Annual savings of $200,000 from streamlined expense reimbursement, a reduction in employee reimbursement processing time from 21 days to three, plus anticipated 15 per cent cost reduction in financial administration and processing throughout the organization and more than 80 per cent reduction in end-to-end IT procurement processing.
These are the estimated returns on IT investment s for Canadian department-store retailer Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) according to a joint news release about a third-party’s analysis of HBC’s return on investment of its implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite.
A study conducted by business case analysis firm Shack & Tulloch found improved productivity throughout HBC since the organization began implementing Oracle E-Business Suite, documenting immediate cost and time savings in business-critical functions. The news release cites HBC as believing that its ongoing transformation into an efficient e-business will allow the company to achieve millions of dollars in savings and a rapid ROI within two years.
“By getting our entire organization onto one, centralized platform, we now can operate more efficiently, profit from improved market and business intelligence, and respond proactively to customer purchasing trends and service needs,” the release attributes to HBC CIO Dave Poirier.
In 2000, HBC adopted a phase-by-phase approach to migrate to the efficiencies of the Web and replace its aging, client-server-based, information-technology infrastructure with Oracle E-Business Suite across its retail brands and channels.
According to the joint release, HBC plans to integrate multiple customer databases into a single, centralized data source. Running off of a single e-business platform, the retailer expects to extend collaboration across the enterprise to obtain a 360-degree view of customers, products and operations. By operating its Bay and Zellers’ chain stores from one unified Web-enabled infrastructure, HBC can create more efficient sourcing and manufacturing processes, notes the release.
In addition to reducing employee reimbursement processing time to three days, Oracle Internet Expenses has enabled HBC to eliminate reconciliation issues and audit employee expenses more easily, according to the release. With Oracle Financials, HBC will be capable of creating and delivering comprehensive reporting, automated invoicing processes and improved productivity, allowing it to significantly reduce operating costs, read the joint announcement.
