Case Study: Citizen Watch

Citizen Watch was established in 1918. During the last eighty-five years Citizen has expanded its business throughout the world and has achieved recognition as a global brand. The past 25 year period has coincided with the company’s dramatic rise to its current position as the world’s largest watchmaker, a distinction Citizen has held every year since 1986. Beyond sheer size, Citizen is also recognized as a worldwide leader in advanced technology. From the world’s slimmest LCD watch to the first voice recognition and the world’s first voice recognition and the world’s first professional dive watch with an electronic sensor, Citizen’s record of “world firsts” is unmatched.

Disparate ERP Systems In 2006, Citizen Watch made the decision to switch from two Cforia competitors onto our platform. Previously they used a point solution for credit and collections and another one to manage deductions. These systems were synchronized with Citizen’s core ERP system via a nightly batch update, which meant that all A/R department activities were driven from yesterday’s data. Support also became an issue with the use of multiple technology vendors. The A/R team was often working with yesterday’s data due to the nightly batch updates failing and lack of communication between each system’s data. Solution Cforia integrated into Citizen’s custom DB2 AS/400 ERP System with a new real-time data connector that was completed in only six weeks. Their A/R team now has the capability to handle order hold and release, credit and collections, plus deductions management from one platform. Cforia’s customer services team has taken ownership of providing support for this complex environment.

“Our previous A/R Automation only worked well when collecting from small shops. Cforia handles the large Deduction volumes associated with Big Box Retailers. Cforia’s real-time integration gives us order hold and release functionality as well.” Danita Grimes, Credit ManagerCitizen Watch

Key Features of the Solution are:

• Real-Time Integration with custom AS/400 DB2 based ERP• Cforia MC2/MD2 Collections, Credit and Deductions Automation

Platform• Real-time held order release functionality• Real-Time Integration with email and fax server• AS/400 native functionality

“Cforia’s professional services and technical support staff provide Citizen Watch with the best service we receive from any of our technology suppliers.” Bobby Sy, IT DirectorCitizen Watch

Key Benefits of this project include:

• Replaced competitor’s A/R Automation Software• Sunset competitive Deductions Management System• Improved handling of Big Box Retail store deductions and disputes• Smarter credit handling of small accounts through held order release

plus Promise-to-Pay functions • Higher level of customer service for a fully custom environment• All A/R activities including order hold and release, credit and

collections, plus deductions management are all handled from one platform

• Real-time data integration avoids the issue of mixed nightly batch updates

About Cforia Software Cforia Software is a global company company that provides leadingOrder to Cash Automation that is used to manage over $200 Billionin yearly A/R. Our rapid growth is driven by superior technology thatincludes near real-time integration across multiple ERP systems, currencies, languages and business units. Cforia Data Integration Connectors facilitate rapid real-time integration within your corporation’s existing IT infrastructure including ERP systems, document imaging, third party credit data, email and facsimile servers. Pre-packaged data integration connectors greatly shorten project timingand risk by avoiding custom data integration.

Case Study: Citizen Watch