Merger mandate: Belgian CPG uses Kalido BI platform for consistent information management
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/26/2007 3:20:00 PM
The Belgian division of British American Tobacco recently went live with an information management platform using Kalido software at its core. Driven in large part by British American Tobacco's recent merger with sister company STC, the new program gives the consumer product goods maker gain greater insight to sales operations from manufacturer to retailer, and has cut maintenance costs by 50 percent.
British American Tobacco Belgium developed the Kalido-based business intelligence (BI) program to merge two outdated data warehousing platforms in a very short time frame. The highly changing business environment demanded a flexible information architecture, and departure from traditional reporting systems.
Within just two months, the BI platform delivered consolidated management reports and competitive market intelligence to users across the business, enabling them to make better business decisions and react quickly to market demands. The solution also incorporates 10 years' worth of sales, marketing, and channel spend, enabling British American Tobacco Belgium to recreate historical views of business performance and view data in relation to any business change—past, present, or future.
'CPG companies must be able to grow through acquisition to capture market share, but any confusion following a merger is an open invitation for the competition,' says Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido. 'British American Tobacco Belgium has not only succeeded in leveraging its acquisitions, but it has done so swiftly while simultaneously unlocking vast amounts of valuable information.'
