A Clear View
SONAX GmbH & Co. KG, based in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany, was founded in 1950 and operates in 70 countries. The company produces and markets chemical products and services for all aspects of auto care, offering a professional and comprehensive range of vehicle cleaning and care products under the SONAX umbrella brand.
The company's positioning is based on high quality, a clear focus on the premium segment of the market and environmentally friendly and innovative products. It is part of the Hoffman Group, an amalgamation of separate and legally independent group companies, and has annual turnover of 85 million euro ($115 million).
CHALLENGES FACED SONAX
knows that a clear view of the company's performance is essential for its daily business. As a result, the company decided to look for a solution to provide a comprehensive view of all areas of the business.
knows that a clear view of the company's performance is essential for its daily business. As a result, the company decided to look for a solution to provide a comprehensive view of all areas of the business.
More specifically, it wanted to introduce an analysis and planning solution that would create a strong basis for better decision-making within the company. The solution had to be capable of providing the group of companies with comprehensive, upto- date decision-making information while integrating seamlessly with the existing IT landscape.
Gerhard Jahn, IT and central controlling manager at SONAX, says, "An important factor was the ability to analyze targeted strategic and operational management data and feed the results back to planning. This performance management approach was crucial in creating a solid foundation for our decision-making."
Thus, the company set out to find a performance management solution that could integrate seamlessly with its existing IT landscape. "We were looking for an innovative approach that combined reporting, analysis and planning," explains Jahn. "And this is where Cognos came in."
Jahn was familiar with Cognos products and their benefits, and SONAX had been successfully using the Upfront business intelligence (BI) solution from a Cognos partner since1999. As a result, it was easy for the company to select the Cognos 8 BI and Cognos 8 Planning products.
The tools were integrated quickly into SONAX' internal planning concept in mid-2006. According to Jahn, "The planning concept consists of 22 individual plans that are linked together. Plan one contains the strategic business plan, and plan 22 is the finance plan. Simply put, we feed strategic data into the first plan and the end result shows us exactly what a particular strategy has brought SONAX in euros. We use Cognos solutions throughout our entire strategic decision-making chain."
This creates a strategic and integrated foundation for SONAX' plans and allows the company to provide all its key groups with targeted information for better decision making. Users include SONAX' management, as well as selected specialists and technical experts.
SONAX also uses Cognos 8 BI for reporting and analysis of corporate data. Combining analysis and reporting with planning allows SONAX employees to compare up-to-date planned and actual data, and carry out comparisons across a wide range of dimensions.
Jahn says, "The tool has a large functional scope and allows us to carry out multi-dimensional analysis. We can map 100 or even 500 dimensions simultaneously, enabling us to analyze our business based on a wide range of factors. And despite the complexity in scope, the solution is easy to use."
WHAT'S CHANGED SONAX
now has a comprehensive overview of sales, products and the procurement market. The provision of important data to ensure optimal strategic and operational management is critical. "I can now simply press a button to find out what is important to our customer and what the customer needs. All the relevant data is provided at a glance," says Jahn. "We have a transparent view of all figures at all times and can pro- BUSINESS ANALYTICS vide all the right people with valuable information to implement a forward- thinking corporate policy."
now has a comprehensive overview of sales, products and the procurement market. The provision of important data to ensure optimal strategic and operational management is critical. "I can now simply press a button to find out what is important to our customer and what the customer needs. All the relevant data is provided at a glance," says Jahn. "We have a transparent view of all figures at all times and can pro- BUSINESS ANALYTICS vide all the right people with valuable information to implement a forward- thinking corporate policy."
Being a Web-based solution enables SONAX to quickly consolidate data from disparate sources. The worldwide availability of its data over the Internet brings the company a competitive advantage as information can be quickly and flexibly accessed by all users and prepared for strategic decisions.
Time savings in day-to-day tasks and reduced operating costs have also brought added value for the company. "Cognos offers an enormous range of possibilities and still holds great potential," emphasizes Jahn. SONAX believes it is now better positioned to handle future global challenges. //