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Information Builders Customers Leverage Business Intelligence to Weather Economic Downturn
Maximize Performance, Increase Revenue, and Reduce Costs With WebFOCUS
| Source: Information Builders
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - November 20, 2008) - Today, every organization is looking for ways
to run their businesses more effectively to weather the economic downturn.
Business intelligence (BI) is a versatile, strategic tool that can be
applied to many aspects of business operations to drive performance,
efficiency, and revenue. Using WebFOCUS, BI technology from Information
Builders, the independent leader in operational BI systems, companies
across the public sector, transportation, manufacturing and other
industries, have put business intelligence at the center of their strategy
for continued growth despite the challenging economic climate. Air Canada,
Hillman Group, California Departments of Public Health and Health Care
Services and others have saved time, reduced costs, and increased
productivity and profitability through BI reporting and analysis.
Air Canada Maximizing Revenue with BI
Air Canada's commercial branch analyzes how revenue is generated at
Canada's largest commercial airline. Its Advanced Bookings Report (ABR) was
useful to people familiar with the information, but made it difficult for
revenue management and sales personnel to spot problems, drill-down into
the data, and take decisive action in time to improve bookings for the
months ahead. In the already strapped airline industry and tightening
economic climate, it became imperative that Air Canada find a way to
maximize the profitability of its commercial routes.
Using data visualization technology with geographic displays from
Information Builders, the group revamped reports that calculated revenue
and yield for the airline's major markets and was better able to identify
trends, such as excess capacity or overbooking, and track performance
against competitors. Linking interactive graphs made it easier to detect
correlations in the data. As a result, users can identify a time period,
then display a scatter plot of routes clustered according to profitability,
and conduct more effective analysis on the fly. For example, if Air Canada
detects a downward trend in revenue from the French market, the branch can
alert the sales staff to investigate. They might decide to offer an
incentive, or contact the major travel agencies to propose a new offer.
Hillman Group Blends BI and GIS to Reduce Freight Costs
The Hillman Group in Cincinnati, which distributes hardware, signs, keys,
and other products, has successfully leveraged BI to get information to
business users to make better, more timely decisions. The company has also
added geographic information systems to its WebFOCUS BI reports. By
integrating geographic information with business data, Hillman managers
determine the most efficient shipping routes to reduce freight costs. With
10 distribution centers in the United States, Hillman ships products to
retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot. Using BI and GIS to optimize
shipments, the company has reduced shipping expenses by 25 percent.
"Transportation costs had been skyrocketing due to the escalating gas
prices and with a vast fleet of trucks, we knew we had to find a way to
improve our efficiency," said Jim Honerkamp, CIO Hillman Group. "By
combining the business data we have through WebFOCUS with mapping
information, we were able to quickly reorder routes to reduce mileage. That
is significant for us in this economic climate."
California DPH and DHCS Improve Budget Management
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Department of Health
Care Services (DHCS), with more than 6,000 employees combined, are among
the largest departments in the state's government and are responsible for
administering the $34 billion Medi-Cal program, the Healthy Families
program and other services for issues such as AIDS support, drinking water
quality, food and drug inspections, and others to keep residents safe and
healthy. California's ongoing budget crisis was a wake-up call to
government officials across the U.S., and prompted a thorough review of
fiscal procedures at the state and local levels. As financial planners
grappled with the most effective use of their legislated appropriations,
California's DPH and DHCS turned to Information Builders' web-based
reporting system to accelerate access to critical financial data and make
it easier for program managers to stay on budget and fulfill their
missions.
"We're always trying to get the most that we can for the taxpayers' money,"
says Michael Wilken, accounting administrator for DHCS. "Before WebFOCUS
came along, we were relying entirely on a paper-based reporting system.
Today, everyone in the California DHCS who has any financial responsibility
uses WebFOCUS to monitor appropriations, expenditures, contract payments,
travel claims, salaries, and virtually every facet of the department's
fiscal data."
As a result, users in both departments can instantly access financial data
needed to accomplish directives, managers can forecast results of monthly
expenditures to get an accurate prediction of year-end balances and
accounting professionals can obtain month-end reports one week sooner than
before. Information is more instantaneous than ever before and helps the
agency make better budget decisions.
About Information Builders
As a leading independent business intelligence (BI) company for the past 30
years, Information Builders has provided innovative solutions to more than
12,000 customers, including most of the Fortune 100 and numerous U.S.
federal government agencies. The company's flagship WebFOCUS product is the
world's most widely used BI platform. Superior architecture and intuitive
nature enables WebFOCUS to address the needs of everyone in the extended
global enterprise -- executive, analytical, operational, and beyond. It
provides the agility to adapt to changing business conditions with the
security, scalability, and flexibility to support dozens to millions of
users.
Unique to the company is the integration expertise it brings to the BI
market. Information Builders iWay Software suite solves complex integration
problems with pre-built components that require minimal custom programming.
The award-winning combination of WebFOCUS and iWay gives Information
Builders customers the ability to embrace the company motto: "Everyone
Makes Decisions."
Information Builders is committed to customer service excellence with a
Professional Services division that specializes in building custom
applications using WebFOCUS and iWay Software. Headquartered in New York
City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has
more than 350 business partners. Visit http://www.informationbuilders.com.