Published on 02-Feb-2012
"From the sub-department manager, to the executive of our sales group, to the CEO of the company, every employee has greatly benefited from the flexibility and efficiency of IBM Cognos Express. Applied Analytix anticipated every one of our needs during the implementation – even the ones we didn’t anticipate ourselves. Thanks to them, we are able to better understand our business and make better decisions, faster." - Dan Atler, Chief Financial Officer, LitePoint
Customer:
LitePoint
Industry:
Telecommunications
Deployment country:
United States
Solution:
Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Optimizing IT
IBM Business Partner:
Applied Analytix
Overview
LitePoint Corporation is a multinational company based in Sunnyvale, California, which designs, develops, markets, and supports advanced test solutions for development and manufacturing of wireless and cellular devices. LitePoint’s solutions have optimized and verified the operation of more than one billion wireless devices. These solutions play a critical role in enabling advanced wireless products by providing the quickest transition from design to high-quality production, the fastest and lowest-cost optimization and testing, and the greatest savings on overall manufacturing test costs.
Business need:
Operating in six countries and five different currencies, wireless and cellular device developer LitePoint was struggling to produce reports in time for its regular board meetings. In addition, its legacy spreadsheet-based solution was not optimized for complex reporting tasks, making it difficult to gain visibility of important data.
Solution:
LitePoint engaged IBM® Business Partner Applied Analytix to implement IBM Cognos® Express Xcelerator, extending and transforming the company’s Microsoft® Excel front-end with a powerful analytics engine.
Results:
Increases productivity by 100 percent with the ability to meet two-day reporting deadlines even with limited resources available.
Benefits:
Significantly upgrades the reporting and forecasting system with easy-to-use IBM Cognos Express technology. Allows for future consolidation of all budgeting, business intelligence and reporting on to a single, user-friendly platform. Harnesses the power and flexibility of IBM Cognos software, allowing room for future growth.
Case Study
Company Overview
LitePoint Corporation is a multinational company based in Sunnyvale, California, which designs, develops, markets, and supports advanced test solutions for development and manufacturing of wireless and cellular devices.
LitePoint’s solutions have optimized and verified the operation of more than one billion wireless devices. These solutions play a critical role in enabling advanced wireless products by providing the quickest transition from design to high-quality production, the fastest and lowest-cost optimization and testing, and the greatest savings on overall manufacturing test costs.
Challenge
As a company with 25 different departments operating in six different countries and dealing with five different currencies, LitePoint had a significant need for in-depth and complex reporting capabilities. With a rigorous schedule requiring a two-day turnaround time for the production and analysis of board reports, the company needed an efficient, powerful reporting solution.
However, LitePoint’s legacy Excel spreadsheet solution was not optimized to present the number of perspectives on the data that the company required. In addition, LitePoint employees could not easily change variables – such as headcount – nor add business units.
LitePoint wanted a user-friendly and time-efficient solution to analyze operations and expenses in order to better manage the company. With only one dedicated financial analyst at the company, LitePoint needed to be able to generate reports and forecasts quickly and easily, without having to rely on the IT department for support. In short, LitePoint needed an automated, multidimensional tool that would enable employees to quickly visualize multiple perspectives on a diverse range of data in an easy-to-read format.
Approach
- Leveraged Applied Analytix’s experience and expertise to implement a solution tailored to LitePoint’s needs in a timely fashion.
- Purchased IBM’s leading midmarket solution, IBM Cognos Express.
- Implemented a flexible, integrated, and user-friendly solution perfectly suited for future application consolidation and company growth.
Impact
- End-users can acquire imperative business information in real time without needing to rely on experts or the IT department.
- With Applied Analytix’s constant attention and anticipation of LitePoint’s needs, the company has built a solution that allows for changes and company growth quickly and easily, even in the middle of implementation.
- LitePoint can meet its objectives using just one financial analyst, reducing costs by $300,000–$500,000 per year.
- With Applied Analytix’s Cognos Express expertise and close relationship with LitePoint staff, the company has been able to seamlessly implement a solution in a cost-effective and timely manner.
- With all data now provided by IBM Cognos Express, employees have access to multiple facets and perspectives, empowering them with the ability to analyze data, understand its implications, and make better business decisions.
About Applied Analytix
Applied Analytix is a professional services firm specializing in financial planning and analysis applications. With over 15 years of experience in solution implementation, Applied Analytix consultants are experts at applying IBM Cognos software to deliver professional budgeting, financial reporting, management reporting, planning, forecasting, and profitability analysis solutions.
To learn more about products, services and solutions from Applied Analytix, 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.
For more information
For further information or to reach a representative please visit ibm.com/analytics.
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Software:
Cognos Express Xcelerator
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012 IBM Corporation Software Group Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 Produced in the United States of America February 2012 IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, and Cognos are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in which IBM operates. The client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations and operating conditions. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided. The client is responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations applicable to it. IBM does not provide legal advice or represent or warrant that its services or products will ensure that the client is in compliance with any law or regulation.