The Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO), one of the largest newspaper publishers in the US, has turned to business intelligence (BI) company, Cognos, to help it manage corporate performance more effectively.
By offering a solution that analyses and organises data from disparate business units, Cognos enables OPUBCO to accurately plan and forecast advertising revenues, enhance financial reporting, and provide the senior management with an executive dashboard to monitor pre-defined key performance indicators (KPIs).
Because newspaper publishers generate revenue two ways - selling papers and selling advertising space - they need to be precise with their financial reporting, ensuring the most accurate information is available to make the strategic decisions that guide the business, Cognos SA marketing manager, Tharina van der Merwe explains. OPUBCO has deployed Cognos` Web-based reporting and analysis solution in combination with Cognos Finance, to support three key profit centres: circulation, advertising, and a new database marketing service.
She says that OPUBCO is now able to gain immediate insight into marketplace trends by looking at advertising revenue and circulation rates as well as revenue forecasts.
"Since implementing Cognos we have seen impressive returns with regard to our financial reporting and in our analytical capabilities," says Dan Barth, chief information officer, OPUBCO. "With Cognos we are able to track profitability across several dimensions as well as gain detailed insight into our customer base. Cognos BI enables us to run the business more efficiently and use our data more effectively, thereby driving improved business performance."
OPUBCO is one of the first newspaper publishers in the US to expand its traditional print advertising services through database marketing built upon the company`s existing circulation and advertising data. OPUBCO now offers direct-mail marketing services, including market segmentation, predictive modelling, and campaign management to regional businesses.
Van der Merwe says that Cognos` analysis solution provides OPUBCO`s direct marketing group with a high-level view of consumer data with the ability to drill through to additional detail. Users can perform precise segmentation and predictive modelling, uncovering insights that are crucial to creating effective direct marketing campaigns for both consumers and advertising clients.
"The breadth and depth of the Cognos BI framework provides companies with a single vendor solution that meets all of their BI needs," says Dave Laverty, senior vice president, global marketing, Cognos. "The strength of our analytical applications and industry-leading reporting and analysis solutions are helping companies like OPUBCO reduce costs, stay competitive and run the business successfully despite tough economic conditions."
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Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence (BI), delivers software that helps companies improve business performance by enabling effective decision-making at all levels of the organisation. A forerunner in defining the BI software category, Cognos delivers the next level of competitive advantage Corporate Performance Management (CPM) achieved through the strategic application of BI on an enterprise scale.
CPM lets organisations measure execution against business strategy to ensure the two are aligned at all levels across the enterprise. Cognos provides a framework for CPM that links people, information, and decision-making processes throughout the organisation, and enables the complete management cycle with integrated software for planning, budgeting, reporting, analysis, and scorecarding.
Cognos` framework for CPM includes:
Cognos Series 7, which provides an enterprise-scale BI framework supporting a full suite of BI tools that deliver query and reporting, analysis, scorecarding, visualisation, and event detection capabilities.
A common CPM data foundation model that encapsulates business best practices, integrates a company`s business performance measures, and leverages enterprise data sources.
Enterprise analytic applications that deliver out-of-the-box, predefined, integrated reporting and analysis across major business functions.
Cognos Finance, a strategic enterprise planning and budgeting application that supports the management cycle and enables finance professionals to manage all core financial processes within one environment.
Cognos serves more than 19 000 customers in over 120 countries. Cognos business intelligence solutions and services are also available from more than 3 000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.