Microsoft SQL Server Customer Solution Case Study Analytics Firm Develops Business Intelligence Solution for Retailers and Retail Property Overview Country or Region: United Kingdom Industry: Retail and distribution—Retail property Customer Profile Experian FootFall is a leading provider of visitor and site analytics and one of the world’s largest and most experienced providers of measured and audited shopper behaviour. Business Situation The firm wanted to transform its retail reporting solution into a dynamic analytics system delivering real-time business intelligence through rich user interfaces. Solution Microsoft Partner Hitachi Consulting redesigned its infrastructure, basing it on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Benefits Rich user interfaces provide insight into performance Growth is easily accommodated Partner helps ensure fast time to market Multilanguage solution supports international customers “Experian FootFall supports multiple languages and currencies. This means we can cater for existing international customers and increase our share of local markets.” Mike Roberts, Director of Product Management and Development, Experian FootFall Experian FootFall wanted to ensure its flagship solution—Site Analytics—could respond to new challenges faced by high- street retailers and organisations involved in retail property. Working with Microsoft Partner Hitachi Consulting, it is replacing the existing Oracle and Business Objects environment with an integrated architecture based on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise data management software and PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This flexible, multilanguage architecture answers retailers’ and property owners’ demands for business intelligence (BI), helping them optimise store performance and sales. Hitachi Consulting designed the solution to help Experian FootFall rapidly respond to future market requirements, and take advantage of new technologies to enhance its customer offering.
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Microsoft SQL ServerCustomer Solution Case Study
Analytics Firm Develops Business Intelligence Solution for Retailers and Retail Property
OverviewCountry or Region: United KingdomIndustry: Retail and distribution—Retail property
Customer ProfileExperian FootFall is a leading provider of visitor and site analytics and one of the world’s largest and most experienced providers of measured and audited shopper behaviour.
Business SituationThe firm wanted to transform its retail reporting solution into a dynamic analytics system delivering real-time business intelligence through rich user interfaces.
SolutionMicrosoft Partner Hitachi Consulting redesigned its infrastructure, basing it on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
Benefits Rich user interfaces provide insight
into performance Growth is easily accommodated Partner helps ensure fast time to
market Multilanguage solution supports
international customers
“Experian FootFall supports multiple languages and currencies. This means we can cater for existing international customers and increase our share of local markets.”
Mike Roberts, Director of Product Management and Development, Experian FootFall
Experian FootFall wanted to ensure its flagship solution—Site Analytics—could respond to new challenges faced by high-street retailers and organisations involved in retail property. Working with Microsoft Partner Hitachi Consulting, it is replacing the existing Oracle and Business Objects environment with an integrated architecture based on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise data management software and PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This flexible, multilanguage architecture answers retailers’ and property owners’ demands for business intelligence (BI), helping them optimise store performance and sales. Hitachi Consulting designed the solution to help Experian FootFall rapidly respond to future market requirements, and take advantage of new technologies to enhance its customer offering.
SituationExperian FootFall provides analytics services to support performance monitoring and improvement for retail stores in more than 45 countries. Site Analytics is a web application that collects data related to site performance and transforms it into business intelligence for retail operations directors. For example, the platform provides data on the number of people that visit a store, the day of the week they visit, and the areas within the store that they go to. With this data, retail organisations can increase the efficiency and profitability of their sites by placing items in certain areas and ensuring they allocate staff for busy periods.
The company was one of the first to market with a reporting solution in this area and has enjoyed its status as a leader in the sector for more than 10 years. But although the original solution helped Experian FootFall establish this position, it recognised that a new approach was needed to increase the value provided to customers. This prompted the company to rethink its service offering, so it approached some of its major customers to find out what they wanted from a solution.
Mike Roberts, Director of Product Management and Development at Experian FootFall, says: “In the current economic climate, retailers face significant challenges. It’s not enough for them to be presented with retrospective performance data. They need real-time information that alerts them to problems and provides insight into the variables that directly affect sales, efficiency, and profitability in their stores.”
Experian FootFall decided to differentiate itself from the competition by creating a solution that went beyond static reports to provide retailers with a complete business intelligence solution. Roberts says: “We wanted to support customers with functionality that allowed them to configure analytics and reports for their specific needs.” The project signalled a new direction for the business and represented significant investment. Roberts sought development proposals from several IT partners to help create the solution and meet the company’s demanding technical requirements. “We knew what functionality we needed to deliver and didn’t want to be constrained by technology,” he says. The firm wanted integration with third-party systems, for customers to create unique report configurations, and a multilanguage capability for customers in different countries. Experian FootFall was also keen to take advantage of new technologies to offer a secure, rich user experience.
SolutionExperian FootFall chose to work with Microsoft Partner Hitachi Consulting because of its expertise and history of creating innovative solutions for the retail sector. To address the company’s requirements for a scalable multilanguage architecture, Hitachi Consulting designed a retail intelligence system based on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise data management software and PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
The solution was built in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 development system,
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with Hitachi Consulting customising Web Parts for various online services. Roberts says: “We evaluated several technologies, including Business Objects and Oracle, but chose the Microsoft solution because it offered the greatest flexibility for customisation. We also get the security of the Microsoft roadmap for solution development.”The Experian FootFall solution is delivered as a service over the Internet and users access the application through clients on their personal computers. Hitachi Consulting based the user interfaces on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, the Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in, and Bing Maps. Mark Hill, Vice President Business Intelligence Practice, Hitachi Consulting, says: “The advantage of using Microsoft solutions is that we could customise and integrate different components with the user interface. For example, integrating Bing Maps with SharePoint Server meant we could create a dynamic, geographical view of information at-a-glance. Users can click on a store location to get basic performance data or access full interactive dashboards, scorecards, reports, and key performance indicator tools.”
The scope of analysis is extensive, and retail organisations can customise the Experian FootFall solution to provide them with intelligence across their entire portfolios. For example, they can configure data sets to include details such as visitor counts, queue lengths, point-of-sale data, and promotions monitoring to provide insight into the variables affecting efficiency and profitability. They can also set-up alerts and receive notifications at predefined intervals. Roberts says: “Security is crucial. Hitachi
Consulting configured the solution so users receive only the data appropriate to their role and permission status.”
Hitachi Consulting managed the development project in addition to providing strategic support and transferring knowledge to the in-house IT team. It coordinated its United Kingdom (U.K.) and India resources to ensure that testing and development phases were completed on time and within budget. “The Hitachi Consulting technical team’s experience in a retail environment was clear to us from the start. It understood our business needs and was highly competent at all times,” says Roberts.
BenefitsExperian FootFall has created a competitive, specialist solution that answers its customers’ needs for retail business intelligence. Roberts says: “At every stage of development, the Hitachi Consulting team worked with us to ensure that we had the right IT infrastructure for our business goals. We’re confident that we’ll continue to grow and support our customers with a competitive retail business intelligence solution.”
Dynamic User Experience Differentiates the Product from Competitors’ OfferingsThe graphical user interfaces based on Silverlight and Bing Maps make it possible for retailers to view site performance across their portfolios at-a-glance. For example, they can choose to look at performance at one location or at a group level. They can see if one side of a shop is performing better than another side, and compare this to a similar shop in their portfolio. “The Experian FootFall solution provides
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customers with graphical data analysis and reports that help them to compare performance—boosting efficiency and profitability,” says Roberts.
Hill says: “The difference with this solution is that it’s not just about reporting—it’s about providing retailers with real-time business intelligence.” The differentiation helps Experian FootFall stand out from its competitors.
Scalable Solution Accommodates GrowthExperian FootFall can easily update or integrate new functionality to remain competitive and accommodate an increase in user volumes. Roberts says: “Hitachi Consulting conducted a proof of concept for the design, which proved to us that the solution could easily meet our demands for resilience, performance, and flexibility. The data warehouse currently holds around 1 terabyte of data, and we expect this to grow at around 100 megabytes a day.”
Partner Expertise Ensures Rapid Time to MarketThe Hitachi Consulting team’s retail insight was crucial in redeveloping the Experian FootFall solution to include the analytics required. “Our approach was to provide strategic guidance and thought leadership to the company so that the solution could meet and exceed its business vision,” says Hill. Hitachi Consulting designed the solution to support future operations easily. “Experian FootFall needs the flexibility to take advantage of emerging technology to
respond to market initiatives and requirements,” says Hill.
Multilanguage Platform Supports Global ExpansionTo continue to expand its customer base, Experian FootFall needs to deliver its analytics solution in local languages. The first release of the solution is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish. Roberts says: “Experian FootFall supports multiple languages and currencies. This means we can cater for existing international customers and increase our share of local markets.”
Microsoft Server Product PortfolioFor more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx
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For More InformationFor further information about Microsoft products and services, please visit:www.microsoft.com/uk or call 0870 60 10 100*
For hearing impaired customers with a Minicom, contact: 0870 50 30 400**Lines are open 8am–6pm, Monday to Friday. Please note numbers prefixed 0870 will be charged at national call rates. For details of national call rate charges, please contact your telecommunications provider.
For more information about Hitachi Consulting products and services, call or visit the website at: www.hitachiconsulting.co.uk
For more information about Experian FootFall products and services, call or visit the website at:www.footfall.com
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published March 2012
Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
Enterprise Microsoft Visual Studio− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Services− Bing Maps
Technologies− Microsoft Silverlight− PerformancePoint Services in
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
“The difference with this solution is that it’s not just about reporting—it’s about providing retailers with real-time business intelligence.”
Mark Hill, Vice President Business Intelligence Practice, Hitachi Consulting
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