We already had a data warehouse in place to store data generated from its ERP system, which was installed in 2005. It also had supply chain management and Salesforce systems in place, which generated considerable data.
In total, the company had about three terabytes of data, most of it stored in an Oracle database. In addition, it also had some financial data stored in Microsoft Excel worksheets.
We were keen to use the existing data to gain valuable insights, which would aid in better decision making. With this in mind, we decided to invest in a tool that would analyze data from its existing data warehouse and provide insights in a visual format. After evaluating available data analysis tools in the market, we zeroed in on Tableau.
There weren’t any issues or challenges as such which made us consider a data visualization solution. Eveready as a company has always been a step ahead when it comes to technology adoption to further grow as a business.
We knew that the data resting with us could be used to derive valuable insights that can further help us better our efficiencies and open up new avenues to grow as a business.
How does Tableau visualization tool help you understand your data better?
The main reason behind us opting for Tableau was its simplicity and ease of use. One of the things that stood out for us is Tableau’s ability to provide simple visualization of complex data.
Tableau’s self-service ability is something that helped us a great deal in bringing the power of data to a lot of people in the organization.
Who all (across business functions) use the solution and how?
Currently, Tableau is being used to analyze sales data by the supply chain team. We also plan to use Tableau for analyzing operations and financial reporting as well.
How do you see your institution practices changing in the future because of the better visibility of insights on your data?
We initially started using Tableau to primarily analyze sales data. Our 52-member strong sales team began using Tableau to track sales data such as planned versus actual sales, Year on Year (YoY) growth rates, sales trends, profitability of each Line of Business, geographical distribution of sales, etc. Additionally, the team used Tableau to study trends relating to customer buying patterns, cash-credit ratios, and more.
Later, we extended the use of Tableau software to the supply chain team, bringing the total user count to about 74. Using Tableau, the supply chain management team could get a real-time view into inventory trends, ensure adherence to stocking norms in storage areas, and track materials in transit.
Once we start analyzing operations and financial reporting, the operations teams will have a better view into machine downtime data, production data, breakdown maintenance, etc. The finance team will also benefit from understanding trends in cash flows and product profitability.
What are the benefits that you have achieved utilizing Tableau visualization solution?
One of the biggest benefits of using Tableau has been that it promotes much faster decision making. If you look at data in a tabular form, it’s tough to understand it quickly, let alone get insights from the data. But using a visual tool, you can immediately see what action needs to be taken.
The other advantage of Tableau is that since data can be shared right from the tool, more people within the team can have access to information. We also use the Tableau server to host data, which not only ensures security of data but also enables much faster processing.
Can you quantify the overall benefits of the deployment?
We have already seen a considerable jump in sales with an ROI of about 526 percent within the first six months of the Tableau implementation.
