Footwear company deploys enterprise business intelligence software to monitor retail partner, store performance
San Jose, CA — March 2, 2004 — The Clarks Companies N.A., one of the largest footwear companies in the world, said today it has deployed Business Objects to help monitor the business performance of more than 3,500 retail partners as well as its 150 retail stores throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
A long-time customer of Business Objects, The Clarks Companies said it uses BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence to track and manage customer service, supply chain and inventory, finance, sales, logistics, sourcing, marketing, and operational data.
The Clarks Companies manufactures and markets over 10 million pairs of shoes each year. The company's sales force is charged with ensuring that the retail customers they service are fully stocked and inventory is available when needed.
Using Business Objects solutions to track and manage information from its supply chain and other transaction systems, the Clarks' sales force accesses WebIntelligence to gain real-time access to inventory availability. Using a company-wide intranet, sales executives can also access account information such as order bookings and sales to date, as well as operational reports to learn where shipments are located, and when they are expected to arrive at a customer's store.
At any given time, upward of one million units are in process at manufacturing plants around the world. The sourcing department at Clarks said it keeps orders moving in a timely manner by using BusinessObjects to monitor a shipment's progress from factory floor until it heads out the door. Then, the logistics division monitors inbound shipments so Clarks' executives know when the product will be received.
"With BusinessObjects we have seen a tremendous decrease in the IT resources need to provide pertinent and relative information to our employees," said Stephen Katsirubas, director of business systems at The Clarks Companies. "Our sales force can pull critical information specific to each customer account at any given time of day. That access is invaluable and stands not only to increase our profitability, but also improve the interaction between our organization and our customer."
