Eliminate Stock Outs and Delivery Issues: Relational Solutions, Inc.

“Our background is in data warehousing and business intelligence which makes us uniquely qualified to deal with data cleansing and integration issues associated with point of sale (POS) data.” 

Gist of the company

Relational Solutions, demand signal repository experts, was founded in 1996 by Janet Dorenkott and Rob York. Its consultants are experts in delivering enterprise demand signal repositories to the consumer goods industry. It has built some of the largest scale data warehouses and business intelligence solutions in the country. It was the first company in the country to use and evaluate second generation ETL (extraction/transformation/load) tools including Informatica & Data Stage. It has established a reputation as experts in the area of data integration and cleansing and co-authored the first evaluation of ETL tools in the mid 90′s.

In July15, 2015, Mindtree acquired Relational Solutions to Drive CPG Growth. POSmart architecture follows data warehouse best practices. This allows the application to grow and change with the organization’s needs.

Through the ideas and the Ideologies

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?

The company was set up to specialize in data warehousing, data integration and business intelligence/analytics. We selected the Consumer Goods vertical because of our expertise with integrating point of sale and syndicated data with internal master data. 

Tell us about your first product that was launched?

Our first product was POSmart. POSmart automates the integration and cleansing of POS data. It includes a data model, retail mappings, processes to harmonize data with internal data and a user interface that delivers advanced analytics and reports to end users

What were the grounds on which you have expanded your company and its offerings over the years?

We have continually upgraded the solution on all levels including the database support, data model, retailer support, new tools and new insights. On the database, we continue to incorporate support for new data sources such as DSiM, AWS, Azure and Hadoop.

What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

Our initial challenges were related to analysts who were specialists in reports who didn’t understand the difference between an enterprise solution versus retailer reports that were point solutions designed for a specific retailer.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

Our greatest assets have been and remain our employees, our customers and our partners. Having an experienced staff of people who understand the business problem and architecture requirements is invaluable.

What do you feel are the reasons behind? 

Your product popularity – The ease of use and value of the reports and insights for the business users as well as the ability for them to manage our “Analytics as a Service” that will also provide new insights for them. For IT, it’s the ease of management of POS data and the flexibility to have us manage the POS data for them.

Your consistence growth as an organization – Our consistent growth is due to the fact that our customer base is maturing and realizing the value of integrating POS and syndicated data with internal data. It is also due to our customers’ growth. As companies get in to new business areas and geographies, they have a need to support more retailers and more of their business users.

Are there any trigger factors/events/individuals that have played key roles in shaping your organization’s road map?

We were also the first company to implement Informatica and Data Stage and to perform the first ETL tool evaluation. This focus makes us uniquely qualified for data integration. Our decision to move forward with a product for POS integration continued to differentiate us from the pack. Our unique expertise in both data integration and the consumer goods space has set us up for success in this space. 

How big is your organization today? Briefly explain the organizational structure?

Our company was acquired by Mindtree which has approximately 18,000 employees and $800 million in sales. Our group has experienced double digit growth and is expected to grow over 40% this year over last.

How do you and your company contribute to the global IT platform and society at large?

We contribute to the global IT platform by leveraging existing technologies that our customers have invested in and adding new value to those platforms. Our company more directly contributes to society by supporting many charities and starting educational facilities.

Do you have any new products ready to be/getting ready to be rolled out into the market?

Yes, our new browser interface, our support for Hadoop and other data sources, our new “Analytics as a Service” offering, new analytics that support assortment planning and optimization across the US, Europe and emerging markets is also continuing.

Where do you see you and your company a couple of years from now?

As our company finalizes our integration with Mindtree, I see us growing across the world. More and more companies overseas will be using our solutions. We are the Center of Excellence for Analytics and I see our growth continuing at a double digit pace as we on-board customers from around the world.

Meet the Master Brains

Robert York: Co-Founder

Janet Dorenkott: Co-Founder

"We only employ the best and brightest consultants and technologists in the business intelligence industry with many decades of combined knowledge and experience who have worked with some of the best companies in the world."