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Marks and Spencer Empowers Business Analysts with Spotfire
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Applicable Industries
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Sales & Marketing
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Retail giant Marks and Spencer wanted to empower its business analysts to learn more about the business and use that knowledge for better decision-making. They aimed to improve the productivity of the organization, particularly focusing on IT. This included optimizing the number of people working on projects and improving the speed at which solutions could be delivered. M&S started looking for a solution that would supply self-service data access and empower employees to confidently use data to answer key business questions without IT support.
About The Customer
Marks and Spencer (M&S) is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in London, England. It specializes in selling clothing, home products, and food products, many of which are under its own label. M&S is known for its high-quality products and has a significant presence in the UK retail market. The company has been focusing on digital transformation to enhance its business operations and customer experience. With a large workforce and numerous stores, M&S aims to leverage data and analytics to drive better decision-making and improve overall productivity.
The Solution
As the search for the right analytics tool ensued, several requirements surfaced, and it soon became clear that TIBCO Spotfire was the right choice. M&S wanted its analysts to mashup data sources—data warehouses, Hadoop databases, spreadsheets—without needing IT assistance. The solution also had to be easy to support, needing low headcount and overhead. Agility was also important, as M&S needed to understand the current situation and quickly share analyses. Data visualization was crucial because it helps people understand the information without needing to interpret it. Spotfire enabled this by allowing users to create data visualizations, publish them, and ensure they are automatically refreshed and always available for decision-making.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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