Data Warehousing Stages of Growth

was largely unknown. Today, many companies are receiving considerable business value from their warehousing efforts, as seen in the following examples: ❑ First American Corporation (FAC), a regional bank located in the Southeast, lost $60 million in 1990 and was operating under letters of agreement with regulators. A new senior management team developed a customer intimacy strategy with a data warehouse at the heart of the strategy. Using warehouse data, FAC was able to determine the profitability of all of their clients and products; develop programs to attract, maintain, and enhance their customer base; create profitable new product and service offerings; and redesign their distribution channels to increase profitability and better meet customers’ needs. Data warehousing helped FAC to become a profitable, innovative leader in the financial services industry. ❑ Owens & Minor is the leading distributor of branded medical and surgical supplies and serves thousands of hospitals, integrated healthcare networks, and group purchasing networks. The company purchases nearly 130,000 different products from some 1,400 suppliers and sells them to more than 4,000 hospitals and healthcare providers. In order to identify cost savings opportunities in their large and complex supply chain, a data warehouse was built to analyze sales, inventory, and accounts receivable data, resulting in millions of dollars of savings. The company then gave suppliers and customers access to the warehouse, providing them with up-to-the-minute reporting and analysis of customer sales and usage, product inventory, contracts, pricing, and orders. This information is so valuable that suppliers pay for it. ❑ Whirlpool is the world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of home appliances. Whirlpool manufactures thousands of products, every one with hundreds or thousands of components, in twelve major factories, which are stored in 28 places. Over 16 million appliances a year are sold. A major use of Whirlpool’s data warehouse is to track and analyze everything associated with the appliances that they manufacture, starting DATA WAREHOUSING