Case Study: Publishing Company Improves Accuracy with DiAnalyst

Company Profile:

Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Albuquerque Publishing Company (APC) is the advertising sales, production and distribution agent for the Albuquerque Journal.

The Albuquerque Journal proudly serves as the newspaper of record for the state, with five separate morning editions, including the Journal, Journal Santa Fe, Rio Rancho Journal, West Side Journal, and Journal North. Each edition provides expanded reach and delivers the news coverage New Mexicans have come to depend on. From investigative reporting and provocative opinions to revealing features and grass-roots community news, the Journal has been serving New Mexico since 1880.

The Challenge:

APC was experiencing financial losses due to a discrepancy between the amount paid by an important trading partner, a retailer that sells APC's publications at a number of locations throughout Albuquerque, and the amount owed to APC for the sales of its publications.

Inaccuracy Leads to Lost Money:

Like many newspaper distributors, APC relies upon retailers to sell their publications. The payments from one such retailer were not matching charges from APC's accounting office, causing the loss of thousands of dollars every month. APC tried to solve the order/charge discrepancy on their own, but eventually found that the problem could be solved much more quickly and efficiently if a solution from a 3rd party was utilized. Vincent Guzman, single copy sales manager, APC, said "Once we found that there were a number of discrepancies between the amount we were being paid and the amount we were owed, we immediately began searching for the source of the problem. Because our publications are sold at so many locations, though, finding the source of the problem became a guessing game that wasted a lot of energy and time It was frustrating, to say the least."

The Solution:

DiAnalyst Provides Activity Analysis, Reporting, and Enhanced Collaboration between Retail Buyers and Suppliers like APC.

No More Frustrating Guessing Game:

DiAnalyst eliminated the guessing game and the frustration of searching for the source of the order/charge discrepancy. The DiAnalyst reports pinpointed the exact origin of the rate issues, enabling APC to address the problem before more money was lost. DiAnalyst's state of the art analytical capabilities put the reports to work for APC with detailed breakdowns and rolled–up summaries of product activity. Significant sales data translates into a more robust collaborative relationship with APC's buyers while maximizing the company's sales performance. Within 3 months of implementation, DiAnalyst had already paid for itself! "The biggest payoff is being able to determine the exact amount of how much we are getting paid from each location that sells our publications," said Vincent. "Before DiAnalyst this was a major problem, but now it's a simple matter of reading the reports and putting the data to work for us."

Mike Neadeau, vice president of sales, DiCentral, stated, "With the solution in place, APC is now provided with the necessary sales analysis and reports to greatly enhance product sales performance. Now when a problem arises, APC is alerted and able to act much more quickly, saving the company time and money." DiAnalyst provides meaningful reports through a consistent method of analysis with high level summaries of product activity. By putting powerful reporting and analysis tools into the hands of more people across an organization, DiAnalyst creates an empowered and informed corporate structure.