MicroStrategy Recognizes Excellence in Enterprise-Class Business Intelligence

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence (BI) and mobile software, today recognized six companies for achieving outstanding business performance with their MicroStrategy-based business intelligence applications. The MicroStrategy "Best Practices in Business Intelligence" award recipients for 2013 are Parallon Business Solutions, The Container Store, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, RADIUS Travel, WOWOW Communications, and Tilly's. The awards were announced at MicroStrategy's 16th annual user conference, MicroStrategy World 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Each of MicroStrategy's product lines -- Business Analytics, Mobile App Platform, Cloud, Express, Wisdom, Usher and Alert — delivers unmistakable value to our customers," said Michael J. Saylor, Chairman and CEO, MicroStrategy Incorporated.  "We congratulate these six organizations for leveraging MicroStrategy's full suite of products to dramatically improve their organization's key goals and achieve remarkable results."

Following is a brief description of this year's award recipients and their enterprise applications:

Parallon Business Solutions:  Parallon Business Solutions is the award recipient in the Business Analytics category. In the past, Parallon monitored hospital accounts receivables (AR) via seven different dashboards. But when the company set out to provide clients such as HCA and LifePoint with AR data, they realized the service would be more helpful if the data were further integrated and accessible. Aided by MicroStrategy Professional Services, Parallon created an analytics solution allowing hospitals to monitor AR-to-cash information from a single MicroStrategy web dashboard, taking advantage of what-if analytical capabilities on numerous key performance indicators (KPIs). Now, clients can quickly check the performance of their business and access historical data to perform deeper analysis on accounts, while mobile users can view KPI and business performance trends over a twelve-month rolling timeframe, across demographics, and from any location. Headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., Parallon Business Solutions is a leading provider of healthcare business and operational services. Parallon partners with hospitals and healthcare systems to improve their business performance through best practices in revenue cycle, group purchasing, supply chain, technology, workforce management and consulting. Parallon is committed to bringing a deep and evolving knowledge, a long track record of operational excellence and a broad portfolio to all partnerships, in order to help them to thrive in the communities they serve. Parallon employs more than 22,000 professionals and serves more than 1,400 hospitals and 11,000 non-acute care providers.

The Container Store:  The Container Store is the award recipient in the Mobile App Platform category. Having identified gaps in their store reporting, The Container Store resolved to improve the timeliness, consistency and practicality of information provided to regional directors, area directors and store general managers. Their solution? "The Score," an iPad app based on MicroStrategy's Mobile Platform, which provides leadership at all 58 stores with on-the-go access to store sales and productivity information. The app includes projected and historical payroll performance data, plus a daily trend report powered by MicroStrategy's Visual Insight technology. Planned upgrades include in-store alerts, campaign performance reporting, a custom design center (CDC)/elfa® performance module, and features using MicroStrategy Transaction Services, including employee ranking and inventory control. Founded in 1978 and based in Coppell, Texas, The Container Store is the nation's original and leading retailer of storage and organization products, offering more than 10,000 innovative and multifunctional solutions designed to simplify customers' lives, save space, and, ultimately, save time. The Container Store has locations from coast to coast that each average 25,000 square feet and a thriving online business.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts:  Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is the award recipient in the MicroStrategy Cloud category. As Four Seasons was looking to advance and centralize its revenue management capabilities, it selected MicroStrategy Cloud as its new data warehousing and reporting platform. This new platform will allow Four Seasons to deliver improved global revenue analytic capabilities, including a consistent view for all stakeholders, expanded and consistent insight into key performance metrics, and data integrity straight from the source systems.  The new environment will also expand access to business performance and key insights to a broader audience of hotel decision makers. In the future, Four Seasons also plans to add mobile dashboards and forecast capabilities to its revenue management application. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is dedicated to perfecting the travel experience through continual innovation and the highest standards of hospitality. From elegant surroundings of the finest quality, to caring, highly personalized 24-hour service, Four Seasons embodies a true home away from home for those who know and appreciate the best. The deeply instilled Four Seasons culture is personified in its employees -- people who share a single focus and are inspired to offer great service. Founded in 1960, Four Seasons has followed a targeted course of expansion, opening hotels and residences in major city centres and desirable resort destinations around the world. With 90 properties in 37 countries, and more than 50 projects under development, Four Seasons continues to lead the hospitality industry with innovative enhancements, making business travel easier and leisure travel more rewarding.

RADIUS Travel: RADIUS Travel is the award recipient in the Express Application category. As a provider of global travel data, RADIUS offered a unique way to measure and evaluate the quality of the data for better decision-making. RADIUS needed a BI platform that could support several projects, including a global data quality program, an initiative to track IT metrics and an effort to create a new generation of global data reporting tools. The solution they chose was MicroStrategy Express, which enabled RADIUS to prototype applications with interactive data visualizations that users could work with on their iPads. As a result, RADIUS significantly reduced development time while realizing improved scalability and cost. RADIUS Travel is a privately-held corporate travel management company with offices in Bethesda, Maryland, and in London. RADIUS, with 90 corporate travel agencies operating in 80 countries and in over 3,300 locations, designs custom global travel management solutions for multinational companies.

WOWOW Communications:  WOWOW Communications is the award recipient in the MicroStrategy Wisdom Market Intelligence category. As the marketing arm of the Japanese satellite television company, WOWOW Communications sought to grow its subscriber base, increase viewing rates and improve subscriber retention. To help address these challenges, WOWOW paired its social media initiatives with Wisdom to gain more insight about their customers. As a result, WOWOW can plan advertising that is more closely aligned with viewers' interests, benefiting subscribers and advertisers alike. WOWOW Communications Inc. was established in 1998 as a customer center department of WOWOW, Japan's first private satellite television broadcasting company with more than 2.6 million memberships. As a member of WOWOW group, WOWOW Communications develops businesses in customer center operations and telemarketing by satellite broadcasting, telephone, fax, internet, and mobile communication, positioning itself as an advanced communication service provider.

Tilly's: Tilly's is the award recipient in the Alert Mobile Commerce category. Tilly's sought to provide each of their customers with an exceptional and consistent experience, whether in store, online, or on their mobile phones. Their solution was a state-of-the-art mobile commerce app powered by MicroStrategy's Alert Mobile Commerce Platform. Available for iPhone and Android smartphones, the app provides access to exclusive Tilly's content, a streamlined mobile shopping experience, and wallet functionality that allows personalized promotions and receipts. The company launched its app before the holidays and has seen its customers respond positively to downloading it and using the features available. The result has been an enhanced experience of the Tilly's brand. Tilly's is a fast-growing destination specialty retailer of West Coast inspired apparel, footwear and accessories with an extensive assortment of the most relevant and sought-after brands rooted in action sports, music, art and fashion. Tilly's is headquartered in Southern California and, as of January 2, 2013, operates 168 stores and through its website, www.tillys.com.

About MicroStrategy Incorporated

Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) is a leading worldwide provider of enterprise software, including the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence (BI) Platform™, the MicroStrategy Mobile Platform™, and MicroStrategy Applications™. The Company offers its technologies for deployment in customer data centers and as proprietary cloud services.  The MicroStrategy BI Platform enables leading organizations to analyze vast amounts of data and distribute business insight throughout the enterprise. The MicroStrategy Mobile Platform lets organizations rapidly build enterprise-caliber mobile applications needed to mobilize business processes and information. MicroStrategy Applications are a set of application services designed to help enterprises deploy mobile commerce and loyalty services, build mobile identity and cyber security services, as well as generate real-time insights into consumer preferences.  MicroStrategy Cloud™ allows enterprises to deploy MicroStrategy BI apps and mobile apps more quickly and with lower financial risk than with traditional on-premises solutions. To learn more about MicroStrategy, visit www.microstrategy.com and follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/microstrategy) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/microstrategy).

MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform, MicroStrategy Mobile Platform, MicroStrategy Applications, and MicroStrategy Cloud are either trademarks or registered trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Contact:
Warren Getler
MicroStrategy Incorporated
703-744-6258
[email protected] 

SOURCE MicroStrategy Incorporated