Company: Zarlink Semiconductor
Annual Return: 2,742%
Project: Zarlink wanted to protect $20 million it had invested in an SAP enterprise planning system that wasn't delivering reports and information in the ways it wanted. The company chose to install Cognos business intelligence software from its Enterprise BI Series on top of the SAP system. The move allowed Zarlink to consolidate a host of reports from redundant applications and take a single look at data produced by the SAP system. It also gave Zarlink a scorecard of its performance and allowed the company to graphically analyze its operations. Zarlink can better forecast revenue, accounts receivable and inventory—and the SAP system with the Cognos overlay is the sole source of reporting for almost all company information. A goal of the installation, which came amid an industry downturn and declining revenue, was to cut information spending from 8% of revenue to 2.5% of revenue.
Benefits: Zarlink cut technology costs from $19.7 million annually at the start of the project to $7.5 million as of March 2004. Staff was cut from 112 to 34.
