Whitepaper Summary: Thriving in Economic Uncertainty
Published November 2008
*** the content provided below is extracted from a whitepaper…
In uncertain economic times...
Customer orders fall
Scrutiny for management decisions rises
Suppliers & lenders seek safe, low-risk investments
'Belt tightening' measures compel hiring freezes & layoffs
Executives reevaluate travel, computer, & supply expenses
Do more with less
Compete effectively for limited credit
Analyze investment options
Securing new funds requires forecasting accurate return on investment (ROI)
Investors want management to evaluate multiple scenarios & prepare contingency plans
Reassure stakeholders & investors
Rely on solid financial analysis to assess risk & return
The critical success factors for surviving economic uncertainty...
Reduce costs
Root out wasteful, expensive inefficiencies & automate routine processes
Find Inefficiencies
Implement a solution that provides better visibility into performance
Reduce costs without compromising quality or speed of service
Case Study… Culver Franchising Systems, Inc (CFSI)
Save Money
Automate processes to reduce time-consuming manual intervention
Case Study… TAC Americas
Operate Smarter, more strategically
Build a foundation you can grow on when the economy picks up
Get real-time information to the right employees
Empower your employees with real-time information they need to make better, more strategic decisions
For example…
Customer Service Reps more quickly identify cross-sell opportunities
Sales Directors review pipeline to prioritize around the most profitable customers
CFOs set automatic alerts to warn of potential problems with cash flow
Find profitable customers
Analyze customer profitability so you can allocate resources on customers that are most profitable
Cultivate those customers most likely to grow when the economy recovers
Case Study… PREMIER Bankcard
Pivot on a dime
Identify problems early on so you can make quick decisions in response to changes in the market
Turn data into powerful information
Forecast and plan based on multiple scenarios and changing business conditions
Case Studies…
Illinois Department of Transportation
Innovate to create a condition for growth
Identify buying patterns so that you can focus resources on producing in-demand products
Centralize portfolio management
Case Study… Eli Lilly
Powerful cost-effective solutions: Microsoft Business Intelligence
Best Value
Maximize your existing technology investments
In the long run, Microsoft solutions offer lower support, training, & maintenance costs
Pervasive deployment
Easy to use so that all of your employees are able to review performance daily
Fully integrated
Integrate with Microsoft Office productivity tools to support rapid deployment, insight and action