Information Builders Offers Retailers a Competitive Advantage Through Timely Data Analysis

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Jan 16, 2012) - The NRF Show Floor -- Information Builders, an independent leader in business intelligence (BI) solutions, in conjunction with the 101^st National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention and Expo, today announced that it is experiencing strong demand for its technology in the retail sector.

Advances in Internet and mobile technologies have impacted consumer purchasing behavior, forcing retailers to incorporate these channels into their IT infrastructure. Many organizations are also tasked with optimizing inventory and efficiently allocating resources to remain competitive in a struggling economy. To do this cost effectively, companies are increasingly turning to technologies such as WebFOCUS, Information Builders' comprehensive BI platform. WebFOCUS enables sales departments to react faster to changing market conditions, identify up-sell or cross-sell opportunities, and streamline supply-chain operations.

"Today's retail companies need to look at every possible option for competitive differentiation," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders. "Business intelligence is an increasingly vital tool in retailers' arsenals to help them make more informed decisions about the entire state of their business and optimize processes, both internally and externally facing, to adapt to the changing retail landscape. We believe 2012 will see a continued adoption of BI technologies throughout the industry."

Information Builders currently has numerous retail customers successfully deploying enterprise-wide BI solutions to enhance sales, including:

• Ace Hardware - With 4,400 stores in the U.S. and annual retail sales of more than $12 billion, Ace needed a BI solution that could provide all types of users with accurate information and offer a solid reporting foundation. The company selected WebFOCUS for its power, strength, and flexibility. Today, Ace has 10,000 WebFOCUS users accessing a variety of reports as well as dashboards and analytic functions. The platform helps Ace manage its internal operations while enabling both retailers and corporate to streamline their supply chains. Using WebFOCUS, Ace has developed parameterized reports for most departments across its organization. On the retail side, regional managers can run point-of-sale reports to identify their best customers and target them with specific marketing campaigns. They can also monitor the top-selling items in each territory and ensure those items are in stock at each location, maximizing sales opportunities.
  
  
• eWinery Solutions - This market leader in developing and implementing business solutions for the wine industry partnered with Information Builders to provide end-to-end BI for its solution components, including e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), content management, and marketing. By providing a ready-made Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for its CRM and e-commerce business needs, eWinery's customers can easily and affordably analyze what is important for the growth of their business. Through WebFOCUS, customers can leverage the power of business analytics to improve decision-making across the enterprise and receive pre-built dashboards of reports and graphs.
  
  
• Mike-Sell's Potato Chips - With 100 years of business experience, the oldest potato chip manufacturer and distributor in the U.S. wanted to find a new way for its employees at various levels of the organization to pull timely, relevant sales reports. By standardizing on WebFOCUS, the company could access valuable data in its system that it previously could not pull for reports -- all while placing as little demand on the IT department as possible. By developing a sales dashboard and drill-down reports, the BI solution helped the company identify and take action on both money-saving and money-generating opportunities.
  

About Information Builders
Information Builders provides software and services that bring smarter decision-making and streamlined processes to leading organizations in business, government, and education worldwide. The company's software is installed in tens of thousands of locations, servicing millions of users. Its WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) platform delivers massively scalable information applications, analytics, and customer-facing portals to the new generation of information users to deliver game-changing business results. Its iWay Software integration platform allows enterprises to leverage all of their information resources to streamline internal and business-to-business processes while escalating the overall accessibility and integrity of information regardless of environmental complexity. Headquartered in New York City with 60 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,350 people and has established significant industry partnerships. Visit Information Builders at informationbuilders.com. For ongoing news, go to informationbuilders.com/new or follow Information Builders at @infobldrs.