IBM today announced that Pernod Ricard Asia, co-leader in wines and spirits sector worldwide, is using IBM Big Data and Analytics technology to improve marketing intelligence and reduce reporting and query response time by more than 50 percent.
This is providing the management team with updated information to make decisions quickly.
Pernod Ricard has established itself as number one in the Premium segment. In Asia, the company operates in 13 markets through local affiliates and focuses on sustainable growth through a large portfolio of international brands. They also execute a high-end strategy, known as Premiumisation - essentially meaning the ability to establish quality and uniqueness of a brand. Pernod Ricard Asia's regional data warehouse, through generating fast and accurate performance reporting across countries, brands and even stock keeping units, is one of the key information systems supporting the implementation of this strategy across Asia.
"Brand distribution in Asia is challenging because consumer purchasing habits can change rapidly," said Joanna Tsang, Data Warehouse Manager, Pernod Ricard Asia. "In order to continue growth in the region, it is critical for us to remain up to speed with the latest marketing intelligence and IBM's Big Data and Analytics technology allows us to do that."
Since it was established in 1998 Pernod Ricard Asia's data warehouse has grown to more than two terabytes. This is a result of the growth of new markets and data sources, additions to the brand portfolio as well as the normal accumulation of data over time.
By 2011, the company had reached the point where it was a real challenge to meet user expectations, with the existing data warehouse system taking more than 12 hours to complete the daily batch processing and reporting cycle. System response time to business intelligence queries were also a problem for supporting the 1,000 business analysts and users across the region.
IBM's PureData System for Analytics powered by Netezza technology improved Pernod Ricard Asia's processes significantly - speeding data loading time by over 50 percent, and generating reports 60 percent faster. For example, rather than having to wait until the middle of the afternoon, the company's top management now has the daily volume report, which consolidates data from all 13 markets, available first thing in the morning - giving them transparency of business performance in a timely manner.
Pernod Ricard Asia adopted a country-by-country approach to migrate the data warehouse to the new environment, ensuring any issues were properly ironed out without impacting the whole operation.
Tsang added, "IBM did an excellent job of supporting our team and sharing best practices - particularly with the highly unstructured nature of Thai script and non-standard traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan."
"With IBM's PureData System for Analytics technology in place, Pernod Ricard Asia's leadership team can now get the insight they need into the latest market developments," said Gordon Sit, Executive, Software Group, IBM China/Hong Kong Limited. "We are committed to ensuring they continue to remain a leader in their industry."
