Published on 15-Jun-2012
"Totem managed to deliver our solution on time and based on our specific requirements. They managed the project well and have the experience and expertise to implement complex financial performance management solutions. IBM Cognos Express is an excellent tool, and our business users are fully able to exploit it, thanks in large part to Totem’s superb training services." - Herman de Vries, CFO, Argility
Customer:
Argility
Industry:
Computer Services
Deployment country:
South Africa
Solution:
Business Analytics, Business Intelligence
IBM Business Partner:
Totem Consulting
Overview
Argility is an innovative international software solutions company that provides merchandising and point-of-sale solutions to world-class retailers, empowering them with a level of flexibility that translates into a competitive edge in the volatile retail environment.
Business need:
To keep pace with changing economic conditions, Argility needed a flexible budgeting and forecasting solution to support accurate planning and decision-making.
Solution:
Working with Totem Consulting, Argility implemented IBM Cognos® Express Xcelerator. Totem provided comprehensive training services to help the Argility team take ownership of the solution and develop it in-house.
Results:
Argility has reduced its budget cycle from three months to one month
Benefits:
Totem Consulting training services help Argility to continue developing its Cognos Express solution in-house, saving time and reducing consulting costs. Argility is now able to develop automated budgets for all of its customers, instead of having detailed budgets for only the ten largest customers, and consolidating the rest of their customer base under a “group” budget. Using IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator, Argility can perform deeper and more detailed analysis, such as variance and root cause analysis.
Case Study
Company Overview
Argility is an innovative international software solutions company that provides merchandising and point-of-sale solutions to world-class retailers, empowering them with a level of flexibility that translates into a competitive edge in the volatile retail environment.
Argility’s foundations lie in its depth of technical expertise, intellectual capital and understanding of the retail sector.
Argility’s head office is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It currently has customers in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Botswana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and UAE. Major customers include Vodacom, Ellerines, Engen, Foschini Group, and Moss Brothers. Argility employs in excess of 250 employees.
Challenges
Argility grew exponentially as a business, resulting in increased complexity in the company’s structure and in its products and service offerings. For analytics, the company was using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft PerformancePoint, which did not provide the flexibility or dynamic reporting functionality required for accurate planning and decision-making.
In a changing economic climate, Argility needed to be able to stay ahead of market changes and quickly modify its forecasts and budgets to anticipate the financial impact of specific events on its business.
In addition, business users needed to be able to create or modify reports to meet their specific needs, especially with time constraints on business decision-making.
Approach
- Leverage Totem Consulting’s experience and expertise to implement a solution that provides effective forecasting and budgeting models.
- Totem Consulting training services help Argility to continue developing its Cognos Express solution in-house, saving time and reducing consulting costs.
- Purchase IBM’s leading midmarket IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator module.
- Use Turbo Integrator to import data from various sources to keep the model and metadata up to date.
Impact
- Using IBM Cognos Express, Argility has reduced its budget cycle from three months to one month, allowing finance and management to focus on the business.
- Argility is now able to develop automated budgets for all of its customers, instead of having detailed budgets for only the 10 largest customers, and consolidating the rest of their customer base under a “group” budget.
- Business users are able to “slice and dice” the data for easy analysis in the cube viewer.
- The quality and depth of the data has improved significantly, allowing finance, management and business users to have a better understanding of project costs and resource requirements. This leads to better customer service, retention and profitability.
- IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator reduces dependency on Excel and improves budgeting and forecasting at a detailed level.
- End-users are empowered to do analysis on the fly, reducing their dependency on IT.
About Totem Consulting
Totem Consulting’s business analytics division is focused on supplying clients with financial performance management (FPM) solutions including reporting, budgeting, forecasting, operational planning and scenario modelling. The platform used is primarily IBM Cognos TM1. Totem‘s FPM consultants have experience in implementing FPM solutions in a wide range of industries.
To learn more about products, services and solutions from Totem Consulting, visit: www.totemconsulting.co.za
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 please visit ibm.com/business-analytics.
Request a call
To request a call or to ask a question, go to ibm.com/business-analytics/contactus. An IBM representative will respond to your inquiry within two business days.
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Software:
Cognos Express Xcelerator, Cognos Express
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012. IBM South Africa, Private Bag x9907, Sandton, South Africa, 2146. Produced in South Africa. June 2012. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, and Cognos are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. A current list of other IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks, or service marks of others. IBM and Totem Consulting are separate companies and each is responsible for its own products. Neither IBM nor Totem Consulting makes any warranties, express or implied, concerning the other’s products. References in this publication to IBM products, programs or services do not imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries in which IBM operates. Any reference to an IBM product, program or service is not intended to imply that only IBM’s product, program or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program or service may be used instead. All customer examples cited represent how some customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. IBM hardware products are manufactured from new parts, or new and used parts. In some cases, the hardware product may not be new and may have been previously installed. Regardless, IBM warranty terms apply. This publication is for general guidance only. Photographs may show design models.