Customers Worldwide Turn to Business Objects for Enterprise Performance Management

Business Wire, Jan 29, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 2003

Business Objects Provides Organizations with Visibility Needed to

Reach and Exceed Company-Wide Goals

In today's rough and tumble economy, businesses are finding that it is more important than ever to achieve their established performance objectives. That is why companies in every industry are turning to enterprise performance management solutions (EPM) based on Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) technology to help them reach and exceed their corporate and organizational goals.

Companies like Lands' End, MasterCard, and TruServ are using Business Objects EPM solutions to set goals, monitor metrics, analyze their business, decide a course of action, and then act in a timely manner. These solutions extend far beyond the walls of the finance department, to reflect and unify the goals of the entire company, including sales, marketing, customer support, human resources, manufacturing, purchasing, and inventory management. By incorporating data and tracking key performance indicators from every department in the organization, Business Objects customers obtain the visibility they need to make sure their entire organization achieves optimum performance.

EPM in Action

Following are examples of companies who are using Business Objects to drive their enterprise performance management initiatives:

Ingram Micro Inc. has launched a Web Insight Platform (WIP) that allows sales, marketing, and management to obtain an integrated daily view of its customer and web site activity. WIP combines clickstream, sales, customer feedback, and infrastructure data into one easy-to-access internet solution. With this information, Ingram Micro can respond with agility to fine-tune its web site and service operations, resulting in strengthened and more effective customer relationships.

Lands' End used BusinessObjects(TM) Application Foundation to build a customized dashboard to monitor merchandise and inventory levels, including seasonal flow, and to send early alerts when items are selling faster than expected, enabling managers to take action much sooner than previously possible. In addition, Lands' End uses BusinessObjects Analytics to monitor information related to catalog and internet sales, track merchandise levels, and assist in analyzing large volumes of customer behavior data.

MasterCard International purchased BusinessObjects Application Foundation to build an executive dashboard for their network of member banks, credit unions, and savings and loans that issue MasterCard credit cards. These dashboards are an extension to the existing business intelligence extranet that MasterCard has deployed to key customers, and will enable their member banks to track key performance indicators such as network performance, results of marketing campaigns, and fraud rates.

The Doctors Company (TDC), the first national physician-owned medical malpractice insurer with more than 20,000 policy holders in the US, will use analytics from Business Objects to do risk analysis; monitor changes based on geography or with competitors; and examine operational performance metrics. The Doctors Company will build a custom application to detect trends among policyholders, and act immediately on the information to make consistent, high-quality decisions regarding malpractice coverage for member physicians.

TruServ, the Fortune 1,000 parent company of retailers such as True Value Hardware, Grand Rental Station, Taylor Rental, and Home & Garden Showplace, uses analytic applications from Business Objects for an executive dashboard used by top managers across the company. The managers rely on the digital cockpit to track and analyze business metrics in order to improve customer relationships, cut costs and increase sales. TruServ now makes difficult analysis easy by creating dashboards that show time-series analysis. This enables managers to pinpoint trends and changes over time, and obtain "alerts" to help monitor, interpret, and act on changing business data. With Business Objects TruServ now monitors the success of advertising and marketing campaigns across its approximately 7,000 retail stores.

"The alignment of strategy and operations is key to business success," said Dave Kellogg, senior group vice president of worldwide marketing at Business Objects. "For years we've been helping customers analyze the key metrics that have a direct impact on their bottom line and company viability. As our product portfolio has expanded, we can now offer organizations end-to-end business intelligence, from data integration to analytic applications. This allows our customers to make their enterprise performance management initiatives truly company-wide initiatives, so that every employee and every department in an organization can work together to reach and exceed corporate goals."

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence lets organizations access, analyze, and share information internally with employees and externally with customers, suppliers, and partners. It helps organizations improve operational efficiency, build profitable customer relationships, and develop differentiated product offerings.