Kalido Helps Unilever Improve On Shelf Availability: Consumer goods giant leverages Kalido's Active Information Management software in global brand availability program

Kalido, the active information management company, announced today that Unilever has successfully implemented an On Shelf Availability (OSA) project using Kalido software. By leveraging Kalido's Active Information Management solutions, Unilever is building on its capabilities to improve on shelf availability in a few initial markets and expects to see the benefits flow as they refine processes and add new markets to the program.

BURLINGTON, Mass. (Business Wire EON) November 13, 2007 -- Kalido, the active information management company, announced today that Unilever has successfully implemented an On Shelf Availability (OSA) project using Kalido software. By leveraging Kalido’s Active Information Management solutions, Unilever is building on its capabilities to improve on shelf availability in a few initial markets and expects to see the benefits flow as they refine processes and add new markets to the program.

Kalido's business-oriented information management software forms part of the solution enabling us to utilize consolidated operational and transactional data and provide critical visibility into business performance.

“The global consumer packaged goods industry is fast-paced, competitive and constantly changing. We need the most up-to-date information on how our business is operating to successfully stay ahead of market trends and our competitors,” said Gary Calveley, VP Global Customer Service Excellence of Unilever. “Kalido’s business-oriented information management software forms part of the solution enabling us to utilize consolidated operational and transactional data and provide critical visibility into business performance.”

Loyal consumers that use Unilever’s 400 home, personal care and food brands every day rely on the availability of those brands. This “on shelf availability” is a cornerstone to brand loyalty and critical to the preservation and growth of Unilever’s market share.

Unilever rolled out a global OSA program that leveraged Kalido’s active information management software, including Kalido Master Data Management (MDM) to create master reference data and Kalido Dynamic Information Warehouse (DIW) to store and analyze transaction data. The program provides Unilever with increased visibility into product availability at leading retailers. Executive and line-of-business owners can improve supply chain efficiency and drive bottom line results.

Using the new solution, information providers can now submit in-store audit data into the Unilever data warehouse. By keeping the granularity and business context of this data, the data warehouse can serve up locally relevant, actionable information into key performance indicator (KPI) reports. Unilever business managers are now using that information to make shipping and supply chain decisions to increase on shelf availability in some of Unilever’s largest markets.

Given the global nature of the program, the OSA project also includes a comprehensive master data management (MDM) component – complete with processes and tools, such as Kalido MDM – to ensure that the information within the system is globally aligned and locally relevant.

Unilever has rolled out the On Shelf Availability project to the UK and US markets initially with the expectation that increased sales will follow. After four full quarters of measurement in these markets, early reports indicate that the original estimated on shelf availability gap was conservative.

“As an early adopter of our solutions, Unilever has successfully partnered with Kalido to enhance global information management initiatives and drive business results,” said Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido. “We are committed to helping Unilever and all of our customers build a foundation for strategic information management by understanding their unique business requirements.”

About Kalido

Kalido delivers active information management for business. With Kalido’s unique business model-driven technology, decisions are fueled by accurate, accessible and consistent information, delivered in real time, to dramatically improve corporate performance. Kalido software can be deployed at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional information management methods.

Kalido software is installed at over 250 locations in more than 100 countries with market leading companies. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Kalido is backed by Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital and Matrix Partners. More information about Kalido can be found at: http://www.kalido.com.