INDUSTRY

Informatica Corporation, a leading provider of data integration and business intelligence software, today announced that TW Metals, Inc., a $300 million specialties metal distributor, has successfully implemented the Informatica PowerCenter and PowerAnalyzer platforms in less than six weeks to more effectively meet the needs of customers and prospects, and drive new sales in a highly competitive market. This implementation is the first phase of an enterprise-wide business intelligence rollout that will extend beyond sales and the demand chain to include supply chain, operations and financial data. Currently, sales and customer data is sourced from TW Metals' core ERP system and consolidated using the PowerCenter data integration platform. District managers, account managers and outside sales personnel then access easy-to-use PowerAnalyzer dashboards, scorecards and key performance metrics to quickly understand the data -- visually assessing profitability by customer and district. Users are also able to leverage customer-specific data during sales calls, helping customers to plan future purchases based on historical trends. "Informatica not only helps us keep a closer watch on the pulse of our customers, it's also helping customers better understand how we can fulfill their requirements," said Aldo Miceli, CIO and vice president of information technology at TW Metals. "In this competitive market, it is critical that our IT department supports and drives new sales initiatives, while operating efficiently and cost-effectively. We were able to rapidly deploy PowerCenter and PowerAnalyzer with a low total cost of ownership, and quickly train our business users so they could immediately leverage the power of business intelligence." TW Metals will next deploy the Informatica solution to its supply chain and operations personnel to help them forecast more accurately, deal more effectively with vendors and mills, and optimize the company's purchasing power. The third phase of deployment will help the TW Metals' financial staff automate manual processes and enhance productivity. "TW Metals is a perfect example of a fast-growing midsize enterprise looking to make information a strategic weapon across all aspects of its business," said Paul Albright, chief marketing officer at Informatica. "With the business insight enabled by Informatica software, TW Metals' sales managers can meet customer needs more easily and quickly identify new sales opportunities -- an excellent demonstration of tight alignment between a company's IT and business goals." TW Metals, Inc. is a leading specialty metal distributor with over 24 facilities worldwide. Offering a broad range of metals products and services, TW Metals is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Superior Group, Inc., a private holding company headquartered in Radnor, Penn.