Alumeco makes better decisions based on BI

Case: Alumeco

Alumeco has continuously developed into a company that is in control of their data and can make decisions based on their insight into data. Most recently, a churn prediction model has been developed that provides new insights into customer data.

Data provides insight

Aluminum distributor Alumeco has had Kapacity as a permanent partner for the past seven years. During that period, they have gone from having no BI to today having built a Data Warehouse with seven cubes and Targit as the front end.

According to Anne Stenz Jørgensen, Group Business Partner at Alumeco, this has led them to make better decisions based on their insight into data:

“When we collect, combine and visualize data, we much faster become aware of where we are doing well and where we can do better. It has been a great benefit that our salesmen and the rest of the business can quickly find a report and see where we can improve. ”

A stable process makes it easier for the end user

Since the collaboration between Kapacity and Alumeco was initiated, it has been a long, stable development process, where Kapacity’s consultant has been in contact with Alumeco approx. once a month, and where more and more has been added based on Alumeco’s needs.

As an example, in the beginning there was only a cube with a focus on sales, but over the years BI solutions have been added with a focus on warehousing, logistics, production, finance and HR. Anne Stenz Jørgensen says about the ongoing development process:

“It has been easier for our end users that they have not had to deal with a lot of news at once, but that it has been a smoother process with the ongoing updates.”

Alumeco’s results with BI

Alumeco’s work with BI has helped the business in a number of areas. Noteworthy mentions are:

Huge amount of time saved

Before, customer reports were built in Excel by employees. Today, they can pull a report and show it at the customer on an iPad. The time saved is spent on more value-adding activities such as seeking out new customers or having more time to take care of existing customers.

Less inventory, less money tied up

”Every time we reduce our stock, we make money,” Anne Stenz Jørgensen says. And after Alumeco began to gain greater insight into their inventory activity using BI, their inventory turnover rate has increased markedly.

Better insight into data makes it easier to make strategic decisions

When Alumeco today must make strategic decisions, they have a solid data foundation to make the decisions from. It provides a great sense of security to base important decisions on data rather than gut feeling.

Churn-model sets new initiatives in motion

During the spring, Alumeco collaborated with Kapacity to implement a churn model which makes it possible for Alumeco on the basis of historical data to gain insight into how likely it is that customers will leave them – and take action to prevent it.

“We started primarily because we were curious, not because we had an actual problem. But we have salespeople who always need more data to make the right decisions,” Anne Stenz Jørgensen says.

During the process, Alumeco gained several new insights based on churn prediction. Among other things, Anne Stenz Jørgensen and Alumeco found that there is a great chance of new customers churning and that it will take a relatively long time before Alumeco achieves customer loyalty. This has led Alumeco to act based on this knowledge:

“Our new knowledge has meant that we have started to prepare an overall strategy for new customers so that we can try to take steps to retain this type of customer,” says Anne Stenz Jørgensen.

Churn score is paired with BI

Specifically, a churn score is calculated for each individual customer that Kapacity’s Data Scientist sends into Alumeco’s Data Warehouse. Anne Stenz Jørgensen then pulls it to Alumeco’s front-end tool Targit, where she can pair it with different measures and dimensions.

“When we pair the churn percentage with our BI, it gives us an overview of which customers it makes sense to contact. Because some customers are more important than others, and here we have good historical data which makes us able to see what we get from the value of our customers over time,” she says.

The next step for Alumeco is to build visual reporting around churn prediction. They will then look at expanding the scope to include even more customers in several countries. Anne Stenz Jørgensen has been happy with the process:

“It’s a pleasure to have to do so little. Kapacity’s Data Scientist has been incredibly self-propelled but has also updated us regularly with status meetings, which have made us able to follow what is happening and get it integrated into our current setup.”

Who is Alumeco?

Alumeco is an international trading company with almost 1,000 employees globally. Alumeco was founded in 1983 with headquarters in Odense and supplies aluminum solutions to the metal-consuming industry. They have one of Northern Europe’s largest aluminum warehouses and have several subsidiaries in Europe, North America and China.