Subaru Australia Drives Dealer Productivity Via Plumtree-Powered Dashboard

SAN FRANCISCO--Nov. 30, 2004--

Plumtree Portal Helps Workload Management for Dealers, Streamlines Communications and Provides Tools to Improve Customer Satisfaction

Plumtree Software today announced that Subaru Australia has deployed a dashboard application built using the Plumtree Enterprise Web Suite to its network of 92 dealers across Australia. The dealer dashboard has streamlined communication between Subaru and its dealer network so that each dealer has direct access to the latest metrics such as inventory, order status and promotional details. As a result, dealers are able to target improved customer service, while effectively representing the Subaru brand.

"The dealer dashboard in the portal has been a huge win for Subaru Australia because it gives dealers a central point of reference for key metrics and trends that they couldn't see before," said Gary Watson, national sales manager at Subaru.

Dealers clamored to test the dashboard, which went live in May 20, 200504 after six months of development, and have been highly satisfied with the results. "Dealers used to ring our business managers every day asking for access to simple metrics like how many cars have been in inventory over 60 days. They need this information because they're measured, and paid on it, but there was no easy way for them to access it themselves," Watson said. "Now that the dashboard is in place, those types of calls have been replaced by requests for even more dashboard functionality."

What's in Subaru's Dealer Dashboard?

Subaru manufactures and imports its cars from Japan, covering the Forester, Impreza, Liberty and Outback models, which total approximately 30,000 units of sales annually. Australia is the company's third-largest market in the world, after Japan and the U.S. The Australian operation performs marketing and distribution functions, maintains supplies of spare parts and also sustains relationships with dealers across Australia.

To support the activities of the local Subaru operation, Subaru deployed a dealer dashboard that offers dealers access to the following information, much of which is drawn from a less accessible AS/400 system:

-- Sales: reports on vehicle sales figures;

-- Orders: lists of current orders for parts and vehicles or other items, status of cars in the dealership and delivery dates, and full detail of each dealers supply chain, from order to delivery;

-- Inventory: data on spare parts and new vehicles;

-- Marketing: promotional details including model specifications, feature comparisons and pricing guides;

-- Services: details on services such as warranties;

-- Branding: guidelines for promoting Subaru's brand;

-- Calendar: calendar of sales appointments shared with Subaru employees; and

-- Communications: Dealer bulletins and program information.

Previously, the company communicated with dealers in three separate lines of business: spare parts, services and sales. Each of these relationships was managed by different employees. By consolidating the three lines of business information targeted at dealers through one central dealer dashboard, information is presented in a way that allows dealers to "pull" access at any time convenient to them. This helps the dealers spend more time on planning and management, and reinforces the professionalism of the Subaru brand.

In addition to dealer satisfaction, customer satisfaction has also been targeted for improvement using the dealer dashboard. "Customers are anxious to know when their new car will arrive -- especially if they custom ordered it to meet their exact tastes," said Watson. "Using the dashboard in the portal gives the dealers better visibility into our production and delivery timelines, which makes for happy customers."

"Over 60% of Plumtree customers deploy dashboards in their portals to arm employees with critical business data for acting quickly and effectively," said Dean Stockwell, general manager, Asia Pacific at Plumtree Software. "Subaru's dealer dashboard is a great example of this and shows how quickly a dashboard can deliver value, with timelines measured in months, not years."

About Plumtree Software

Plumtree Software is a global pioneer in creating advanced software environments where information resources work together with human ingenuity. Well established as the portal thought leader, Plumtree enables a full, rich suite of applications that coordinate human-managed activities across systems, processes and business boundaries. With its flexible and open portal system, Plumtree delivers smart solutions throughout the enterprise and beyond. Progressive enterprises large and small, like Airbus, Mazda, Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Navy depend on Plumtree to help them rapidly harness untapped potential in their organizations. For more information, visit www.plumtree.com.

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