Briefs

InformationWeek, By Rick Whiting, Jan 6, 2006

Implementation of Rapid Insight analysis tool will free up Xerox's sales reps to spend more time with customers.

Xerox installed Rapid Insight Analytics software from Rapid Insight Inc. about five months ago to analyze customer order, sales prospect, and supply chain data to develop monthly and quarterly sales forecasts for the company's North American operations. Rowlands' Lean Six Sigma quality management team has been using the software to build and test sales forecast models which analysts at Xerox' headquarters will use to generate the forecasts.

Xerox previously used the Minitab statistical analysis application to develop the forecasts, but Rowlands says that tool was complex to use, especially with the large sales data sets. "The Rapid Insight tool is really much more intuitive," he says, noting that the software graphically groups data by subsets to help users see relationships. The software automatically mines data sources to create forecasting models, Rowlands says, and testing those models and spotting and correcting data errors is easy.

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