Hyperion, which provides business analysis software, announced on March 20 that AutoNation, Inc., the largest automotive retailer in the United States, has improved operations and analysis across more than 400 vehicle dealerships by standardizing on Hyperion's business analysis software.
Hyperion's business analysis suite of products has helped AutoNation reduce its financial reporting cycle by more than 90 percent, according to company officials. It currently allows more than 200 managers (expected to rise to 300+ in the next phase of the project) in AutoNation's 10 district offices and corporate headquarters to more quickly analyze data from disparate IT systems and local business practices that were brought together through business acquisitions.
By consolidating financial information from these disparate data sources through Hyperion Enterprise, AutoNation is now able to improve business performance and gain real time insights, according to Pat McKay, senior vice president of finance at AutoNation. The information is then made available to AutoNation's management and staff through simple, graphical views using Hyperion Analyzer.
"We have grown quickly through acquisitions, and we needed a way to unite our dealerships and get a single view of our business," McKay said. "By consolidating our financial data with Hyperion's software we have been able to establish standards of best practice across the business without sacrificing the individuality and agility of the 400 franchises. Our dealerships now have accurate information and targets for focusing on their brand and market, and the business management has a clear view of business performance and a basis for strategic planning. That's a huge payoff for us."
AutoNation's business analysis solution uses a suite of Hyperion products, including Hyperion Essbase for enterprise analysis and planning applications; Hyperion Enterprise for financial consolidation and reporting; Hyperion Analyzer for presentation and delivery of management information and Web analysis. There are also future plans to introduce additional Hyperion business analysis products for strategic applications, according to McKay.
Using Hyperion Enterprise, AutoNation is able to collect and consolidate financial and statistical information for business planning, forecasting and budgeting. The integration of Hyperion Enterprise and Hyperion Essbase allows AutoNation's head office and district managers to leverage sophisticated analysis capabilities to perform "what-if" analysis that can be used to develop and adjust projections of the monthly performance for the 400 franchises and 10 district offices. Hyperion Essbase is also a major factor in helping the dealers compare their revenue performance against other dealers within AutoNation, which enables them to compete more effectively against dealers outside the company, according to McKay.
Completing its current business analysis solutions suite, AutoNation uses Hyperion Analyzer. This powerful delivery tool presents and delivers information to managers in a format that makes it easy for non-accounting staff to understand, according to Edna Torres, director, financial systems. "It speaks car-talk. This is really important. Our managers often have a background in automotive retail, not in accounting, so a system that can present information in their terminology is vital."
The resulting system enables the company to consolidate all of its financial and inventory information in just three days each month, according to Torres, as compared to approximately 30 days with the manual and desktop systems they were previously using. This provides users the opportunity to spend more of their time on value-added business analysis, Torres said.
About AutoNation, Inc.
AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., bills itself as America's largest automotive retailer, on and off the Web.
AutoNation, which is ranked 63rd on the Fortune 500, employs approximately 35,000 people and owns and operates more than 400 automotive retail franchises in 17 states.
Additional information is available at www.autonation.com.
About Hyperion
Hyperion provides business analysis software designed to help business leaders plan, manage and execute on strategies by analyzing information on business initiatives, supply chain execution, customers, operations and finance.
The company's Essbase technology, packaged business analysis applications and tools are used by 6,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 60 of the Fortune 100 and more than 40 of the Financial Times European Top 100.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company has offices in 26 countries.
For more information, visit www.hyperion.com, e-mail info@hyperion.com, or call 1-800-286-8000.
