Clarity Systems Showcases Success at Microsoft Heroes of Innovation Event
Microsoft chooses Clarity Systems and Grand & Toy as Canadian technology innovators for leveraging Microsoft-based technologies to help increase productivity and competitivenes
TORONTO, ON (February 1, 2005) – Clarity Systems, a world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management (CPM), in partnership with Grand & Toy, will be showcasing the success of its BI and e-commerce implementations at Microsoft’s Heroes of Innovation event in Toronto, February 2, 2005.
Gold Certified Microsoft Partner Clarity Systems and Grand & Toy were chosen as technology innovation leaders resulting from their business intelligence and e-commerce implementations at Grand & Toy; the latter which earned Clarity a finalist position at the 2004 Microsoft IMPACT Awards.
“Microsoft-based technology gives us the necessary tools to help anticipate customer needs and provide better service, making us more competitive in a very aggressive business retail marketplace,” says John Melodysta, chief information officer, Grand & Toy. “With over 50 per cent of our business now conducted over the Web, it is crucial that we stay current with IT in order to continue serving customers the best way possible as we move forward.”
“Customers are telling us they need tools that enable them to help reduce network complexity, so they can develop proactive business solutions that help increase worker productivity, provide exceptional customer service, and improve operational efficiencies,” said Jordan Chrysafidis, director, Windows Server System, Microsoft Canada Co. “The integrated innovation of the Microsoft Windows Server System and the extensive technology partner ecosystem helps customers focus less on managing network infrastructure, and more on using IT as a competitive business advantage for their organizations.”
To date Clarity Systems has implemented five key business intelligence solutions at Grand & Toy:
- Grand & Toy used Clarity Performance Management to help it improve its Budgeting by shortening its budgeting cycle and reducing the amount of effort required to manage and execute it.
- It has improved its Sales Forecasting system, making it possible to handle greater detail and manage changes to the sales structure more easily
- It was able to build a reporting tool showing Call Centre statistics in customer turnaround times through the Telephony@Work platform
- It was able to implement innovations such as an early warning system for customer defections to manage the performance of this key part of its business including Customer Reporting and Relationship Management
- It has implemented a structured Data Warehouse solution by automating the process to feed the data through the warehouse to report on Calrity Performance Management
Clarity also helped develop grandandtoy.com, an application incorporating streamlined ordering functionality, enhanced inventory monitoring, product searching capabilities, and a user-friendly design. Customers manage their procurement needs from searching, ordering, order status, shipping, and returns, all within a single integrated application. Grandandtoy.com continues to be a success for Grand & Toy with over 50 per cent of company sales conducted through the site.
“Clarity is thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase the work it has done in partnership with Grand & Toy and Microsoft,” says Frank Pizzolato, chief operating officer, Clarity Systems. “Being recognized by Microsoft as a Canadian innovator of technology demonstrates that Clarity Systems is leading the corporate performance management space with its corporate performance management solution, Clarity Performance Management.”
About Microsoft Canada Co.
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Microsoft Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario with MSN.CA offices located in Toronto, and eight regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Visit Microsoft Canada's Web site at www.microsoft.ca.
About Clarity Systems
Clarity Systems delivers superior Corporate Performance Management software solutions for financial budgeting, planning, forecasting, consolidation, analytics and financial statement reporting to a large, global client base. With a rich feature set, Clarity 6 and Clarity FSR are unified applications that offer the flexibility, security, and control needed to make more informed business decisions while meeting compliance requirements. Named as one of Profit’s 100 fastest growing companies and a Branham 300 top 100 IT company, Clarity Systems continues to lead the industry as the independent CPM specialist. For more information, please visit our website at www.claritysystems.com or call us at 1-877-410-5070.
For more information, please contact:
Dave Paolini, Communications Manager
Clarity Systems Limited
416-250-5500 ext. 417
Toll free: 1-877-410-5070 ext. 417
dpaolini@claritysystems.com
