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KPMG and Prism Solutions enhance data warehousing offerings by forming
strategic alliance
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Date: Tuesday, January 28, 1997
Source: Business Wire
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RADNOR, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via Individual Inc. -- Jan. 27, 1997--
KPMG and Prism teaming up to deliver customer-centric
data warehousing solutions
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP today announced that it has formed an alliance with
Prism Solutions Inc., one of the largest providers of scaleable data
warehousing solutions.
Under the terms of the agreement, KPMG will offer and implement Prism's
Scaleable Data Warehousing Solutions software packages nationally. In
addition, KPMG will resell Prism's products, as well as provide training
and service and support for Prism software.
As part of this arrangement, Prism will also participate in KPMG's Client
Mentoring program for developing fast and effective data warehousing
prototypes. Software from Prism Solutions has been installed in KPMG's
Client Mentoring Center (CMC) -- a state-of-the-art data warehousing
laboratory that provides clients a virtually risk-free environment to
design customized data warehousing models, without risking data integrity
and before investing significantly in hardware, software and personnel
resources. KPMG professionals staffing the CMC will be fully trained in
Prism software. Prism consulting services will also be involved in the CMC
on an ad hoc basis depending on the individual needs of clients.
"As a leading data warehousing provider, Prism understands the critical
factors needed for successful data warehousing solutions, and we are
enthusiastic about extending Prism's in-depth knowledge to our clients,"
said Steve Cranford, global partner-in-charge, data warehousing practice
for KPMG Peat Marwick LLP. "With Prism's breadth and depth in data
warehousing development and consulting, this alliance will help us to
deliver best-of-breed data warehousing solutions that meet the business
needs of our clients, particularly within the banking, insurance, retail
and consumer products, and telecommunications industries."
"Our commitment to providing sophisticated tools for building and managing
scaleable data warehouses and marts, combined with KPMG's proven experience
in data warehousing, led us to form this partnership," said William B.
Binch, vice president of North American field operations for Prism
Solutions. "With Prism software, KPMG's data warehousing clients will now
have the tools they need to effectively build their data warehousing
applications quickly, easily and flexibly."
Developing Customer-Centric Data Warehousing
According to Cranford, more and more businesses are recognizing data
warehousing as critical to customer-centric operations. KPMG bases its data
warehousing strategy on customer-centric methodologies that help companies
address the total management of their customer relationships.
Customer-centric data warehousing is critical to industries that must
leverage knowledge of their customers to improve service and sales.
Examples of these industries include: banking, insurance, retail and
consumer products, and telecommunications.
Prism's Scaleable Data Warehousing Solutions
Prism's Scaleable Data Warehousing Solutions provide a flexible approach to
data warehousing or mart initiatives, allowing customers to build on their
initial investment by growing in any direction. Each solution offering
includes the Prism Warehouse Executive and Prism Warehouse Directory
software, which provided integrated capabilities for design, construction
and maintenance of scaleable data warehouses and marts. Prism Warehouse
Executive has an intuitive, graphical user interface and workflow model for
complete support of the warehouse implementation cycle. Prism Warehouse
Directory provides an open platform to integrate and manage both business
and technical meta data about warehouse versions across the enterprise.
Customers can select from a variety of solution packages to match the scope
and requirements of their data warehousing initiatives. The four packages
offered include the Prism Scaleable Data Mart, the Prism Scaleable
Warehouse, the Prism Scaleable Enterprise and the Prism Scaleable
Conversion solutions.
About KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
KPMG assists clients in the entire data warehousing process: from designing
the infrastructure and managing the implementation to measuring the success
of the data warehouse. The firm has significantly invested in data
warehousing technology, devoting considerable resources to research and
development, benchmarking, and training in this area.
KPMG's data warehousing knowledge is the result of the firm's historical
commitment to and years of experience in business and information
technology consulting. The Data Warehousing practice is an example of the
firm's business strategy to serve its clients through integrated industry
teams, assessing the clients' business needs and technology requirements to
increase overall productivity and business success.
KPMG's Strategic Services Consulting applies experience in operations
improvement and enabling technologies to help clients improve business
performance. It focuses on delivering measurable operational improvement of
time, cost and quality in clients' business operations. KPMG Peat Marwick
LLP is the U.S. member firm of KPMG, The Global Leader among professional
services firms. Worldwide, KPMG has more than 6,000 partners as well as
76,000 professionals servicing clients through 1,100 offices in 837 cities
in 134 countries. In the U.S., KPMG partners and professionals deliver a
wide range of value-added consulting, assurance and tax services in five
markets: financial services; manufacturing, retailing and distribution;
health care and life sciences; information, communications and
entertainment; and public services. Visit our Web site at
http://www.us.kpmg.com
ABOUT PRISM SOLUTIONS
Founded in 1991, Prism Solutions (NASDAQ: PRZM) is one of the largest
providers of scaleable data warehousing solutions tailored to the needs of
data mart, department, enterprise or conversion initiatives. Prism's
framework of software, methodology, training and consulting enables
customers to effectively implement and maintain an information architecture
that scales to meet changing organizational needs. As a result, customers
can perform strategic business analysis related to customer relationship
management, profitability measurement, market segmentation, risk
management, procurement and other critical business applications.
Prism's customers include leading companies in finance, health care,
insurance, manufacturing, public utilities, retail, telecommunications,
transportation and technology industries. In addition to its corporate
headquarters located in Sunnyvale, California, Prism Solutions has regional
offices in seven U.S. cities and international offices in Canada, France,
Germany, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom. More information about Prism
Solutions can be found by visiting the company's Web site at
http://www.prismsolutions.com
Prism, Prism Warehouse Executive and Prism Warehouse Directory are
trademarks of Prism Solutions, Inc. Other trademarks belong to their
respective holders.
CONTACT: Stephanie Townsend/Patty Williams | KPMG Peat Marwick,
617/661-7900 | [email protected] | [email protected] | or |
Debbie Benoit/Cynthia Schmidt | Prism Solutions, Inc., 408/752-1888 |
[email protected]
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KPMG Plans Data Marts, Teams With HP/Oracle/SAS
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Date: Wednesday, March 5, 1997
Source: Newsbytes
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MONTVALE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1997 MAR 4 (NB) via Individual Inc. -- By
Jacqueline Emigh. KPMG Peat Marwick LLP is planning a series of
pre-packaged data warehouses, encompassing standard components from key
vendors, and concentrating on the business needs of specific vertical
markets, starting out with retail stores.
In an interview with Newsbytes, KPMG's Ed Vitalos and Barrett Hildebrand
said that new data marts will combine KPMG consultation and implementation
services with components from Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, SAS Institute, and
Pine Cone Systems, and that the data marts will be organized around a new,
business-oriented service model from KPMG known as Accelerated Business
Solutions (ABS).
The two execs equated ABS to a cookbook, containing many standard yet
customizable data warehousing templates, or "recipes," within the central
service model.
Across vertical markets, KPMG expects to "focus heavily on what the
business problem is, as opposed to going through a very detailed technology
evaluation," remarked Vitalos, who is marketing director for KPMG's Global
Data Warehouse Practice.
"We'll be helping clients to retain their customers for a longer time, to
grow their profitability, and to acquire new customers," asserted
Hildebrand, KPMG's project leader for Market Information Management (MIM).
MIM, noted Hildebrand, will be KPMG's first data warehousing framework,
honing in on the retail market.
Additional markets to be addressed by ABS might include telecommunications,
corporate finance, and financial services, according to the KPMG officials.
"Where we are right now is to select preferred vendors for the enabling
components," Vitalos said. "The components are starting to reach the stage
now where just about all the needed functionality is already available."
So far, KPMG has chosen: Oracle for database management software and
database design services; SAS for data warehouse, decision support (DSS),
and "business intelligence" software; Pine Cone for tools to track and
measure data warehouse usage and "improve the integrity and reliability" of
the warehouse; and HP for Unix- and Microsoft Windows NT-based servers;
Intel-based PCs; network engineering services; and network management
hardware and software.
Vitalos predicted that the use of standard components in the data
warehouses will bring major cost- and time-savings to KPMG's clients.
Generally speaking, development of a corporate data warehouse today takes
at least a year, according to the KPMG marketing director.
Vitalos estimated the initial cost-savings to ABS clients at 25 percent.
"And over time, we'll look to more and more (cost) improvements."
Technology today is also becoming more integrated, Hildebrand observed.
"Take (Lotus) Notes, for example. In the past, if you wanted to Web-enable
Notes, you'd have to develop your own way. But now, there's Domino," he
observed.
"The same kind of thing is happening in data warehousing. What we're going
to be doing in ABS is to take advantage of this (integration), over and
over again," Newsbytes was told.
Hildebrand told Newsbytes that, in the retail store market, there is "a
real need to understand at a detailed level who the customers are, and how
the business can be tailored to best meet their needs."
The MIM project leader added that he is in discussions right now with a
retailer with stores covering a wide geographic area.
This retailer is interested in using data warehousing to find out more
about the kinds of customers who shop in each of the chain's stores, and
what kind of merchandise, store layout, advertising, and mailings should be
used for the customers served by that store.
The answers to these questions can vary widely, even among different store
branches operated by a company within the same city, according to the
project leader.
Similarly, said Hildebrand, the "explosion of the Internet" is spurring
telecommunications carriers to look at how they should upgrade their
systems and what kinds of services they should offer to attract new
business.
In the field of corporate finance, he added, one data warehousing template
that looks likely to emerge is that of "activity-based costing," in which
costs are broken down in a consistent manner across various types of
activities.
Hildebrand noted that, in speaking with employees at a supermarket chain,
he discovered that there are at least six different ways to come up with
muffins for customers, including buying muffins from an outside bakery, or
purchasing either muffin batter or frozen muffins and then baking the
muffins in the store.
"But because of the way that the store tracks costs, there isn't any method
they can use to figure out the most cost-effective way," Newsbytes was
told.
More information about KPMG is available on The Web at http://www.kpmg.com
.
(19970303/Reader Contact:KPMG Peat Marwick, 201-307-7000. Press Contacts:
Christina Perkins, KPMG Peat Marwick, 305-789-2677; Stephanie Townsend or
Patty Williams, The Weber Group for KPMG, 617-661-7900)
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