NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - April 27, 2010) - Information Builders, the independent leader in operational business intelligence (BI) systems, today announced that AutoZone, the nation's leading retailer of auto parts and accessories, has selected Information Builders to create a user-friendly, scalable, and flexible reporting system across thousands of retail locations. The Web-based reporting environment is designed to deliver accurate operational metrics, including inventory levels, labor costs, and other pertinent store data.
AutoZone needed a general-purpose reporting environment that would benefit a variety of users throughout the company. In the past, the IT department generated most of AutoZone's corporate reports from a mainframe system at the company headquarters. As the company grew, store managers found they needed additional reporting capabilities that could provide operational metrics in real time. The WebFOCUS BI platform is now allowing store managers to access data they could never access before.
"We had several ways of accessing operational data, but the numbers weren't always matching up," said David Glasscock, director of Operation Support at AutoZone. "With WebFOCUS, we have accurate, timely reports that users at multiple levels can both understand and easily create. We have established a Web-based BI environment that is a one-stop shop for creating reports."
WebFOCUS reports are accessible by remote users via standard Web browsers. AutoZone is working to consolidate all its reports onto a custom portal, streamlining processes so that AutoZone employees can find all the information they need in one place. Additionally, its employees are finding success creating their own reporting templates, specifying the report calculations, measurements, and other variables. Operation managers can customize the data that appears in these reports to comply with AutoZone's inventory management programs or adjust quantities on hand when new merchandise comes in.
AutoZone expects to have between 10,000 and 15,000 total users across its 3,850 stores. The scalability of the WebFOCUS tool is a tremendous benefit for the retailer as district managers to vice presidents will leverage BI technology for accurate, real-time data to make smarter decisions. Due to its thin-client deployment architecture, remote users only need a standard Web browser to access the WebFOCUS environment. This is ideal for AutoZone because it enables the IT department to control the data on the reporting servers, yet managers at the individual stores can help themselves to the information they need. AutoZone has designed the system for easy expansion so that the reporting environment will grow as workload increases.
"In an industry of heightened competition and shrinking margins, fulfilling AutoZone's commitment to customers means always having accurate information about inventory, sales, and labor requirements," said Gerald Cohen, founder and CEO of Information Builders. "WebFOCUS has met these demands, delivering the business intelligence technology that AutoZone depended on to accelerate to the forefront of the automotive retail industry."
About AutoZone
As of November 22, 2008, AutoZone sells auto and light truck parts, chemicals, and accessories through 4,122 AutoZone stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in the U.S., and 150 stores in Mexico. AutoZone is the leading retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the U.S. Each store carries an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Many stores also have a commercial sales program that provides commercial credit and prompt delivery of parts and other products to local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, and service stations. AutoZone also sells the ALLDATA brand diagnostic and repair software. On the Web, AutoZone sells diagnostic and repair information, and auto and light truck parts through autozone.com. AutoZone does not derive revenue from automotive repair or installation.
About Information Builders
Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence (BI) and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders' iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Information Builders also offers solutions in the performance management, business activity monitoring, and enterprise search markets. The company's comprehensive enterprise product offerings give Information Builders' customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners. More information is available at http://www.informationbuilders.com.
Contact Information:
Press Contacts
Kathleen Moran
Information Builders
(917) 339-6313
kathleen_moran@ibi.com
Erica Salamida
LEWIS PR
(617) 226-8845
informationbuilders@lewispr.com