Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., gets a handle on its sales information and saves time on reporting by implementing Epicor Business Intelligence to analyze data from the firm's Epicor Enterprise system.
As a maker of research tools used to detect signaling abnormalities associated with cancer and other diseases, Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., has a number of complex technology needs. Not only does the 110-employee manufacturer require advanced research equipment to create the antibodies used to detect protein levels, but it also needs a reliable way to record, track and monitor the sales of its innovative products.
From the time it was founded in 1997, Beverly, Mass.-based Cell Signaling Technology relied on its accounting department to generate spreadsheets every month for its 700 different products. Historical comparisons were difficult, since the reports could only capture one month at a time. Comparing sales in October 2004 versus October 2003, for example, meant opening two spreadsheets, then copying and pasting information to track the trends over time.
"We needed a better way of tracking and understanding product sales," says Eric Scharf, director of marketing. "We want to know what's selling and what isn't, and which lines are selling faster than others."
Such information is critical to tracking the success of sales promotions and specific Web sites used by the firm's distributors, whose end users include basic cancer researchers, oncologists and pathologists. Scharf says the company also wanted to be able to tie in its Epicor customer relationship management (CRM) and Financials into the equation to create a seamless system.
Cell Signaling Technology solved its problem with Epicor's Business Intelligence DecisionStore, a central repository for significant data collected by transactional applications, and formulated specifically for multi-dimensional analysis. The firm installed the solution in 2003 and selected Epicor because the manufacturer was already using the software vendor's back-end solutions.
In addition to Scharf, other key users within the firm include the production vice president, who closely monitors which products are selling and which are not, both in terms of revenue and units sold. "Before, if we wanted to look at sales six months prior and six months after a specific advertisement, we had to go through 12 different spreadsheets – one for each month," Scharf explains. "Now we can easily pull up those results on one screen in just a few minutes."
Scharf says Epicor Business Intelligence has helped Cell Signaling Technology gain time savings and break down its sales numbers in a manner never before possible. With about 40 distributors nationwide, company executives can look at each one's production over the last three years by product line – something Scharf has wanted to do for years.
"I asked the accounting department for this information a few years ago and they said 'no way, that would take forever,'" Scharf recalls. "Now we're not only generating analyses that were previously unavailable, but we're also saving five or six man hours on the basic reports that were once handled manually."
Overall, Scharf says he's pleased with the solution, which is particularly useful when he sits down with international distributors to pore over sales production numbers and expectations. "In the past I would not have been able to see what they were buying from us, and each distributor's sales patterns," says Scharf. "Now, I can look at the big picture and see exactly how they're doing."
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