Laura Ashley Software Purchases and Digital Transformation Initiatives

Discover the latest software purchases and digital transformation initiatives being undertaken by Laura Ashley and its business and technology executives. Each quarter our research team identifies on-prem and cloud applications that are being used by the 1000 Laura Ashley employees from the public (Press Releases, Customer References, Testimonials, Case Studies and Success Stories) and proprietary sources.

During our research, we have identified that Laura Ashley has purchased the following applications: IBM Cognos Controller for EPM in 2018, IBM Planning Analytics for EPM in 2018, Oracle Netsuite Venda for eCommerce in 2014 and the related IT decision-makers and key stakeholders.

Our database provides customer insight and contextual information on which enterprise applications and software systems Laura Ashley is running and its propensity to invest more and deepen its relationship with IBM , Oracle , Microsoft or identify new suppliers as part of their overall Digital and IT transformation projects to stay competitive, fend off threats from disruptive forces, or comply with internal mandates to improve overall enterprise efficiency.

We have been analyzing Laura Ashley revenues, which have grown to $257.0 millions in 2019, plus its IT budget and roadmap, cloud software purchases, aggregating massive amounts of data points that form the basis of our forecast assumptions for Laura Ashley intention to invest in emerging technologies such as AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Autonomous Database or in cloud-based ERP, HCM, CRM, EPM, Procurement or Treasury applications.

About the Customer

Laura Ashley plc is a British textile design company now controlled by the MUI Group of Malaysia. It was founded by Bernard Ashley, an engineer, and his wife Laura Ashley in 1953 then grew over the next 20 years to become an international retail chain.

Scope and Challenges

It was important to the company to get detailed and up-to-date information on financial performance across all channels so that they can monitor profitability and align strategy to take advantage of emerging opportunities. 

The existing financial consolidation platform had been a mainstay of the business for many years, but it ran on a platform that was reaching end-of-life. They knew they would have to update the software to mitigate the risk of running such a business-critical system on an unsupported operating system.

Outcome and Implications

Laura Ashley decided to work with IBM to implement a new financial performance management platform built around IBM Planning Analytics and IBM Cognos Controller. The finance team loads data from spreadsheets into the Planning Analytics database, which automatically feeds it into Cognos Controller to perform the consolidation process, and updates the results in the company’s JD Edwards ERP system.

With the solution in place, Laura Ashley can consolidate financial data from cost centers throughout its business much faster than before. The project went live in 2018.

Quotes

"IBM Cognos Controller makes life substantially easier for the finance team during the busiest days in our calendar.” - said Darryl Fernandes, Group Finance Manager, Laura Ashley.

“The IBM solution doesn’t just give us the breakdown by legal entities—it also gives us a much more detailed picture of the management structure of the business. That means we can get a real insight into how each of our channels is performing.” - said Sean Anglim, CFO, Laura Ashley.