[March 21, 2005] Merial to Present Online Seminar with Kalido and Axis Group Detailing Global Data Warehouse Project for Financial Reporting Tweet BURLINGTON, Mass. and LONDON --(Business Wire)-- March 21, 2005 -- Dr. Steve Lerner, Director Global IS Projects, Merial Limited will discuss their global sales and inventory data warehouse initiative based on KALIDO application suite Kalido, the leading provider of adaptive enterprise data warehousing software, announced that Merial's initiative for building a global data warehouse in support of financial reporting and performance measurement will be showcased in a web presentation on March 23, 2005 at 11:30 am EST. Dr. Steven P. Lerner, IS Director - Global Finance Applications and Integration, Merial, will discuss the finance-related issues large organizations typically face, and why Kalido's software and Axis Group were chosen to help address these issues more effectively. Participants can register to attend the online seminar at: http://www.kalido.com/newsandevents/event.asp?event_ID=132. An $1.8 billion global company, Merial Limited conducts business in over 150 countries and manufactures and markets products (including the well-known FRONTLINE(R) and HEARTGARD(R) lines) for pets, large domestic animals and commercial poultry. With 33 separate reporting entities built around one of seven different enterprise resource planning platforms, Merial's financial consolidation and operational reporting process is time-intensive and complicated, particularly as no two reporting entities use the same chart of accounts. With the help of systems integrator Axis Group, Merial has devised a new business intelligence architecture designed to reduce this burden and increase the accuracy of its reports. The architecture includes the KALIDO adaptive data warehousing software, TIBCO for data transfer and Cognos for reporting. With this system, Merial expects to significantly improve financial reporting by replacing its current complicated and lengthy process with an automated system that provides current insight into the business, including its sales transactions and products held in inventory. The KALIDO enterprise data warehouse will integrate data from all reporting entities from across their multiple systems, and will be the repository of all historic financial data related to monthly closings. Eventually, the company also expects to use the system to provide actual and consolidated data for forecasts, profit-planning and long-range operating plans. Merial's choice of KALIDO to rapidly build and update their data warehouse was based on their need to remold their business reporting hierarchies at a moment's notice. "We face many of the challenges that typical life science companies face. We are heavily regulated, and all of our product lines and all of the systems that touch our production of products are managed and reviewed by the FDA," said Dr. Steve Lerner, director global IS projects, Merial. "With the KALIDO-powered system, we will have a more granular and transparent view of sales and inventory, with complete audit trails, for regulatory reporting and global management initiatives." "In addition, we will be giving our regional heads of business the ability to act on previously unrealized selling opportunities because they'll have immediate access to current, detailed information about customers, suppliers and inventory." About Dr Steven Lerner Dr. Steven P. Lerner, IS Director, Global Finance Applications and Integration, Merial. Dr. Lerner has been with Merial Limited for over 12 years; initially, with the Merck Ag-Vet group, then in Merial's Poultry Genetics group, prior to joining the IS Department three years ago. He holds a BS in Zoology, a MS in Embryology, and a PhD in Reproductive Physiology. The majority of Dr. Lerner's career has focused on the analysis of large commercial datasets with an eye towards gleaning those variables that have the greatest impact on economic success. About Merial Merial is a world-leading, innovation-driven animal health company, providing a comprehensive range of products to enhance the health, well-being and performance of a wide range of animals. Merial employs approximately 6,000 people and operates in more than 150 countries worldwide. Its 2003 sales were in excess of $1.8 billion. Merial Limited is a joint venture between Merck & Co., Inc. and sanofi-aventis. About Axis Group Axis Group, founded in 1996, is a strategic IT business consulting company that specializes in all aspects of Business Intelligence. Axis uses a proven, risk-free process to deliver hundreds of information management and delivery solutions, satisfying Global 2000 clients of even the largest multinational organizations. Axis has strategic alliances with key technology leaders such as Kalido. By leveraging best-of-breed tools, Axis delivers optimal solutions with the lowest cost of ownership. For more information, please contact Mitch Lapidus at (973) 314-3065 x 255, [email protected], or visit www.axisgroup.com. About Kalido Kalido provides adaptive enterprise data warehousing software to Global 2000 companies. The KALIDO(R) application suite (KALIDO) delivers consolidated views of enterprise performance and can immediately adapt them to major changes in the business such as mergers and acquisitions, reorganization, market consolidation, or new regulatory requirements. This improves the speed and accuracy of management and financial reporting without the cost and delay of operational system standardization. Kalido customers who have measured the business benefits of their projects have typically found they have derived annual savings of millions, and in some cases tens of millions, of dollars through improved management of their company performance and reduction of IT costs. With KALIDO, companies can rapidly create and manage adaptive data warehouses and associated master data throughout their lifecycle, benefiting from the software's strategic flexibility, low cost and speed of deployment. An independently audited study shows that KALIDO saves as least 55 percent in ownership costs compared to custom-built approaches, a figure surpassed by real-life customer experiences. A typical KALIDO data warehouse implementation takes 2-5 months, as opposed to 9-18 months for conventional methods. Kalido customers include some of the largest companies in the world, such as BP, Cadbury Schweppes, HBOS plc, Intelsat, Labatt Breweries of Canada, Owens Corning, Philips, Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (Shell) and Unilever. These companies and many others use Kalido's award-winning software in over 100 countries for their enterprise-wide data warehousing and master data management projects. A privately-held company, Kalido is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. and London, UK and has regional sales offices throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and France. More information about Kalido can be found at: http://www.kalido.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]