Paint and wall paper manufacturer Farrow & Ball supports its ambitious growth plans with a powerful business intelligence solution.

Farrow & Ball

Challenge

• To build a self service BI system which could support Farrow & Ball’s growth plans.
• The project had to be completed in an aggressive time frame and it was critical to integrate Sales and Financial key metrics.
• Integrating Microsoft and IBM software into a coherent architecture required expertise and guidance.

Solution

• Simpson Associates built a Microsoft SQL Server data warehouse and an IBM Cognos Business Intelligence application, which would underpin sales, reporting and analysis.
• Simpson Associates provided training and workshops to ensure knowledge of the tools was gained by the business.
• The application was designed to maintain the performance of the core ‘line of business’ system.

Benefits

• Improved speed and accuracy of Business Intelligence performance allowing decisions to be made quickly.
• “Self-service” business insights by finance employees reducing internal IT support.
• A “single point of truth” for sales and financial information improving accuracy of decision making.
• Rapidly adapt to market trends to maximise stock holdings.
• Clarity of customer buying patterns, influencing subsequent marketing messages.