Ivoclar Vivadent
Ivoclar Vivadent, a dentistry sales and marketing company are familiar with precision ‘tools of the trade’. But with 18,000 stock codes to handle they needed a very high performing set of business tools themselves. Well up to the task of keeping track of every item is Greentree’s Inventory Management module paired with QlikView. This arguably provides the most intelligent inventory management and sales data analysis & reporting solution available.
CHALLENGE
Ivoclar needed a robust Inventory Management and Sales Analysis capability well beyond the three levels of data their previous system allowed them to view.
SOLUTION
Greentree Inventory and several other integrated modules plus QlikView for Greentree.
RESULTS
Ivoclar have achieved improvements in customer service levels through more efficient sales ordering systems. This is a direct result of being able to maintain optimal levels of and investment in inventory through better sales analysis and reporting.
ABOUT IVOCLAR VIVADENT GROUP
What began in Zurich over 80 years ago with the production of artificial ceramic teeth has evolved into a leading international company with a comprehensive product portfolio.
Ivoclar Vivadent AG is an innovative enterprise with one of the largest Research & Development centers in the dental industry. Global orientation, local presence - as a global player, the company is present in almost all the markets in the world with its own subsidiaries in 19 countries.
Europe and North America are the core markets of the privately-owned enterprise, but increased attention will be given to Asia and Latin America in the future, so that people around the world can benefit from the developments of modern dental medicine..
For more information visit Ivoclar Vivadent
As a sales-driven operation with many inventory items and over 200 orders being dispatched everyday “three levels of sales data was too shallow” says Fiona Ludemann, Office Manager at Ivoclar Vivadent. Since Inventory Management and Sales Analysis are core business activities the need to maintain and manage optimal levels of inventory and have the necessary tools to analyse sales data as far back and as deeply as they wanted to go was a key driver in the decision to implement Greentree overlaid with QlikView.
Although other competing products were considered during the evaluation process it became clear during demonstrations that QlikView for Greentree was the simpler and more cost efficient option. The local Greentree partner Verde Group Ltd and Visual Intelligence who customized and integrated the system proved they could provide the best support with a deep and clear understanding of Ivoclar’s relatively complex inventory management and sales analysis needs.
Analysis that makes you smile
Like a lot of businesses Ivoclar Vivadent had a need for a greater depth of analysis, Ludemann points out they needed to see well beyond three levels of data. The company values its close relationships with all their customers so the need to accurately record, manage and measure each account is paramount. Staff needed to view and analyse large amounts of historical data which the previous system would not allow. Plus, the more traditional database enquiry usually requires the time-consuming creation of complex SQL queries along with significant ‘re-organization or grooming’ of the data before anyone can find out any thing - this is not the case using Greentree and QlikView. QlikView is an advanced analysis tool with integrated dashboards which sits on top of Greentree enabling sales staff at Ivoclar to quickly and easily analyse all aspects of the company data down to transaction level and create dynamic queries on the fly. QlikView extracts the data directly from Greentree but also from external data sources such as monthly budgets figures that are currently stored in Excel. Staff can define exactly how they want data in reports to look and have the option of displaying the information dynamically on an individual’s screen or sharing reports with other users over the internet. Despite the fact that internationally, the Ivoclar Vivadent group of independent companies is using different systems exchanging information is easy using Excel.
Information Rich
Greentree’s ODBC and Excel integration combined with QlikView to create a ‘plug ‘n play’ sales analysis and reporting environment. Fiona Ludemann is clear on the view that QlikView for Greentree has enabled Ivoclar to become “information rich” by accumulating data that empowers the business to another level. Ludemann enthusiastically conveys the value of using Greentree and QlikView in terms of time savings, the depth and breath of data analysis Ivoclar can go to plus the simplicity of query creation and dynamic display and she says that “most staff need little training to use QlikView for Greentree, it’s a familiar window’s-based environment“
For a sales focused organization like Ivoclar profitability will only ever be as good as the businesses ability to glean strategic information from sales data and use it to make timely and accurate business decisions which positively impact the bottom-line. The signs are that this is where Greentree and QlikView should prove to have a long-term positive impact on the business.
As is the case in any sales and marketing operation the Sales Manager must be able to see which inventory items were slow movers, which items the sales people were selling the most of, which sales person is ahead of budget or needing a little ‘encouragement’ and which items need a greater sales effort. Ivoclar have been able to achieve higher levels of customer service improvement and more efficient management of and investment in inventory as a result of getting answers to strategic business questions put to Greentree through QlikView’s sales analysis and reporting capability.
Having found an empowering business solution in QlikView for Greentree, Ivoclar Vivadent expect the integrated modules at their disposal to benefit them for many years ahead.