Like many firms, Finland-based F-Secure, a vendor of antivirus and intrusion-prevention tools, found it was struggling to manage huge amounts of data stored across disparate systems. To tackle the problem, it decided to look for a flexible reporting tool that could be used across the enterprise.
After looking at several options, the firm chose ReportNet from business intelligence (BI) tools vendor Cognos. One reason for the choice was that Cognos already supplied F-Secure with tools - PowerPlay for analysis; and DecisionStream to extract data from SAP and Siebel systems - so it was relatively easy to integrate the system with its other BI software, says Esa Martonen, chief information officer at F-Secure. This enabled the first reports to be generated just a few weeks after F-Secure chose the product.
Previously, F-Secure's managers had been using a number of applications, including Microsoft Excel and Access, to track information and produce reports. The absence of a single unified system meant there were often disagreements over whose reports were the most accurate.
"Discussion was not on the correct level - it was difficult to steer the whole ship," says Martonen. "The most important reason for choosing ReportNet software was that we all needed to speak the same language and have a standard reporting tool."
Martonen says the implementation went very smoothly, partly thanks to the expertise of a local Finnish partner with experience of a range of Cognos products. This partner was able to give hands-on advice to the company and enabled F-Secure to avoid mistakes the partner had seen in the past. "We also trained specialists in using the product for one or two weeks, which was helpful as it enabled a fast rollout," says Martonen.
Because ReportNet consolidates all of F-Secure's sales reporting requirements in a single system, senior managers now spend more time productively analysing figures and improving the business, rather than arguing about whether the figures are correct, says Martonen.
Martonen also praises the speed and usability of the ReportNet system. Because it is web-based, business data is available online and in real time from any location. "It is very easy now to create reports and to do it quite quickly," he says. "Reporting is a continuous process and it's important to be able to respond quickly to changes."
The new software has also enabled a specialist business unit to assume all reporting responsibilities, where in the past it was the job of an information systems unit, which also dealt with data integration. Martonen says the information systems unit can now con- centrate its efforts fully on data integration and it has already been able to collect more data from more sources as a result.
For the future, F-Secure plans to extend the tools for financial reporting and cost reporting.
Summary
Antivirus vendor F-Secure has deployed Cognos's ReportNet suite as a single, standardised reporting system for its sales performance worldwide.
It says the system makes it easier for business users to bring together data from many sources to create and amend reports.
