Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Cognos, an IBM Company and world leader in business intelligence solutions and performance management, today announced that the L'Occitane en Provence group has chosen IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence and IBM Cognos 8 Planning as the framework of its global performance management project.
A specialist in manufacturing cosmetic products from natural ingredients, L'Occitane en Provence has experienced continued success since its foundation in Manosque in 1976. Today it is established in more than 60 countries with 900 outlets worldwide. It has shown average annual growth of 25%, and achieved revenues of 325 million euros in the financial year ending March 2007.
To accompany its development, the company overhauled its computer systems, initially by installing an integrated management software package shared by all its subsidiaries in order to streamline its processes.
"It became clear to us at the initial stage of the project that once the basic data had been entered, we would need operational and financial reporting in order to reap the full rewards from our new infrastructure," said Etienne de Verdelhan, the company's information systems director.
In mid-2007, L'Occitane en Provence opted for IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence to bring the second stage of the project to fruition.
Before choosing Cognos, L'Occitane created models according to specifications drawn up by the company and three of the main BI vendors in the sector. For each model, the company devoted three weeks to the vendors, during which time L'Occitane's information technology teams were able to work alongside experts from each vendor.
"It was a very enriching experience which enabled us to check the relational ability of the vendors, and along with our users, we unanimously decided to select Cognos, an IBM company," said Etienne de Verdelhan. "From the information-technology perspective, what ultimately convinced us was the quick and easy implementation, coupled with the full web solution of IBM Cognos 8 BI, synonymous with simple commissioning and administration. From the user's point of view, it was the quality of the reconstituted information that convinced us."
Split into several modules, L'Occitane en Provence's reporting project initially took form via operational dashboards that allowed orders to be monitored. Currently the company is completing a second module intended for sales analysis and is working on two new projects focused on the supply chain and customer relations. But from the outset of implementing these modules, L'Occitane en Provence reaped concrete rewards from its dashboards.
"To give you an example, we previously needed between 1 and 2 months to obtain results following the launch of a new product; now we have these results in real time which naturally enables us to react more quickly, adjust our strategy and be far more reactive overall," said de Verdelhan.
The simplicity of the tools offered by Cognos, also had a direct impact on the way the company was organized. Previously managed by the DSI, reports are now created directly by the users. This allows users to create reports to suit their needs without depending on the availability of the technical teams. In both cases, the time saved is considerable.
IBM Cognos 8 Planning is used for budget preparation and to simulate accounting of results by field of activity: direct sales, indirect sales, assessment of the impact of marketing campaigns on the marketing-mix price, of sending samples on fabrication costs, production simulation, the impact on the variation in stock levels and lastly assessment of the impact of the activity on overall costs. IBM Cognos 8 Planning will enable L'Occitane en Provence to prepare the structure of the budget, to incorporate financial and non-financial data, and to facilitate reporting and monitoring.
"L'Occitane en Provence is a prime example of a consumer packaged goods company that is strategically leveraging its information to obtain greater business agility and optimize performance," said Dave Laverty, vice-president, Worldwide Marketing, Business Intelligence and Performance Management, Cognos. "By providing a common understanding of business information across areas such as sales, products, supply chain and customer relations, our performance management capabilities are helping companies across industries drive better business decisions."
For further information on performance management, IBM Cognos 8 BI or IBM Cognos 8 Planning visit: http://www.cognos.com/products/index.html.
Cognos is a recognized leader in delivering performance management solutions for the consumer goods industry. In fact, 19 of the top 20 consumer goods companies in the world use IBM Cognos solutions. In addition to L'Occitane en Provence, other leading CPG customers include Fiskars Brands, Ryobi, Beaute Prestige International and Dreyer's. For more information about Cognos solutions for the consumer packaged goods industry, please visit http://www.cognos.com/solutions/industry/manufacturing/index.html
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About Cognos, an IBM company:
Cognos, an IBM company, is the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions. It provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance. Cognos was acquired by IBM in January 2008. For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data and http://www.cognos.com.
Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated, an IBM Company, in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
© Press Release 2008
