ASKO: Fast access to management information drives differentiation

To read a Dutch version of this case study, click here.

ASKO BV supplies top-quality knives for the steel production and steel processing industries. The company is one of the international branches of an American family business. Using Amsterdam as a base, ASKO serves markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and Russia, with local agents handling sales. The Amsterdam office employs around 50 people, and ASKO has 200 employees worldwide.

The challenge
Cutting or clipping steel requires top-quality knives. ASKO supplies many types of knives, tailor-made for the customer.

“We are actually the Rolls-Royce of knives,” says Henk Visser, the company’s finance manager. “Besides the high quality of the product, just-in-time delivery is also very important for us. Our customers cannot afford to let their installations stand still because they have to wait for a knife. But they also want to keep as little stock as possible. This means that we have to provide clear-cut and reliable delivery times, which means we need excellent control information. For example, we want to know when customers contact us, so that we can make sure we have the correct items in-house on time. It is also essential for us to keep our own investment in stock as low as possible. After all, steel is very expensive.”

ASKO nevertheless had problems getting hold of the control information it required. Visser comments: “When I started to work for ASKO two years ago, we had just acquired a new ERP system. In terms of processes it was a great improvement, but we still needed to tackle the management information. We were working with a maze of reports in Microsoft Access. For every specific request, we made a new overview. Different reports also generated different results. The reliability and consistency were poor. We wanted to eliminate this proliferation of reports and have a single information source for all the requests within the organisation: from the financial department, purchasing, sales, production and logistics up to the company office that drafts the quotations and calculates the subsequent costing.”

The approach
Via its parent company in the United States, ASKO had already become familiar with the benefits of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. After an information meeting with Imtech, an IBM Business Partner, ASKO became convinced that it would be the right solution.

“IBM Cognos BI is a flexible tool that you can integrate into your ERP system,” says Visser. “The nice thing about it is that it allows you to see the same information from different angles. For us it turned out to be an ideal solution for controlling our information flow.”

In addition, ASKO was very impressed by the speed of implementation of the Imtech Control modules. These information modules, built on IBM Cognos Business Intelligence, are geared towards specific company domains such as sales, purchasing, logistics, finance and production. All the data is easily accessible for users via a web portal in the form of a management cockpit, complete with dashboards, overviews and graphs.

Visser comments: “An information module comes about 80 percent ready-to-use, and only needs to be adjusted to the specific requirements of your company. As a result, Imtech can guarantee that such a module is operational within 10 working days.”

ASKO decided to tackle sales information first. Visser says: “We made a list of the issues that we had in this area. Based on the requirements that emerged, Imtech started working with our users to design a solution. As preparation, we first filled in a spreadsheet with the concepts used in our data warehouse and provided field names for the links in Imtech Control. This avoided the risk of creating confusion over different terminologies. The only thing Imtech needed to so was to scan the spreadsheet and then create the overviews that we wanted to have. Afterwards it was a matter of fine tuning: comparing the data from our ERP system with the data in the overviews, checking that everything was correct, and if necessary, implementing the required changes. The process worked out fast and well.”

The results
The increased availability of sales information is a relief for Visser. “Everyone has direct online access to the same data, even while they’re on the road or visiting a customer,” he says. “I no longer have to make all sorts of overviews in order to answer questions; I simply refer the person to the portal, which saves me a great deal of time. I estimate that I save around one day per week.”

The old overviews have been replaced by new, more reliable versions, which provide answers to all sorts of sales-related questions, and which are actively used by the staff.

“There are overviews that not only provide insight into our orders – for example, order history, customers, agents, regions, products and so on – but also into our order portfolio and invoicing,” comments Visser. “In addition, we have a clear picture of all our outstanding quotes, which allows our salespersons to manage their offers more effectively. They can see exactly what has been bought by whom, and at which prices.”

ASKO also needs to spend far less time preparing the sales reports that are sent to the mother company in the USA.

Visser reports: “With one push of a button, the standard reports are generated by the system. I no longer have to make overviews of KPIs and trends. Moreover, staff in the US can view the portal themselves, which also reduces the amount of questions I have to deal with.”

After the control module for sales went into operation, ASKO and Imtech did not sit still. The team is now working on deploying a module for production, and this will be followed by purchasing, logistics and finance modules.

Visser says: “By the time we have these other modules up and running, we will have 95 percent of the answers to our questions immediately available, and as an added bonus, we will be able to link all sorts of data. For example, when a customer asks if we would be able to deliver an item the following week, the salesperson no longer needs to make lots of phone calls and send emails to get the right answer. He just has to check the portal to get a picture of where things stand.”

Visser expects immense strategic advantages from the new BI solution. “It is a considerable investment for a company of our size, but it promises great returns. Streamlining the provision of information makes operational management more efficient. We can devote our time to other things that need to be done. The new solution gives us a more systematic approach that will also help us optimise the reliability of our deliveries – giving us a way to differentiate ourselves in the market.”

About Imtech
Imtech ICT Performance Solutions develops and implements Corporate Performance Management solutions (CPM). CPM encompasses all the methods, processes and systems that a company uses to monitor and, where necessary, adjust its corporate performance levels. Imtech ICT Performance Solutions is a part of Imtech NV.

Imtech NV is a European technical service provider in the area of electrical engineering, ICT and mechanical engineering. This combination enables Imtech to offer complete technological solutions. The company has a solid position in the construction and industrial sectors in the Benelux countries, Germany, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain, as well as in the European ICT and traffic markets, and in the global maritime market. Imtech offers added value in the form of integral and multidisciplinary end-to-end solutions that lead to better operational processes, higher returns for customers, and better customer service. Furthermore, Imtech’s solutions contribute to a sustainable society – for example, ‘green’ technology and technical solutions in the areas of energy, the environment, water and mobility.

About IBM Business Analytics
IBM Business Analytics software delivers actionable insights decision-makers need to achieve better business performance. IBM offers a comprehensive, unified portfolio of business intelligence, predictive and advanced analytics, financial performance and strategy management, governance, risk and compliance and analytic applications.

With IBM software, companies can spot trends, patterns and anomalies, compare “what if” scenarios, predict potential threats and opportunities, identify and manage key business risks and plan, budget and forecast resources. With these deep analytic capabilities our customers around the world can better understand, anticipate and shape business outcomes.