Data As A Tool
Good data management boosts productivity

In an age where information plays a vital role in maintaining competitiveness in the New Economy, a reliable and workable data management system is an important component to success. As corporations and institutions follow the trend towards digitizing data management, they are in constant search for effective and safe systems to manage their valuable data and information. Choosing the right software and solution can prove to be stringent yet the benefits of an efficient data management system can even go beyond the initial investment.

AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca Philippines (AZP), one of the country’s top five pharmaceutical companies and the manufacturer of the world’s best-selling medicine, Losec, relies on Picasso for its data warehousing system. This warehousing system, which was initially geared towards its sales and marketing operations, is built on Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 with a front-end computing environment of Windows 2000, Office 2000, Outlook 2000, and Internet Explorer 5.

AZP’s Information Services Division saw the need to change the company’s existing method of distributing management reports because its old system was cumbersome and non-intuitive. According to Jonathan Javier, AstraZeneca’s IS Demand Manager for South East Asia and Hong Kong, the old system, which was DOS-based, required the company’s programmers to do in-house programming work in order to deliver the required management reports. Because of this, the IS staff maintained all reports and had to update it every time requests were made. Since the system was also non-intuitive, requests for new reports or data iterations had to be re-programmed.

Insular General
Insular General Insurance Co., Inc., a subsidiary of the Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd., the oldest and biggest Filipino-owned life insurance company in the Philippines, declares that its new database system is part of their plans to further push better and innovative services for its clients.

According to Insular General’s Chief Information Officer, Ildefonso Pangan, their new database system fully utilizes Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 and Windows 2000 Advanced Server. This, he states, allows the company to fully benefit from these products’ features.

“The Microsoft-based system allows us to further secure our internal networking while also protecting us from malicious attacks from external sources. The connectivity functions of the new system also allows us to communicate faster and cheaper through internal and external e-mails, which we only had in a limited capacity before.” He further explains that the new system also resulted in increased employee productivity because it now allows them to better manage network devices like printers and shared files. It also allows employees to create extranet and intranet applications to further enhance business processes at a lesser cost.

Insular General’s Pangan appreciates the technology’s ability to meet the performance benchmarks the company has set for its new system. This early, Insular General cites security and productivity benefits as the most palpable gains the company has reaped. Pangan further reveals that, with the benefits they have seen, Insular General is more confident than ever to host its own website and lay the groundwork for a B2B facility for its partners and clients.

AstraZeneca’s Javier points out their new system’s easy integration with other kinds of computer environment regardless of software brand. “System integration was seamless and very fast,” Javier says.

He also mentions that users have no problem using the Picasso system because they are already familiar with the system environment and how it works. “Instead of training them on how to use the tools, we can concentrate more on guiding them on how to analyze the available information,” Javier concludes.

From providing better client servicing to improving departmental communication, an efficient data management system lends much to a company’s performance. For AstraZeneca Philippines and Insular General, it means setting new standards as industry leaders.