IRI upgrades DataServer software

IRI Software, part of Information Resources, has expanded its DataServer range of sales and marketing management systems with a new product, Reporter.

The Windows-based analysis tool is targeted at head office and field sales management. Its purpose is to highlight which products are selling, and to which customers, and to identify where a return is being shown on promotional spend.

The product isn’t cheap – prices start at £30,000 – but IRI argues that the benefits should be immediate. European sales and marketing product manager Richard Downs explains: “Reporter identifies within seconds which 20 per cent of products make up 80 per cent of a company’s sales. It is designed to manage all kinds of sales tracking and analyses, such as understanding which customers have stopped buying products and which are responding to sales promotions.”

Sales staff are expected to be able to conduct in-depth analyses after about an hour of training, answering questions based around targets, distribution, ranking, trends, comparisons and growth. Early users of the software include Carlsberg-Tetley and Canon UK.

Reporter is the Windows upgrade to IRI’s Sales Management System. Its system requirements are a minimum 386 PC (486 preferred) running Windows 3.1, eight megabytes of free conventional and extended memory (12 megabytes or more are recommended) and a Windows-compatible display (preferably VGA).