Confectioner Cloetta Enhances Data Strategies with Connected Data Group and TIBCO

Challenge

Cloetta had vast amounts of customer and product data that needed to be analyzed and used to make proposals for improvement. This was difficult to do because the data was unstructured and high volume. Reporting was manual, time-consuming, inefficient, and exposed to errors. The company understood it needed to make relevant data easily and unambiguously accessible through a central solution.

Transformation

Cloetta turned to TIBCO silver partner Connected Data Group, concluding that it needed to enrich its current solution with a data virtualization tool. It selected TIBCO Data Virtualization software to make its enterprise data warehouse (EDW) data easily available.

The confectioner’s internationally operating IT and business intelligence (BI) team worked to bring global, local, internal, and external data together from its EDW and other less structured data sources. By merging multiple sources in near real-time with TIBCO Data Virtualization solutions, Cloetta can avoid duplicating integrated data, which improves sales by increasing the accuracy of forecasting capabilities.

According to Han van Bijnen, senior IT manager of service delivery at Cloetta, “In our collaboration with Connected Data Group, two moments have been crucial to the success of our BI environment: the design of our data architecture and the implementation of TIBCO Data Virtualization software.”

The in-depth insights helped by TIBCO Data Virtualization data views strengthen the decision-making ability of sales and distribution. Cloetta’s enterprise-wide BI team makes the data available through this TIBCO platform, which helps speed supply chain insights and business recommendations and provide a clear picture of enterprise-wide data that inspires local and global growth.

Erik Fransen, co-founder of Connected Data Group adds, “Cloetta has been a long term customer that has embraced TIBCO Data Virtualization software as the core of its data delivery platform. We are proud to be a reseller and implementation partner and to regularly work with the Cloetta team to create true business value. Focusing on expert consultancy, implementation, and training for TIBCO Data Virtualization software, we maximize the value of integrated, up-to-date, and easy-to-use data for Cloetta sales teams.”

Benefits

The TIBCO Data Virtualization solution adds a new layer to Cloetta’s existing BI solution, making it possible to process local and external data faster. According to Sofie Nuyens-Hönen, senior IT manager of BI at Cloetta, “We can please our business consumers with BI solutions that would never have been feasible without TIBCO Data Virtualization software. We can work on fulfilling our BI strategy for the coming years and converge from a traditional to a logical data warehouse.”

By helping Cloetta better understand the dynamics of the whole supply chain, TIBCO Data Virtualization software helps improve forecast accuracy and optimizes campaigns, in-store sales, and inventory levels. The combined dataset serves more end-users across the company, enabling fact-based management and tactical and strategic decision-making. Managers can gain insight into the current state of affairs every day and make business reports more relevant to multiple stakeholders.

“Now we can combine new data that we make available through data virtualization with the data we had before in the enterprise data warehouse. It’s a strong combination,” says Nuyens-Hönen.

TIBCO Data Virtualization software saves Cloetta time and money. It helps create reports faster and more effectively, allowing employees to identify anomalies and take corrective action. “With the data, we have effective reporting, and it allows us to quickly discover deviations between plans and to take corrective proactive actions when needed,” says van Bijnen.

Cloetta can create quality analyses because its data is easier to access, analyze, and use. With the help of Connected Data Group and TIBCO, the confectionery validates and develops its product group and client strategies more systematically with point of sale data—creating sweet experiences for customers worldwide.

“Looking ahead, we see many more possibilities with TIBCO’s Data Virtualization solutions. Our next steps will combine and connect data rather than rely on stand alone solutions. We plan to add warehouse, store, and sales data to the Finnish field sales model and will apply the results from previous projects more widely,” says Nuyens-Hönen.

“With data virtualization, Cloetta delivers BI solutions that really make the difference and would never have been possible without TIBCO,” concludes van Bijnen.

Volkswagen Pon Financial Services Increases Data Value with Virtualization from TIBCO and Connected Data Group

In 1966, Volkswagen Pon Financial Services started as a way to help customers finance Volkswagen cars. Today, it has grown into a top-class financial player in the automotive market. The company plans to become the largest automotive financial service provider in the Netherlands, specializing in finance, leasing, insurance, and mobility.

Challenge

Volkswagen Pon Financial Services aims to grow organically and through acquisition. However, the company struggled with the scalability of its widespread application landscape, which prompted an update of its IT technology. When new and more capable systems were introduced, it became clear that its data and analytics also needed an upgrade.

The ever-increasing demand for relevant data from the various business departments could no longer be supported by the company’s data warehouse. It was rigid, and changes were difficult, often resulting in long lead times. Adjustments were mainly carried out by external parties, while the internal team handled maintenance.

Transformation

The company began its transformation by testing several software options for a solution that was user-friendly and functional. The team turned to TIBCO Silver Partner Connected Data Group, for advice and the creation of its new Data and Analytics Platform (DAP), fueled by TIBCO Data Virtualization software.

All data, past and present, is provided via the TIBCO solution. Business rules are centrally stored for use by all information processes. For instance, a customer can type their order number into the customer portal, and TIBCO Data Virtualization software will provide the business rules needed to access the customer’s order status. The data virtualization platform is used for all interfaces to and from applications, both internally and externally. The DAP can feed new applications quickly and easily.

“This was unthinkable before,” says Data Architect Frank Bode. “We can easily unlock data from multiple sources for any type of question. It’s easier than ever for all users.” A strategic asset for the company, TIBCO Data Virtualization software provided developers with a tool that makes accessing data more flexible.

Volkswagen Pon Financial Services improved the process of supplying raw data to the Knowledge Center Leasing department. Econometricians can now use a self-service process to access relevant and up-to-date data from source systems. The financial request line also accelerated its processes, now displaying process status based on reusable components that work for several use cases. Providing information to customers is much simpler and more streamlined.

“This platform has made the accounting department data-driven. From the start, it allowed us to generate more insights than I could ever imagine,” says Financial Controller Wilco Renes.

Benefits

Since implementing the new DAP solution, the team’s emphasis has shifted from warehouse maintenance to innovating with data. By switching to an agile work method, the ICT team involves the end user from the start of the project. Because of the flexibility of TIBCO Data Virtualization software, adjustments are made immediately. In the old environment, every change request involved staging, data warehouse, data mart—and all the corresponding ETL processes. With TIBCO Data Virtualization software, there are no physical copies of the data and no ETL processes. The team only needs to change the select statement in the TIBCO Data Virtualization view, and everything is settled across all systems.

“What surprises me is how quickly a change can be implemented. In the past, changes often had a lead time of three to six months. Now it can sometimes be arranged within five minutes,” says Risk Manager Pim Esveld.

With virtualized data, business users can quickly create dashboards in the DAP and gain insights themselves. Team members share rapid knowledge transfer, which has significantly improved turnaround times. There is no need for complex processes; the team coordinates changes and innovations jointly with other employees, which increases acceptance and provides faster insights so the project is delivered quickly.

“Projects are delivered faster and with better results. By using TIBCO Data Virtualization software, an acceleration of 50 percent is no exception,” says Product Owner Ben Bervoets. “More and more projects are carried out via the DAP. By using TIBCO Data Virtualization software, we are much more in control of our own data, and that is reassuring.”

The future is bright for Volkswagen Pon Financial Services. According to Bode, “In the future, we will open up more sources to be able to analyze end-to-end. We will also be rolling out the self-service component to new users. The intention is that end users will be more concerned with their reports while we focus on strengthening our data foundation. We will also be working on how we can bring everything to the cloud within a few years.

Faster projects, increased teamwork, and more informed decisions put Volkswagen Pon Financial Services’ goal of maximum growth within reach. This foundational data transformation was made possible by TIBCO.