B EYE

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a global leader in the consumer goods industry with a portfolio of some of the most well-known brands in the world. I have been working for the company’s financial excellence for over 13 years. In my current position, I work with Financial Planning and Analytics (FP&A) to improve data quality and reporting capabilities. I overlook the implementation of new tools to provide accuracy, flexibility, and effectiveness to the company’s FP&A processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

We needed to build a centralized reporting system for all financial matters. We have a very complex internal processes structure with regional specifics which makes it a challenge to collect and analyze data. Our original tools were inefficient and very time-consuming to use. Too much time was spent on data crunching instead of analyzing. The processes between the different continents was disjointed, so we needed a comprehensive “central hub” type of solution that would manage the financial planning globally, by gathering the data from various platforms, harmonizing and enriching the data, and making it ready for the team to use.

The next steps are to enrich and complement the solution with additional capabilities following the end goal to have different levels of transparency for different departments and positions, while connecting data globally and to be able to base our decision-making process on existing data insights.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We used to have a different vendor in the beginning but decided to move to a team augmentation work mode instead of the project-based one. So we decided to work with B EYE as we heard good feedback and the company and we were also opening an office in Bulgaria.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We work in an agile mode, and the roadmap is still in the development phase – we adjust it as we progress with digital transformation and according to how our priorities change. It is an ongoing engagement, where we keep improving the original developments but also start building new reporting systems. We started by developing the forecasting capabilities, which now work well in the background. We then moved to the next priority which is OPEX and P&A simulation for commercial and finance teams.

The B EYE team has very strong technical knowledge, they complement our in-house team well, sharing ideas and figuring out the optimal way to deliver the work. Because of the nature of the organization, we have to gradually move forward with the project development and the team is helping a lot to ensure smooth adoption.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One Senior Anaplan Developers and additional Senior & Junior Developpers to perform support during Forecasting exercises

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have accomplished great things together. We significantly improved data quality and provided the necessary support to the users. The users are happy and the company is moving in the right direction. The B EYE team is currently working on an OPEX project proposal which will be a great next step in our development. Together with B EYE we ensured that there is a single process for everyone, and drastically improved the efficiency of our organization both time-wise and efficiency-wise.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Clarity and transparency with the B EYE team are great. The communication runs smoothly, and we feel like they are a part of our internal team.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The technical knowledge is answering our needs very well and is exactly what we wanted. We have brainstorming sessions, where the team proposes ideas. It is important to us that they don’t just implement what we tell them, but ensure that the work is performed in the most efficient way and up to a great standard. As a business person, I cannot work with someone who would keep asking detailed technical questions. I need someone who autonomously tries and proposes new things and doesn’t need me to get into the technical details. And B EYE does that very well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I would say there is anything at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a global leader in the life sciences industry and one of the biggest innovators on the global market. As a senior supply chain manager, I am responsible for developing and executing supply chain end-to-end processes and solutions, coordinating the projects between the business stakeholders and vendors. I serve as a single point of contact for complex analytical projects and participate in the whole process from requirements gathering to user testing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

One of the projects B EYE completed for us was the automation of our inventory entitlement analytics. The business wanted to calculate the optimal inventory targets for finished goods, raw materials, WIP. We needed a clear and timely overview of our inventory in all of our locations.

Before, we did not have a clear way to calculate the optimal inventory target. We asked B EYE to provide us with a clear and easily accessible way to view the required and actual number of units for each site so that we could optimize the inventory space and budget.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have worked with B EYE on some previous projects. The team has in-depth knowledge in the supply chain area and a profound understanding of our business. The team always responds quickly to all requests and questions facilitating the timely delivery of the project.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

For this project, the goal was to combine data from different sources and systems and create a timely overview of our global inventory of hundreds of products. B EYE created a dashboard that automates the calculation of the inventory level targets for finished goods and compares it to the real product availability on site.

The system takes into account factors like market demand, lead time, supply chain interruptions, etc. to estimate the ideal target of units per facility. The target ensures that we have enough products ready to be shipped to meet our customers’ demand. The actual inventory levels were then benchmarked against the targets monthly providing a clear picture of the performance per location and enabling the supply chain and planning teams to make informed data-driven decisions.

The solution developed by B EYE saves many hours of manual work and makes the data that was previously spread across multiple sources more easily accessible. Using this new tool, our team is able to increase the frequency of inventory target reviews from quarterly to monthly, vastly increasing the agility of the planning process, which is very beneficial, especially given the strain on supply chains brought on by the pandemic.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Three – a Senior Qlik Developer, a Qlik Developer, and a Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A time-consuming manual process is now done automatically with minimal effort from our team. The project saves a lot of work hours, gives us more timely data and more flexibility in our decision-making process. It also contributes to increased transparency – more team members can easily access the data at any point in time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project worked really well. There were more departments involved hence a broader group to communicate with. The B EYE team did a good job aligning the goals and processes between the technical and the business teams. I am happy with how we have been working together.

The team has great in-depth knowledge of both our business and the supply chain area, which saved a lot of time that would have been spent on explaining how things work in our industry.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The level of business knowledge is certainly impressive and is extremely helpful when solving complex challenges. The team has outstanding technical skills. Those qualities combined help them create scalable solutions on a global level. The team is very proactive and strives to find solutions to issues even before the business finds the issues. They always come up with several options to solve the problem and that is very impressive

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Internal testing could be expanded to testing more aspects of the applications.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a global medical device manufacturing company, continuously innovating and improving lives globally. As a Senior Finance Manager, I am responsible for providing financial support for Distribution, Global Supply Chain, and Inventory Accounting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

Due to the complex nature of our products and overall supply chain, product rationalization has always been a challenge. Many of our products are built by a multitude of components and subcomponents, many of which are reused across product lines. Identifying which components need to be scrapped and which ones can be reused in alternative products was an extremely time-consuming and heavily manual process.

Our ERP system does not provide a comprehensive view of the product structure, especially when multiple products are rationalized at once. We did not have the tool to give us a complete overview of the inventory and help us plan future demand of the existing products that we would want to discontinue.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

B EYE completed multiple projects for us, all to a great standard of technical expertise and business knowledge – we had mutual trust and a long-term collaboration history. We wanted to implement this project in Qlik and we knew the team had a lot of experience with the platform. We got an expert team from B EYE who already knew our data and were reliable.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The complexity of the project lies with the size and depth of our product portfolio. B EYE managed to build a tool allowing us to quickly and effortlessly get a view into all the components used in a single or multiple products and identify which of the components are specific to the products being rationalized and which ones are shared across other items.

Removing the manual work to generate this report meant we can perform this analysis more often and more accurately increasing our agility. The project required many iterations and scope updates as we were discovering multiple corner cases and exceptions that needed to be covered. B EYE’s team was flexible and accommodated all the necessary changes. Together we built a comprehensive product rationalization tool that will bring value for years to come.

The project was recently released into production and I am very happy with the results. During the development, we maxed out the capabilities of Qlik View and B EYE helped us migrate to Qlik Sense. The team was a pleasure to work with and a great partner for us throughout the whole journey.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Two – Senior Qlik Developer, Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The timesaving the application provides is tremendous. The process used to take a lot of manual work, as our ERP system could not provide the level of detail we needed. Now, a report takes 2 minutes and gives us information for all component levels (including subcomponents). Besides the time saved, we now have full visibility of hard-to-obtain data, available at any time. The data is now readily available for the business unit to do their analytics.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow worked really well. The deliverables were always on time, the response time to queries and feedback implementation were timely as well. The team quickly made the necessary changes. Because the team already knew our data and they were subject matter experts, the progress was great – we didn’t have to explain our data and process, the expertise was already there.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team was awesome to work with. They were creative in their technical approach and proposed unconventional solutions. They also have in-depth expertise in the supply chain field and our business, which makes communication more efficient. I was also impressed by the capabilities the team has in Qlik View and Qlik Sense. The application shows the entire company data end-to-end, and the performance of the system is great. I think B EYE put together the right team for this project. And that worked really well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Because of the complexity of the project, sometimes I think meetings would be more efficient than emails.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an international demand management director for a multinational medicine company. Our company is a world leader in its field with more than a century of industry experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

Our company was working on several interconnected Anaplan models, part of an Integrated Business Planning project. IBP is a process led by senior management that evaluates and revises time-phased projections for demand, supply, product and portfolio changes, strategic projects, and the resulting financial plans.

We hired B EYE as a vendor with Anaplan expertise to work on the Integrated Business Planning frame, focusing on our Demand and Financial planning processes.

What were your goals for this project?

A primary objective of Integrated Business Planning is to reach a consensus on a single operating plan to which executives of the management team hold themselves accountable. We were aiming to allocate the critical resources of people, equipment, materials, time, and money to most effectively meet the needs of our customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select B EYE?

We got a reference from one of our colleagues who has worked with B EYE in his previous company. He recommended B EYE because of their expertise, speed and agility.

We first hired their team for a small project. We were pleased with the results and decided to continue to work with them on various other projects that we had in our pipeline.

Describe the project in detail.

We conducted a series of on-site workshops to gather the user stories and align on the needs and integration of the different IBP process parts. The B EYE team worked on wireframing and mock-up development during the workshop phase.

Once we agreed on the user stories and had a green light for development, we had ongoing progress review and scope review sessions to ensure we are building models corresponding to the current needs of the project.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two experienced consultants/developers. We had regular calls, email exchanges, and on-site workshops.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Instead of spending time and energy debating which plan to follow, all stakeholders agree on one plan. They also understand their role in accomplishing that plan's goals.

Integrated Business Planning enables companies to incorporate insights from supply chain projections, financial projects, and strategic plans. The availability of Daily and Weekly opportunity planning features allowed us to adjust our planning and react to the constantly changing and challenging situation created by the global COVID pandemic.

Another set of features that turned out particularly important are the commercial/operational sales reports generated for the global and local finance teams. These reports give the most flexible and granular review of the P&L process and sales rolling forecast.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was straightforward to communicate with the consultants. We could reach them at any time through various channels like email, chat, phone, or scheduled conference meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The best things about B EYE are the technical expertise of their team, their business processes understanding, responsiveness, and how easy it is to work with them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Something we would like to see in our future collaboration with B EYE is to spend more time on sharing good industry and technical practices.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Associate Director, Business Effectiveness EMEA for a multinational pharmaceutical company. Our company has about 4000 employees and sells its products in more than 50 countries worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

We were using MI touch CRM from IQVIA offering very poor analytics. In order to give the visibility from the Sales teams to the management, we decided to use a dedicated analytics tool and hired B EYE to help us transform our data into meaningful insights.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to show to our sales force how they were achieving plans and help them to drive their priorities in terms of customer visits. We also implemented coaching and digital reporting activities to better understand the behaviors.

SOLUTION

How did you select B EYE?

Our team searched for a company that provides business intelligence (BI) solutions. We identified companies and after consulting with their sales and project teams, we ranked them based on their track record and cost-effectiveness. B EYE stood out.

I had a very good experience with the team in my previous experience in a Medical Device company and was confident about the team understanding about the Pharma industry.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected B EYE, we had a series of discovery meetings with their consultants and a project manager, where we discussed our goals and objectives. Soon after that, we received the first mock-up of our dashboard. After we signed off on the mock-up, their team started the development of the actual tool.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager and two experienced consultants/developers. We had regular calls with them, on which we discussed the project’s progress and addressed any outstanding topics.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

By transforming and visualizing our data, the dashboards that B EYE created helped us in tracking and evaluating our employees' activity at all sales hierarchy levels – from the sales representatives to the national sales managers.

Now we can easily see all of the key performance indicators of our employees, such as the number of calls made in a certain period, the number of customers visited, and the number of customers in the different categories. This helps us in keeping track of the achievements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was straightforward to communicate with the project manager and the consultants. We had regular calls to discuss the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The best thing about the company is its employees’ expertise in data analytics, responsiveness and ease to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were some cases where changes in the data sources resulted in errors in the calculations in the dashboards. We would have benefitted from more automation on the data quality front, so we did not need to verify the data manually. Work can always be done faster, but overall, the quality of the final product is what is essential for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are one of the world’s largest specialized medicine companies with more than a century of industry experience. We develop, manufacture, and distribute world-class products to help patients around the globe. As Commercial Applications Manager, I am responsible for delivering global applications roadmap and formulating BI and data strategy together with business stakeholders and IT leadership.

My day-to-day work includes promoting and expanding the use of existing BI solutions, identifying the need, and assessing feasibility for new applications, managing project implementation to answer internal customer needs, working closely with business stakeholders in defining project objectives and requirements, and ensuring smooth operations of the scoped applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire B EYE?

One of the projects B EYE completed for us was Statistical Forecasting modeling. We had the need for more flexibility in forecasting our data, supported by different forecasting techniques. We asked B EYE to replace our legacy forecasting system, and to replicate and improve the forecasting methods in the new system.

B EYE needed to work with the users to determine their needs and KPIs and create clear and concise documentation for the project. It was important for our users to keep the highest data quality and desired functionality in order to be able to do their work without interruptions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Many vendors would try the approach of telling us how to redesign our business, how to change our process, so they could work in it comfortably. B EYE was willing to analyze the requirements and the existing systems and develop an approach that fits our business, not the other way around.

The team respects the opinion of their clients and delivers top-notch results. B EYE is also cost-efficient. They deliver great value for the money, especially compared to other vendors.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project focused on delivering a flexible solution that would replace the old statistical forecasting system used by our team. It had to be capable of delivering a 3-year plan for the full product portfolio of the Demand Management teams with a wide variety of statistical methods, allowing the users to work with the optimal forecast for best planning performance.

The project started off with the Demand Management teams sharing their requirements on how the system can recreate and even improve the process they are dealing with on a monthly basis. Afterwards, B EYE proposed the agile approach for delivering the project in stages, so that our team can be actively involved in the delivery process.

The team was testing the new functionalities as soon as they were ready and were giving feedback on the spot.After the development stage, we had an ongoing User Acceptance Testing with every team member that would eventually be a part of the new process. That’s how B EYE made sure the system is exactly what it needs to be. After passing the UAT, the model was released and has been used ever since.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One - Senior Model Builder and Anaplan Solution Architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The users have one platform to diminish unnecessary back-and-forth communication and unify every step of their demand process through reliable statistical forecasts. This brought the entire process to a far lower delivery time. Additionally, the system allows traceability of the previous cycles so the demand process can have a structured decision-making process based on facts and data.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

B EYE team was very responsive at every stage of project execution and reacted quickly to all requests. They were patient when gathering the requirements and where able to explain the concepts and answer questions coming their way. The team was always available to help with any questions we had. They proactively suggested ideas and helped us make data-based decisions.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

B EYE takes the work a step further - they not only do what they are told to do, but they also do their best to satisfy the customer, to deliver the optimal value, and to make sure everything runs smoothly.

We were very impressed with the level of business knowledge of the team and how fast they picked up the complexity of our business. The team also showed a high degree of technical skills - their technical suggestions for enhancements were always spot-on and widely used by our teams.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The right balance between support (handled by B EYE as well) and project work should be developed.