Accelrys, Inc.

Accelrys is a leading scientific informatics software and services company headquartered in San Diego, California. The company employs over 700 people, and provides software solutions and services to some 1,300 clients. Accelrys technologies help research and development-based companies in the life sciences, chemicals, energy, and consumer and industrial products industries achieve breakthroughs in innovation, productivity, and return on investment through the use of Accelrys software, scientific research tools and equipment, and contract research services.

Challenges
As a market leader in the scientific informatics software industry, Accelrys products and services power laboratories with information that generates insight, enhances collaboration and drives productivity. Yet, with all this internal expertise, there was a need to create a ‘single version of the truth’ at the corporate level by integrating information from multiple operating departments and applications. Like many firms, Accelrys was attempting to tie several applications together by relying on spreadsheets as a performance management platform. However, the spreadsheet approach proved inadequate at providing the high level of integrated information that the company truly required.

Addressing the problem
In response to these challenges, Fred Hawkins, Accelrys’ Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, began a company-wide evaluation, using a systematic approach to identify exactly what each department needed. “This approach was a useful tool in selling the benefits of getting better information faster by tying the various corporate systems and departments together,” explains Hawkins.

A common complaint was that the finance department found it difficult to provide departments with timely budget updates, changes, or what-if scenarios. As a result, the company had a very limited ability to perform the targeted analysis essential for good decision-making. Once Accelrys had a clear understanding of its needs, goals and current environment, it was ready to look at the various options available.

Why IBM Cognos Express?
When it came to choosing a solution, Hawkins acknowledges his own bias, saying, “I had worked with Applied Analytix at my previous company and liked what I got. We did talk to smaller and larger integrators, but they just couldn’t compete or didn’t understand what we were looking for. Other platforms could address some of our needs, but to do what IBM Cognos Express does, you have to add on stack after stack after stack and it just costs a lot more.”

IBM Cognos Express is not limited to a single type of application, and can easily accommodate many different types of models and sources of data. “IBM Cognos Express is not fazed that the HR system is different from Oracle Financials and the revenue system is different from both. It has the capability to link them together,” says Hawkins. For example, forecasting of headcount is now integrated with forecasting of headcount-related expenses, because IBM Cognos Express has linked the human resources and general ledger data sources together.

The implementation
Applied Analytix began by showing the Accelrys leadership team how IBM Cognos Express would unify data across all platforms, including:

• Capital expense forecasting by project
• Revenue analysis by product and customer
• Revenue forecasting integrated with Salesforce.com
• General ledger reporting for income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow

According to Hawkins, “Applied Analytix’s project management skills and eye on the ultimate objective were critical to our success. I like the fact that Applied Analytix is very willing to work with you on a hands-on basis, but also willing to let you take on what you want to take on.” For instance, Hawkins and his Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) team are actively creating detailed transaction analysis for drill-down from standard reports.

Applied Analytix delivers results
Describing the impact of the results Accelerys has achieved, Hawkins says, “The credibility of the FP&A organization has increased dramatically, and the wide variety of analyses we now enable the departments to do have real, identifiable bottom-line benefits. For example, without IBM Cognos Express, we would be unable to produce the product-line profit and loss statements that we now do. Also, the application’s reporting capabilities helped us realize that we were investing too much in products at their end-of-life rather than in new products, which helped us realign development support and prioritize investments in certain products over others.”

Some additional benefits Accelrys has experienced include the ability to integrate sales team inputs in Salesforce.com with the financial sales forecast; and the ability to create a dashboard that takes the place of monthly reporting packages.

Hawkins concludes, “With the new insight we have into cost structures that need to be handled earlier in the budget cycle, we can now measure and improve the true profitability of our service and support businesses. IBM Cognos Express and the Applied Analytix team enabled us to make key decisions and changes throughout our company that have had a key role in improving the bottom line.”

About Applied Analytix Inc.
Applied Analytix provides software and consulting services to companies that have exhausted Excel as their main platform for forecasting, reporting and advanced analytics. Clients benefit from its 15 years of experience in applying technology to support the Office of Finance in their overall strategic decision-making processes

To learn more about Applied Analytix, please visit www.applied-analytix.com.

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.