The application, first introduced during the Lawson Conference and User Exchange (CUE) in March 2007, will also help the company improve visibility into the management of contractual terms and conditions, handling invoicing and settlement, and generating comprehensive reports associated with key business activities. Apoteket first became a Lawson customer in 1998 and is using Lawson S3 Financial Management, Process Flow, and Services Automation.

Apoteket is the sole provider of both prescription and over-the-counter medications in Sweden. Founded in 1970 and wholly owned by the Swedish government, the organization’s 950 retail stores receive 90 million customer visits each year. Its 11,000 employees, most of them pharmacists, handle 243,000 prescriptions every day, including 42,000 electronic prescriptions.

Lawson Business Intelligence replaces an older Impromptu reporting system, which provided a number of disparate reports. The new system will consolidate reporting and deliver the information that individual users need. It will also offer Lawson Smart Notification alerts, delivering automated alerts about exceptions or other user-identified business events. Users can navigate smoothly from alerts to interactive analysis and detailed reports. Apoteket anticipates the improved information sharing and functionality will help the company achieve more efficient business processes.

“We selected Lawson Business Intelligence because of its more sophisticated functionality, ease-of-use, and the company’s reputation for helping its customers achieve measurable results,” said Magnus Lind, business controller, Apoteket. “This was a natural extension of our existing relationship with Lawson.”

Lawson Business Intelligence 9.0.2 provides information in non-English languages in different locales. New features include French and Swedish translations within the application, and platform improvements to help extend the value Lawson global customers receive from their existing investments in Lawson ERP application suites.

“The enhanced functionality of Lawson Business Intelligence addresses the requirements of our global customer base and gives them the tools they need to make the most of their Lawson Software investments,” said Lee Kilmer, global director of Enterprise Performance Management Solutions for Lawson. “It helps our customers save time and reduce costs by leveraging reports across multiple users and groups with less report administration.”

Lawson Business Intelligence provides organization-wide reporting and analysis via role-based dashboards, delivering relevant information to employees at all levels, to help them make better and faster business decisions. The application provides features that allow proactive bursting of reports that include the appropriate context – critical to helping decision-makers take timely corrective actions and mitigate risk. The suite delivers out-of-the-box functionality via the Lawson Portal, with a lower total cost of ownership.

This announcement marks Lawson’s entry into the business intelligence (BI) market in Asia. The company will add the BI functionality into Kansai Paint’s existing Lawson M3 ERP infrastructure to support the management of customer portfolios, inventory and transaction systems.

“Kansai Paint chose Lawson Business Intelligence as part of an overall strategy to streamline business processes and improve efficiency,” said James Lim, Executive Chairman, Kansai Paint Singapore. “Lawson has a strong understanding of the challenges we face in meeting our customers’ needs. By centralizing and automating our systems across all departments, we can now make faster decisions and concentrate on keeping pace with changing market demands and staying competitive.”

This strategic project will integrate reporting systems and help Kansai Paint reduce costs and increase revenue by supporting marketing and sales opportunities. It will also help the company manage large scale stock supply for projects involving newly-built and established buildings.

The Lawson Business Intelligence solution will allow Kansai to be more effective in managing orders across its spectrum of products, including decorative paints, auto-refinishes, industrial coatings, marine and protective coatings. The application will also help the company improve visibility into the management of contractual terms and conditions, handling invoicing and settlement, and generating comprehensive reports for all areas of its business activities.

“It is critical for a company like Kansai to make timely business decisions to sustain long-term profitability,” said David Hope, Regional Managing Director, Lawson Software Asia & Japan. “Our applications help provide a better view across their entire business operations, allowing for a more transparent and secure network, which helps Kansai Paint respond faster and more effectively to their customers in the region.”

Kansai Paint has a network of 22 factories and offices across the Asia Pacific region. Its upgraded portfolio of Lawson applications will cover Kansai Paint’s entire business operation, from financials, sales processing, warehousing, purchasing and procurement, manufacturing and shop floor, as well as the management and review of control reports.