Shoe Smarts
Stonefly is an important name within the Italian footwear sector. Founded 13 years ago by Andrea Tomat and Adriano Sartor, Stonefly is a quintessential success story because the company from the Veneto region of Italy has conquered an important share of the Italian and foreign market by focusing on design and innovation. "We invest 5 percent of our turnover in research and development for the creation of innovative shoe wear...," says Loredana Polo, general manager, Stonefly.
In 1997, Stonefly opened a branch in the United States, and in 2001, it entered the Eastern markets, setting up profitable business agreements in Japan. In 2004, Stonefly introduced its first "junior" collection, extending its target market, which expanded in 2005 thanks to a joint venture agreement with the opening of a singlebrand store in China.
Stonefly's continuous search for excellence has led the company to grow no less than 36 percent over the last five years. Stonefly's 2006 revenue hit approximately 102 million euro and it owns 44 single-brand stores across the world.
MANAGING GROWTH
According to Polo, it is fundamental that Stonefly keeps constant control of its main business indicators to maintain and manage growth. To do so effectively, the company evaluated the adoption of a business intelligence (BI) solution at all enterprise levels at the request from users across various company offices -- from general management to business management to administrative management. The challenge was to find a solution that would guarantee success within all the development areas concerned.
According to Polo, it is fundamental that Stonefly keeps constant control of its main business indicators to maintain and manage growth. To do so effectively, the company evaluated the adoption of a business intelligence (BI) solution at all enterprise levels at the request from users across various company offices -- from general management to business management to administrative management. The challenge was to find a solution that would guarantee success within all the development areas concerned.
After a careful evaluation, the company's management team chose Nuvola, a software package developed by Levera, based on QlikTech's QlikView technology. The project was founded on analysis of all of the areas involved, included a progressive development plan that allowed for a rapid deployment of the system. Training sessions led to immediate satisfaction among company personnel. "What I appreciated most about this solution is the autonomy that the users managed to acquire within a few days. Now they're able to deal with 90 percent of the daily requirements alone with enormous satisfaction both on their part and on the part of the IT personnel," says Stonefly IT Systems Director Mauro Tamai.
THE SOLUTION
Among the aspects that led the company to choose Nuvola, based on QlikView (the BI and in-memory analysis suite developed by QlikTech), was the possibility of building a nonrelational but associative database, allowing for the analysis of an enormous amount of data instantaneously and with extreme ease. The queries are limitless, the data may be analyzed in all dimensions of interest for each user as the calculations are carried out quickly and interactively.
Among the aspects that led the company to choose Nuvola, based on QlikView (the BI and in-memory analysis suite developed by QlikTech), was the possibility of building a nonrelational but associative database, allowing for the analysis of an enormous amount of data instantaneously and with extreme ease. The queries are limitless, the data may be analyzed in all dimensions of interest for each user as the calculations are carried out quickly and interactively.
The patented Associative Query Logic (AQL) technology allows for data originating from multiple sources to be connected through the associations existing between them, supplying a non-hierarchical and non-redundant mechanism for analyzing data from any perspective.
On the basis of this logic, when the data is uploaded, a natively multidimensional associative database is created, it is resident within the RAM memory and it is efficient with extensive capacities. With respect to the traditional OLAP analysis, previous definitions of aggregations dimensions and data selections or hierarchical structures and enquiry paths are therefore not necessary.
Moreover, Stonefly also wanted a user-friendly solution for a very wide customer base. Nuvola, with QlikView integrated, has a graphic interface that also allows everyday users to navigate through the data by means of interactive query techniques. The interactive analysis allows for the execution of queries with a click of the mouse and the drag and drill visual techniques, by means of free navigation without dimensional or hierarchical limits.
BI EVOLUTION
Stonefly realizes that the solution is used effectively because users are able to carry out data analysis with a high degree of autonomy, meaning that apart from the sharing of company analysis, the end user is able to obtain personalized analysis in real time. This satisfaction is also shared by the IT systems personnel, who appreciate the ease with which it is possible to develop analysis models to be supplied to users, even if they involve the management of different information or consistent volumes of data.
Stonefly realizes that the solution is used effectively because users are able to carry out data analysis with a high degree of autonomy, meaning that apart from the sharing of company analysis, the end user is able to obtain personalized analysis in real time. This satisfaction is also shared by the IT systems personnel, who appreciate the ease with which it is possible to develop analysis models to be supplied to users, even if they involve the management of different information or consistent volumes of data.
The BI project, which was set up in January 2006, includes further developments within other analysis areas, such as orders, dispatches, warehouse and margin analysis. Considering the success of the initial projects, Stonefly intends to use this solution when dealing with analysis within the fields of finance and management control. //