexpensive, according to Philips the solution is already showing tangible benefits.
Philips has five product divisions in South Africa, many of them dealing with the same customers and incorporating a substantial amount of financial details pertaining to these customers as well as to its products. Philips` ERP systems however imposed rigid structures that made it difficult to obtain the necessary information in a cost-effective and timely manner.
"We had a lot of data, but not a lot of management information. Our main goal was to turn this data into meaningful information for management control purposes and to improve efficiencies across all divisions by presenting this information in a user-friendly way. Getting value from our data would ultimately save costs as fewer people would spend less time getting the information they want," says Ian Murdoch, chairman and CEO of Philips SA.
The BI solution offered Philips the ability to unload data into a repository and let the application extract and display it in a desired format. "SAP is great for information input, but it is not always easy to get information out in a way that conforms to standard reports.
"We have moved away from an environment where it was unrealistic to provide answers to ad-hoc queries. Gathering information on product sales and profits, marketing spend or who our top customers are, is now a matter of a few keyboard strokes. The manual intervention processes required to collate information from the various departments to get a global picture have been completely eliminated," he adds.
For Philips SA, BI was not an indulgence but a real business requirement. In light of this, the solution had to be delivered quickly. It was also envisaged that be simple, inexpensive, easy to implement and with a partner who the company could rely on.
IS Partners made a significant investment upfront in the form of a prototype to prove the functionality of the technology and overall solution. Although this "trial-run" proved a winning strategy for IS Partners, it also illustrated how real-time data could be used to hone business issues and demonstrate value immediately by turning three-month old data into useful information.
"The demonstrations offered by IS Partners were tangible, tactile and appeared to be very easily done with live data. In relation to the options available to us to implement BI functionality, the solution offered by IS Partners had an impressive price tag. We would have paid more for something more complex. What we wanted was simplicity," Murdoch says.
IS Partners was responsible for the development, training, design and performance tuning of the BI solution according to its BI implementation methodology. "The initial phase involved scoping and analysis. Once approval was obtained on the business analysis findings, the design and development followed prior to the actual implementation phase. Ongoing reviews ensure that business needs are continually met, while ongoing training ensures progress as user needs evolve," says Caron Mooney, director of IS Partners.
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