Business Intelligence: B&H Photo Video Standardizes On Cognos Performance Management
Leading imaging retailer extends Cognos relationship with Cognos 8 BI, Cognos 8 Planning and Cognos Performance Applications to better understand customer buying habits, improve shopping experience and optimize operational planning
Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that B&H Photo Video (B&H), one of the world's leading retailers of imaging products, has selected Cognos as its enterprise-wide performance management system standard.
B&H has been using Cognos to complete sales reporting, product movement management and inventory analysis for their on-line and retail operations. B&H wanted to better understand and service its customers by analyzing shopping patterns and purchasing trends.
By standardizing on a single BI platform and upgrading to Cognos 8 BI, decision-makers throughout the organization – from executives to finance, supply chain and operations managers – will be able to capitalize on the complete range of reporting, analysis, dashboarding and scorecarding functionality to optimize inventory, increase customer loyalty and improve the overall customer shopping experience, regardless of channel.
B&H also licensed Cognos 8 Planning for financial planning and measuring performance against plans. In addition, B&H will integrate Cognos Performance Applications with its custom-developed ERP system, enabling the organization to get a jump start on enterprise-wide reporting for standard operational areas, such as general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable and procurement.
"It was important for us to bring in a full performance management suite at B&H because we pride ourselves on being a service-oriented organization," said Moses Blum, director of IT business support, B&H Photo Video. "With Cognos, we will be able to improve the shopping experience of our customers, both consumers and professionals, regardless of whether they made their purchase on-line, by fax, by phone, or in our flagship store in New York. Performance management at B&H will allow us to continue to be the leader in our market."
Cognos Business Intelligence, Cognos Planning and Cognos Performance Applications are key components within the Cognos Performance Management System, which aligns technology, best practices and a partner ecosystem to enable organizational agility and improve the decision-making process for organizations by connecting people and goals across operations and management functions with right-time, actionable information.
"Cognos helps deliver improved store and channel performance, increased profit margins and more effective operational cost management to leading global retailers such as B&H Photo Video," said Patricia Vekich Waldron, retail industry director at Cognos. "With a full performance management solution, B&H will be able to increase visibility, accountability and profitability across the enterprise. It will also be able to leverage critical business data in order to plan and analyze operations, determine changing market demands, and collaborate with suppliers to ultimately drive higher customer satisfaction."
Cognos is a recognized leader in delivering business intelligence and performance management solutions for the retail industry. In fact, 30 per cent of the world's top 250 retailers, and over 300 retail chains worldwide, are already Cognos customers. In addition to B&H Photo Video, retail customers include Burlington Coat Factory, Steak N Shake, Amazon.com, American Eagle Outfitters, LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics, and 7-Eleven. More information about Cognos solutions for retail can be found at http://www.cognos.com/solutions/industry/retail/index.html.
About B&H Photo Video
B&H Photo Video is one of the world's leading retailers of imaging products, serving professionals and consumers through its New York City retail store and through direct delivery internationally. B&H has been serving imaging markets for more than 30 years. More than 150,000 items are available for shipment every business day, all from its New York City facilities and via a number of channels, whether in-store, by phone, by mail, by fax, or through the B&H website. For more information please visit our Web site at www.bhphotovideo.com.
About Cognos
Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.
Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization's ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? – and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies.
Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at www.cognos.com.