Cognos, the leading strategic vendor of enterprise business intelligence (BI) solutions, has announced it has signed an enterprise agreement with NCR Corp., Dayton, Ohio to deploy Cognos` Enterprise Reporting for e-business solution to thousands of NCR employees. Financial details of the agreement, signed in August 1999, were not disclosed. NCR will benefit from faster, more informed decisions by its employees, improving business performance and shareholder value. The new agreement expands the companies` strategic relationship, which includes NCR`s reselling of Cognos software as the front end to its Teradata data warehouse solution and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product offerings.
NCR will use the Web-based Cognos solution company-wide to deliver coordinated and consistent information to employees, where and when they need it, through an NCR intranet, connecting them to a single information source in a true enterprise reporting environment. NCR will initially use Cognos for three applications: balanced scorecard; asset management; and a business analysis and management system. NCR will eventually extend the Cognos solution to other enterprise applications.
"We selected Cognos because they make every effort to know their customer`s business," said Scott Klimo, NCR manager of enterprise data warehouse end user tools. "Cognos understands how we work and our business objectives, and is committed to making its customers successful by offering great products and customer support. The Cognos solution provides a centralised source for global reporting, and its interface is so easy to use and administer that little training is required for enterprise deployment."
The first three Web-based Cognos applications scheduled for deployment at NCR include:
Balanced Scorecard
: NCR has deployed Cognos enterprise-wide for a visual scorecard application. This application allows employees to track and measure NCR`s financial results, customer transactions and communication, internal processes and NCR innovations through an online, interactive electronic scorecard. The Cognos scorecard will replace NCR`s existing application, and provide multidimensional analysis and reporting, including the ability to drill down beneath the aggregate information to details below the summary figures. NCR employees will be able to uncover business trends and patterns not previously visible, and make better decisions to improve business performance.
Asset Management
: NCR`s finance group will use Cognos Enterprise Reporting to manage, track and monitor worldwide inventory and accounts receivable. Users can drill down to view individual product inventory by quantity and location, sales orders, production, and scheduled shipments. Finance users will analyse worldwide accounts receivable using Cognos as the front-end to provide a multidimensional view of data residing in the Teradata warehouse. NCR will benefit from better management of its accounts receivable, and cost reductions achieved through improved inventory control.
Business Analysis and Management System (BAMS)
: NCR will utilise Cognos Enterprise Reporting as the foundation for BAMS, to enhance employees` information analysis and reporting capabilities. BAMS receives data from NCR`s Teradata data warehouse, which is fed by the company`s worldwide operational transaction systems. The Cognos solution will provide a multidimensional view of key financial and non-financial measures, consolidated into one system. NCR employees will use Cognos to analyse summary information, drill down into the details to determine key business drivers, and create and distribute reports on their findings.
"NCR is leveraging the power of a Teradata environment with the multidimensional analysis and reporting capabilities of Cognos Enterprise Reporting for e-business," said Klimo. "Teradata provides the back-end power of NCR`s enterprise data warehouse solution, as its massively parallel processing capabilities make it the best solution for handling large volumes of data. Cognos provides the front-end analytical capabilities, and the ability to handle large volumes of data in an analysis and reporting environment. Together, they make a world-class information delivery system."
"We are very excited about the new capabilities Cognos Enterprise Reporting for e-business brings to our Teradata financial information delivery environment," said Scott Jenkins, NCR director of Financial Architecture. "In the very short time since we purchased the Cognos solution, NCR has already been able to develop and deploy several applications. These applications have allowed us to improve management of receivables and inventory, as well as to significantly reduce the amount of time and effort needed to analyse financial results on a global basis. We have many other products in the works which will further exploit the power of Cognos within NCR."
"As a result of Cognos` longstanding relationship with NCR, we recognise the value of building solutions that leverage the power of NCR`s Teradata RDBMS. Our tight technical integration with their technology allows us to deliver best of breed BI solutions for the enterprise", said Pat O`Leary, Cognos vice president of strategic alliances. "We`re delighted that we can add NCR itself to the long list of our joint customers."
"Organisations transforming themselves into e-businesses require solutions to deploy across their enterprise that allow business users instant access to critical information and the ability to make the right decision quickly," said Terry Hall, Cognos chief operating officer. "Cognos facilitates faster and more informed decisions by putting information into the hands of business users with the simplicity of pointing and clicking a mouse. Cognos empowers users to go out and get the information they need via the Web, when and where they want it, regardless of their location. NCR employees will make decisive, confident decisions based on better information."
Cognos is the leading vendor of enterprise business intelligence solutions. Business intelligence software makes corporate data easily accessible to everyone in an organisation, so they can better coordinate decision-making across the entire enterprise, and improve the performance of the business. Cognos products are available directly from Cognos and through an extensive network of channel partners. The Company also develops, markets and supports software tools for application development. Founded in 1969, Cognos is a publicly traded company with offices around the world and headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.
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