Information Builders Case Studies Topco Cuts Costs, Boosts Private Label Penetration With WebFOCUS

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	Topco Cuts Costs, Boosts Private Label Penetration With WebFOCUS Information Builders

Topco Cuts Costs, Boosts Private Label Penetration With WebFOCUS

Information Builders

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Food & Beverage Retail
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Data Science Services Software Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	Topco Associates, a grocery cooperative, was facing challenges in reducing product costs and increasing private label penetration to compete with larger national competitors. The company had a diverse back-end infrastructure with numerous departmental database applications and about two dozen off-line data marts serving specific needs. This made accessing basic data difficult. The grocery industry operates on extremely slim margins, averaging 1.5 percent to 2 percent, so operational expenses are always scrutinized and IT dollars must be spent carefully. While some consultants advised Topco to implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the Topco team was leery of embarking on such a project. Read More
About Customer	Topco Associates LLC is a privately held grocery cooperative that provides innovative business solutions for its food industry member-owners and customers. The company focuses on developing, procuring, and delivering store-wide product and service solutions. Primarily focused around a retailer’s private label offerings, Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge, and commitment of its 52 member-owners to create a competitive advantage in the retail marketplace. The company boasts annual sales in excess of $11.6 billion. Topco recently selected Information Builders to resolve its business intelligence (BI), data integration, and information integrity challenges as part of a five-year information technology modernization project. Read More
Solution	Topco decided to engage Information Builders to help them improve the information systems that they already have and to create a framework of data that will support new technologies when necessary. Information Builders competed against all of the other players in the BI segment. Topco picked Information Builders because of the robust solutions for business intelligence and data governance which are flexible enough to work with and bring together existing technologies. It is this unified data framework created by the Information Builders’ technologies that will support Topco’s business transformation into a true data-driven company. Topco purchased Information Builders’ WebFOCUS BI platform to create and deliver intelligent dashboards that produce insight at a glance and reports that provide Topco management with a simpler and more effective way of answering questions without constant assistance from the IT staff. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Food & Beverage

Retail

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Data Science Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

Topco Associates, a grocery cooperative, was facing challenges in reducing product costs and increasing private label penetration to compete with larger national competitors. The company had a diverse back-end infrastructure with numerous departmental database applications and about two dozen off-line data marts serving specific needs. This made accessing basic data difficult. The grocery industry operates on extremely slim margins, averaging 1.5 percent to 2 percent, so operational expenses are always scrutinized and IT dollars must be spent carefully. While some consultants advised Topco to implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the Topco team was leery of embarking on such a project.

About Customer

Topco Associates LLC is a privately held grocery cooperative that provides innovative business solutions for its food industry member-owners and customers. The company focuses on developing, procuring, and delivering store-wide product and service solutions. Primarily focused around a retailer’s private label offerings, Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge, and commitment of its 52 member-owners to create a competitive advantage in the retail marketplace. The company boasts annual sales in excess of $11.6 billion. Topco recently selected Information Builders to resolve its business intelligence (BI), data integration, and information integrity challenges as part of a five-year information technology modernization project.

Solution

Topco decided to engage Information Builders to help them improve the information systems that they already have and to create a framework of data that will support new technologies when necessary. Information Builders competed against all of the other players in the BI segment. Topco picked Information Builders because of the robust solutions for business intelligence and data governance which are flexible enough to work with and bring together existing technologies. It is this unified data framework created by the Information Builders’ technologies that will support Topco’s business transformation into a true data-driven company. Topco purchased Information Builders’ WebFOCUS BI platform to create and deliver intelligent dashboards that produce insight at a glance and reports that provide Topco management with a simpler and more effective way of answering questions without constant assistance from the IT staff.

Impact #1	Topco’s business intelligence (BI) initiatives ensure that its reports and dashboards always display current, accurate, and consistent data.
Impact #2	Topco is eliminating several third-party reporting environments as it standardizes on the Information Builders product set.
Impact #3	Topco is adding customer service data to the warehouse and creating new dashboards for products, customer service, labeling, and other domains.

Impact #1

Topco’s business intelligence (BI) initiatives ensure that its reports and dashboards always display current, accurate, and consistent data.

Impact #2

Topco is eliminating several third-party reporting environments as it standardizes on the Information Builders product set.

Impact #3

Topco is adding customer service data to the warehouse and creating new dashboards for products, customer service, labeling, and other domains.

Benefit #1	Boosted the average fill rate to 97.5 percent to create a leaner distribution model.
Benefit #2	Reduced product costs and increased private label penetration.

Benefit #1

Boosted the average fill rate to 97.5 percent to create a leaner distribution model.

Benefit #2

Reduced product costs and increased private label penetration.

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Overview

Topco Cuts Costs, Boosts Private Label Penetration With WebFOCUS

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit