Driving smarter business planning for Safelite AutoGlass with deep insight and process automation from IBM Analytics
The Challenge
To get customers back on the road more quickly, Safelite AutoGlass aimed to allocate resources to where they are needed most. To do so, the company needed to forecast demand accurately at each store.
The Solution
Safelite worked with QueBIT to build an efficient, collaborative planning process on sophisticated IBM Analytics solutions – enabling highly detailed, remarkably accurate forecasts.
The Benefit
Automation reduces time spent on manual work by 50 percent, cuts budget cycles by 40 percent and saves 450 person-hours a year. Sales forecast accuracy is an impressive 99.8 percent.
About Safelite AutoGlass
Founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1947, Safelite AutoGlass has grown to become the largest auto glass specialist in the United States. Operating around 600 brickand-mortar outlets and 6,500 mobile stores, the company helps more than five million customers every year to repair or replace their vehicle glass.
"We have cut budget cycles by 40 percent and halved the time spent on manual processes for financial planning, saving 450 person-hours annually."
- Mike Lyons, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis
The Challenge?
As Safelite AutoGlass grew nationwide, forecasting demand accurately at the store level became increasingly difficult using manual, spreadsheet-driven processes. Long budgeting cycles, limited visibility into local market conditions, and heavy manual effort slowed decision-making and reduced the ability to respond quickly to changes in demand. To maintain service quality and allocate resources effectively, Safelite needed a more accurate, scalable, and collaborative forecasting approach.
Delivering the Solution
QueBIT partnered with Safelite to implement an enterprise planning and analytics solution built on IBM Analytics, enabling a centralized, collaborative forecasting process across the organization. Field managers now submit detailed forecasts directly into a single source of truth, while predictive models incorporate variables such as weather and seasonality to improve accuracy. The solution automated planning workflows, accelerated forecasting cycles, and delivered timely, actionable insights to finance teams and executives.
Request a Planning Session With a QueBIT Expert
Participate in an hour-long discussion with one of our Solution Architects and receive an agile planning roadmap to help your company progress along its journey to business agility.