Company: SBC Communications
Website: www.sbc.com
Industry: Telecommunications
Technology Platforms: Microsoft Excel

 

SBC Communications Inc. is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, SNET and Sterling Commerce - and world-class network, SBC and it's affiliated companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services. Their offerings include local and long-distance telephone service, voice, high-speed Internet access and data transport, voice and data network integration, software and process integration, Web site and application hosting, e-marketplace development, paging and messaging, as well as cable and satellite television, and directory advertising and publishing. SBC has a 60 percent equity interest in Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth, which serves more than 20 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 28 countries and has annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.

Although SBC Communications realized forecasting is an important part of the business, their use of point-estimation as a base methodology for forecasting their directory sales was not giving the results they needed. SBC was looking for a cost-effective solution to help them increase the accuracy of the forecasts and begin to define an internal forecasting process.

SBC decided to go with the ForecastX Wizard™ being referred to John Galt and evaluating the software package. The ForecastX Wizard is an easy-to-use tool that works directly with their existing system of Excel spreadsheets and gives them unparalleled accuracy. The Wizard offered a cost-effective way for SBC to begin evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their current system. SBC also decided to take advantage of John Galt's Process Training in order to learn how forecasting can have a positive impact on their bottom line. John Galt's Process Training is focused on helping clients understand and implement a strategic and beneficial forecasting process specific to their business model.

"It is functioning flawlessly," according to SBC’s national sales forecasting manager. "The main strengths of the ForecastX Wizard are its ease of use and situational flexibility. It can be used for a wide variety of forecasting situations that are applicable to most businesses. Any CFO worth their salt would want to see it." He went on to say, "The most valuable part of the training was the discussion of process and use. It helped to cement for me the weaknesses of our present system and focus on instituting processes that will ensure a consistent boost in revenue."

The solutions and training provided by John Galt helped SBC Communications realize that the forecasting department can be a significant and measurable contributing factor to the revenue generation process. "We are interested in partnering with John Galt, because we need the guidance of professionals who can show us how to implement processes and strategies to move us from point A to point B. John Galt has a strong grasp of the concept of making money on the margins."