Toshiba Finds Profitable Business Partner in WebFOCUS

Real-time Information System Dramatically Cuts Costs, Improves Decision-Making

Just as everyone working in an office today expects their own computer, they also expect their own personal access to real-time information. Toshiba Personal Computer System Corporation knows the drill. Their business motto is "total support of the PC environment."

When it came to their own business, however, meeting the demand for real-time information was a challenge – that is, until they found WebFOCUS.

Established in 1970 as Sord, Inc., the company began working with Toshiba in 1985 and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Toshiba Personal Computer System manages an extensive and varied business, and they have for a long time. That means data – a lot of data and a lot of history. Over the years, their information system became costly to operate and unstable, failing to perform up to demand, and posing security risks.

It became obvious that they had to improve upon the system and they conducted an extensive search for a replacement. WebFOCUS not only proved itself the best system for real-time reporting, but beyond their original expectations, it became their in-house standard tool for business intelligence (BI).

Redesigning for Timely Management

Toshiba chose to renew their mission critical information system "to minimize losses, stabilize operations, and optimize the whole system," explains Tadashi Aoki, of the Information Department. "For example," Aoki continues, "in the past, if a manager said, 'Tell me the ordering situation this month," no one could tell him quickly. They would have to take the request, and spend a lot of time and manpower to process the request. And, by the time they had an answer, it would be out of date."

The goal, then, was timely judgment and management.

"We predicted that we could reduce potential costs significantly with a real-time information system," says Aoki. "We expected to decrease processing time by at least 404 hours a month, which is equal to a reduction of 785 man-hours per month, enabling us to cut one staff person. We also expected to cut employment costs as measured by communication charges and outsourcing expenses... Altogether, we thought it was possible to cut about 71 million yen per year, plus reduce the hidden 'Costs of Poor Quality'."

The company saw two actions as critical to meeting this goal: shortening total work time and reexamining electronic forms.

The old system used an Access database for production, sale, and management of accounts. The system didn't allow for late responses and limits, and only power users could utilize the data. The general user was limited to lists that someone else made. Once a download was made, the user also had to re-total everything in Excel himself. With this system, information could not be timely.

Finding Effective Cost Reduction, Comprehensive Support, and Improved Communication

The company began their search for a better system by searching the Internet for business intelligence tools, and then requesting demonstrations. "Our requirements were as follows: reduction of total cost of ownership, strengthening of security, shortening work time by one man day, and the vendor's knowledge of business," explains Aoki. "WebFOCUS met all these requirements."

Toshiba Personal Computer System conducted a one-month trial of WebFOCUS using real data. In the height of the development process and during QA, the support of K.K. Ashisuto (Information Builders' representative in Japan) became a conclusive factor. "Their support gave us a sense of security and confidence," says Aoki. "Then we had to seriously look at price and cost-effectiveness. It was essential that productivity be increased during the one-month trial."

Aoki reports that the system proved its effectiveness and improved productivity immediately. "WebFOCUS can carry out all the data production for our mission critical systems, including production, sales, and accounting. 'All' is the point. Simply by being able to check information in a basic system by a simple operation using a Web browser, the efficiency of our overall business rose."

Moreover, because the information was accessed in real time, total processing could be shortened, improving the accuracy of cost control. Toshiba also introduced an optical fiber network inside and outside the company at the same time, improving the response time of the system.

In the revitalized system, ActiveDirectory manages user information. The WebFOCUS user logs on through Meta-Frame, which verifies the user information on the back-end, and pulls up the appropriate menu for each user, taking security into account. In addition, the new system allows users to create their own favorites folder and build menus by dragging and dropping, so menus that are used regularly can be saved.

"Please Check With WebFOCUS" Becomes Company Catchphrase

The new system has been well received by the whole company. "The biggest merit of the system is that we can get timely information now," says Aoki. "The time required for gathering data has been significantly cut, greatly improving communication. Now people say 'See the WebFOCUS screen,' putting an end to all the past frustration."

Development costs were kept low, and the whole system took about a third of the time to develop as the previous system.

Most importantly, the system met the cost reduction targets the company predicted. While improving quality and significantly and measurably reducing the hidden "Costs of Poor Quality," the company was able to meet its goals and cut its outsourcing costs by one staff-man day and 785 man-hours a month. They realized savings of two million yen per year in communication charges and nine million yen per year in outsourcing expenses, by reducing staffing requirements from four days to three. All together, Toshiba saved 71 million yen per year.

Toshiba can also monitor the system and see which menus users choose most frequently and the actual condition of the whole system, measuring its responsiveness and quickly correcting any issues. "It's easy to check the effectiveness of the system (real-time property and day-old information) and pinpoint problems for system developers to address," says Aoki. "As things turned out, WebFOCUS provides these effectiveness measurements as an option."

A Future Partner

The system has been in place for almost two years, and the company is planning various expansions and improvements with Ashisuto, including making some reports more conspicuous, increasing the number of users, and improving ease of use, based on user feedback. Toshiba Personal Computer System's experience has been so positive, in fact, that they are now planning on partnering with Information Builders and selling WebFOCUS as an information system solution to their customers.

"We would like more people to know about and use WebFOCUS," explains Aoki. "It's an excellent product, and we're happy to recommend it to our customers. We expect it to help us all in an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship."