Successful strategic navigation with business intelligence

Upturn, what upturn? Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is not the only voice warning Europe and the rest of the world that the economic headwinds is in no way behind us yet. Therefore, companies are well advised to continue working on their stability in the face of such difficulties. Qurius has proven many times that it can help companies using strategic BI solutions to succeed under challenging market conditions.

BI-related services from Qurius focus on 'strategic' elements. After all, a company hoping to face down challenging situations requires more from BI than simple analysis and reporting tools alone. Therefore, Qurius offers a market and customer-oriented product portfolio which adds different functional and industry layers to Microsoft platform technology. This is the basis on which we realise customisation-oriented solutions that go one step further. Specific aspects such as risk management, scenarios based on forward-looking planning and workflow, and collaboration support are at the heart of this - within the context of an integrated BI solution approach.

Business intelligence - a modern definition

The essential key requirements of modern BI systems are business-process controlling from an operational viewpoint, implementing integrated financial models and helping management to make strategic assessments and decisions. Traditional analysis and evaluation, reporting and the mapping of complex KPI systems are also part of this. Qurius, in cooperation with the software manufacturer and strategic partner evidanza GmbH, goes one step further. Action and task mapping and monitoring, integrated planning and simulation using scenarios and risk management within more demanding projects are now also available as standard.

Integrating communication platforms and collaboration approaches

Amongst other things, Qurius focuses on combining solutions for controlling and management with innovative communication platforms and collaboration approaches. Optimising cooperation between people and resources within a company is the objective. To achieve this, Qurius seeks to optimise all processes - including those related to controlling - and minimise the resulting costs. This 'networked' working method also facilitates the reorganisation of operational communication processes based on modern media and their integration with lasting effect into controlling processes. As a result, the BI system's action management can be linked to, for example, Outlook's task management. In this way, immediate actions which play an important role within risk management can be initiated at short notice.

Focus on risk management

Active risk management is important if the previously described potential is to be fully utilised. Deviations from the plan can only be rapidly countered if clear measures have been defined in advance. Qurius considers risk management a key guarantee of success in these economically difficult times. Proactive, systematic and holistic risk management is a must if acute difficulties are to be avoided and crises are to be more confidently overcome. However, this mindset must first take hold within corporate management.

Purely reactive risk management, on the other hand, has already been an implicit part of corporate control for a long time. In industry and trade, the focus has mainly been on meeting statutory regulations, such as those relating to fire prevention or occupational safety, or constraints imposed by insurance companies. However, the response is usually only forthcoming when the company already finds itself in an immediate emergency situation to a greater or lesser extent.

The holistic risk management recommended by Qurius is the opposite of this outdated method. As part of an overarching approach, strategic risk management represents the integrative foundations of the risk management process as a whole. The risk management tool maps the entire opportunity and risk management process and increases risk transparency across the company, thereby helping to secure the company's future.

Scenarios as tried-and-tested "crisis helpers"

Optimal risk management can be practised when the underlying future developments take various scenarios into account. Differentiated responses to deviations from plan can then be achieved.

Scenario-based planning emerged at the start of the seventies when Royal Dutch Shell became one of the first companies to extend traditional forecasting through systematic consideration of possible future states or 'scenarios'. This allowed Shell to overcome the first oil crisis better than all other companies in its industry and even emerge from it stronger in comparison to its competitors.

Working with scenarios involved a great deal of effort then and was very time and resource-consuming. BI systems have particularly benefited from the rapid development of information technology and the resulting enormous increase in computing power. Highly complex analysis of large volumes of data is considered standard nowadays. This benefits the implementation of high-quality planning solutions, including scenarios. Taking internal and external historical market data as the basis, future trends can now be forecast with minimal effort. As a result, these benefits are now available to not only multinational companies, but also small and medium-sized businesses.

Networked working throughout the BI process

Holistic consideration of complex BI solutions and their lasting integration into a company's daily workflows are solid pillars of support in these difficult economic times. Strategic and comprehensive corporate management based on an overarching BI solution is a key success factor in a highly competitive market. Qurius uses this approach to help companies achieve the best long-term market position and thereby generate sustained success.

References

Well-known companies with a global reach, such as Beiersdorf AG, Nemetschek AG and Robinson Club GmbH, rely on Qurius BI:

Beiersdorf AG, with brands such as NIVEA, 8x4 and Labello, is the most renowned skin and beauty care product brand in Germany. The company is pursuing the integration of growth and revenue initiatives and additional strategic plans into a comprehensive financial model for Beiersdorf's end-consumer business. The BI solution will be implemented in the future to gather strategic and financial plans, implement the integrated financial model and support strategic analysis and decision-making.

For more than 40 years, Nemetschek AG (based in Munich, Germany) has been one of the leading information technology providers for the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) sector. More than 270,000 customers in 142 countries work with the company's innovative products. The Allplan division is in the process of mapping the controlling and planning processes at head office and in the national companies using a BI solution and a comprehensive reporting solution.

Robinson Club GmbH, a "World of TUI" company based in Hanover, is the market leader in the German premium club-holiday sector. The company set up a new planning and analysis system in the Human Resources, Controlling and Sales Control divisions in 2008. The continuous expansion of the existing system will enable it to be put to use in many different divisions.

In profile: Qurius N.V.

Qurius provides technology answers: design, architecture, infrastructure, deployment and systems management of Microsoft-based business and IT solutions. Headquartered in Zaltbommel, the Netherlands, we serve customers across Europe, including Belgium, Germany and Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. In 2010, we openly declared a target of 100 per cent sustainability by 2014. A bold objective, designed to drive the company to European leadership in the field of sustainable ICT. We aim to be the number one choice for customers with the same ambition and the same sustainability goals. Qurius has been publicly quoted on Euronext Amsterdam since 1998. For more information, visit www.qurius.com.