Somerfield Selects Business Objects Analytic Applications for Enterprise Performance Management
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 31, 2003 -- Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that Somerfield, a leading UK supermarket retailer, has selected Business Objects as its enterprise business intelligence standard. Somerfield has purchased BusinessObjectsT Application Foundation, an analytic application framework, to build a dashboard that will monitor enterprise performance metrics in order to drive improvements in sales and operational efficiency. In addition, Somerfield will use BusinessObjectsT Product and Service Intelligence, a packaged analytic application, to analyze and optimize product performance.
Using BusinessObjects Application Foundation, Somerfield will create a 'balanced scorecard' dashboard that will provide senior executives and over 1,200 store managers with an integrated view of key performance indicators (KPI's) across finance, customers, human resources, and new business initiatives. Users will be able to monitor, interpret, and act on changing metrics such as sales, staff, pricing, and promotions and receive 'alerts' on any problem areas, enabling them to take fast action. In addition, managers will be able to track how the organization is performing against both day-to-day and strategic corporate goals.
With BusinessObjects Product and Service Intelligence, Somerfield will be able to more effectively monitor and manage merchandise and inventory levels in order to boost product performance. For the first time, Somerfield will have a single, dynamic view of stock information enabling the company to ensure consistent availability of goods and promotions across its 1,275 stores.
"The new analytic capabilities from Business Objects will play a key role in helping us maintain our position as the UK's biggest neighborhood supermarket," said Gordon Cooper, business intelligence director at Somerfield. "The information delivered via our KPI dashboard will enable us to learn more about our business dynamics in order to improve operational performance and product management, and enable us to better serve our customers. In the competitive retail industry, this insight is invaluable and will have a direct impact on our bottom-line."
"Somerfield has joined the growing number of organizations that are turning to EPM solutions, based on Business Objects technology, to align their strategy and operations in order to drive business success," said Steve Broughton, UK managing director for Business Objects. "By tracking key performance indicators across the entire organization, Somerfield will obtain the visibility they need to make sure the company achieves optimum performance."
About Somerfield
The Somerfield Group incorporates the Somerfield and Kwik Save supermarket business units, which together operate over 1,275 stores nationwide. Somerfield's focus is on its key strength as the UK's biggest neighbourhood supermarket offering easy to shop convenience in smaller high street stores with a focus on its fresh food offer, modern ready meals, premium own brand lines and a quality range of wines.
About Business Objects
Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 35,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company's business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects™ XI, offers the BI industry's most complete and trusted platform for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and data integration. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports®, the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and also offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.
Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the Nasdaq (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.
