Sisense > Case Studies > Security Forces Equipment Manufacturer Sees 50% Growth in Sales in Six-Months

Security Forces Equipment Manufacturer Sees 50% Growth in Sales in Six-Months

Company Size

1,000+

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Sisense
Elasticube

Tech Stack

ERP System
Data Visualization
Predictive Analytics

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements
Revenue Growth

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Security & Public Safety

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Sales & Marketing

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

Gentex is a prominent supplier of personal protection and situational awareness systems for global defense forces, emergency responders, and industrial personnel operating in high-performance environments. With over 100 years of product development and manufacturing experience, Gentex offers a portfolio of helmet system platforms, aluminized fabrics, and light management technology. The company is dedicated to improving the safety and operational efficiency of its clients through innovative solutions. Despite its long history and extensive expertise, Gentex faced challenges with its outdated ERP system, which hindered its ability to leverage sales and operations planning data effectively.

The Challenge

Gentex, a leading supplier of personal protection and situational awareness systems, was struggling with an outdated ERP database that was over 30 years old and heavily customized. The company needed fast and accurate operation planning metrics such as projected revenue, opportunity forecasts, and expense reports. However, incorporating modern technical tools into their ERP environment for data analysis was limited and costly. The system had millions of records, and they needed a solution that could quickly process this data and deliver actionable intelligence.

The Solution

Eric Farrell, Director of IT at Gentex, discovered Sisense early in the search for a suitable BI tool. The free proof of concept allowed him to rapidly connect to their ERP system. Sisense's Elasticube structure and drag-and-drop front-end interface enabled Eric to quickly build dashboards for sales and operational planning. These dashboards incorporated extensive data on quotes, orders, and sales over extended periods, providing accurate and up-to-date information. The compelling results made it an easy decision for Gentex to purchase Sisense. The Sisense dashboards provided complete and clean data inputs and processes, delivering insights that allowed different departments to see hindsights, insights, and foresight with interactive and intuitive data visualization. Gentex used gauges for budget status and drill-down features to forecast budgets for the entire year, adjusting based on predictive analysis.

Operational Impact

Sisense dashboards provided complete and clean data inputs and processes, allowing different departments to see hindsights, insights, and foresight with interactive and intuitive data visualization.
Gentex used gauges for budget status, turning green if below budget by at least 5%, yellow when within budget (+/- 5%), and red if over budget.
By using drill-down features, users could forecast budgets for the entire year, with initial months matching actual spending and additional months adjusting based on predictive analysis.
With Sisense, Gentex implemented hindsights to see current performance, insights to reveal comparisons and trends, and foresight to visualize future performance based on current trends.
Gentex executives and managers at all levels used Sisense to manage their department's or section's budget, with training consisting of a few free Sisense webinar sessions.

Quantitative Benefit

50% increase in eCommerce sales in just six months.
8% increase in return on investments on new product launches.
3% reduction of expenses through better planning.
Visualization of year-to-date spending and open POs the day after they happen, with trending and forecasting up to 15 months out.