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Levy Home Entertainment Creates a Bestselling BI Environment With Information Builders' Technology and Services
Leading Book Wholesaler Boosts Internal Efficiency, Streamlines Supply Chain With WebFOCUS
| Source: Information Builders
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 19, 2009) - By accessing current business information and
sharing it with suppliers, Levy Home Entertainment is improving operational
efficiency, both internally and in its dealings with suppliers. The premier
distributor of paperback and hardcover books used Information Builders'
WebFOCUS BI platform to build a self-service reporting environment that has increased transparency,
efficiency, and cost-savings throughout its national organization -- and
beyond.
By using WebFOCUS to directly access data in IBM AS/400-based business
applications, Levy was able to avoid the expense of developing and managing
an enterprise data warehouse. With intuitive dashboards and easy-to-use reports at their fingertips,
managers are cutting supply-chain costs, tightening up inefficiencies and
continuing to provide enhanced services to national retailers like Target,
Wal-Mart, and Toys 'R Us.
"We wanted to get to the information-production stage very quickly," said
Marty Wehrle, senior vice president and chief information officer for Levy.
"Information Builders enabled us to access the data and create meaningful
reports almost immediately. They showed us how we could directly access the
data in our production systems and create intermediate data stores for
reporting."
Levy retained Information Builders' Professional Services to help them
complete the enterprise-wide business intelligence project. "I was pleased
with the progress we made, especially within the first 90 to 120 days,"
said Steve Carlson, senior vice president and chief financial officer for
Levy. "Our time to market was greatly advanced by choosing this solution
and dedicating the appropriate internal and external resources."
The new BI environment is currently delivering information throughout
Levy's organization. For example, WebFOCUS sales reports organize
information from more than 10,000 retail locations every day to provide
insight into which titles are selling. Warehouse managers use WebFOCUS to
analyze the performance of Levy's distribution centers -- improving the
efficiency of picking and packing operations to ensure inventory reaches
retailers expeditiously. Levy also created a Publisher Portal that gives
more than 300 partners visibility into Levy's sales and inventory data. The
portal provides instant information about which titles are selling, along
with the ability to track purchase orders and gauge inventory shortfalls.
"In a tough economic environment where every dollar counts, being able to
analyze accurate information and make quick decisions is crucial to
corporate growth, profitability, and sometimes even survival," said Gerald
Cohen, CEO and founder of Information Builders. "From competitive
advantages with partners to enhanced visibility into sales data and
increased awareness of warehouse efficiency, Levy is experiencing an
information revolution throughout its organization."
About Levy
Levy Home Entertainment is the nation's premier distributor of paperback
and hardcover books to America's finest retailers. With over $600 million
in annual sales, Levy provides books and services to Target, Meijer, BJ's
Warehouse Clubs, Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us, and other national retailers.
About Information Builders
Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence
and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions
to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the
world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides
the security, scalability and flexibility needed at every level of global
extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical,
and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users.
Information Builders' iWay Software suite provides state of the art,
multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA,
application, data and information management requirements. Its integration
adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers.
Together, these products give Information Builders' customers the ability
to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S.
federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices
worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business
partners. More information is available at
http://www.informationbuilders.com.