Vodafone Selects Datawatch To Provide World-Wide Business Insight

CHELMSFORD, Mass. and LONDON, Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Datawatch Corporation (NASDAQ-CM: DWCH), the leading global provider of visual data discovery solutions, today announced that Vodafone has deployed Datawatch as part of a suite of tools to provide a validated, company-wide view of business transactions that will enable the Internal Audit Team to quickly spot anomalous issues and minimize risk.

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The Internal Audit (IA) Team, comprising some 115 staff across the organization, is mandated to provide independent insight and assurance over risk across financial and operational processes company-wide. The implementation is being facilitated through the Finance Shared Service Centers ("SSC") which constitute a central resource that supports core financial operations world-wide. The initial project will cover 6 to 10 countries and will ultimately expand to encompass all remaining global operations.

"Our primary focus and core reason for bringing Datawatch on-board was to gain access to our unstructured and semi-structured data from across the global enterprise," states Paul Webster, head of audit, Technology at Vodafone. "The new analytic tools, which will now include data from PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and multiple diverse reports, will give the Internal Audit Department unprecedented access to huge volumes of data."

The Datawatch solution is being deployed initially to import vital data from SAP-generated reports produced by the single SAP instance supporting the global SSC in Hungary. All this data, together with the unstructured and semi-structured data from operational systems across the globe, can be consolidated into a validated, single information source for interactive drill-down analysis and audit. Datawatch's unique ability to extract the information in these hard-to-read formats will give the Internal Audit team the ability to import data from a wide variety of disparate systems such as CRM, billing, stock control, stores, networks, IT and marketing. In addition, access to 100% of the data will dramatically improve the coverage, quantification of the risk and eliminate the need for sample testing.                               

"Whilst Vodafone has standardized on SAP for core financial processes throughout the organization, each operating company has nuances in how they do things. The Datawatch Desktop modelling capability and the Datawatch Server technology will enable us to load, validate and interrogate this data for fast, detailed business insight," adds Webster. "We will be able to test the effectiveness of operational controls, suggest process efficiencies, and ensure risks are being managed effectively – providing us with a market-leading, best-in-class solution."

"Also, with the recent purchase of Panopticon, the Datawatch solutions now encompass powerful data visualization tools which will give us direct access into our disparate systems and avoid the need for costly infrastructure outlay. We are actively looking to see how we can integrate this capability into our global strategy."

"This is a major innovation for Vodafone and Internal Audit in particular, as it brings automated, IT-independent, total business insight into the audit domain. Their watchword of 'Doing More with Data' is most certainly being proven," said Haj Muntz, general manager for Datawatch EMEA. "The intelligence that the IA Team will now be able to offer into the wider business is unparalleled."

About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies with approximately 409 million customers in its controlled and jointly controlled markets as of 30 June 2013. Vodafone has equity interests in telecommunications operations in nearly 30 countries and around 50 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.

ABOUT DATAWATCH CORPORATION

Datawatch Corporation (NASDAQ-CM: DWCH) provides visual data discovery software that optimizes any data – regardless of its variety, volume, or velocity – delivering next generation analytics to reveal valuable insights for improving business. Its unique ability to integrate structured, unstructured, and semi-structured sources like reports, PDF files and EDI streams with real-time streaming data into visually rich analytic applications allow users to dynamically discover key factors that impact any operational aspect of their business. This ability to perform visual discovery against any data sets Datawatch apart in the big data and visualization markets. Organizations of every size, worldwide use Datawatch, including 99 of the Fortune 100. Datawatch is headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts with offices in New York, London, Munich, Stockholm, Singapore, Sydney and Manila, and with partners and customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.  See the Whole Story for yourself by downloading the free trial at www.datawatch.com/trial.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statements, including but not limited to those relating to results of operations, contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include the following: risks associated with the continuing weak global economy; risks associated with fluctuations in quarterly operating results due, among other factors, to the size and timing of large customer orders; risks associated with acquisitions, including the recent acquisition of intellectual property from Math Strategies and the acquisition of Panopticon; the volatility of Datawatch's stock price; limitations on the effectiveness of internal controls; rapid technological change; Datawatch's dependence on the introduction of new products and possible delays in those introductions; competition in the software industry generally, and in the markets for information optimization in particular; Datawatch's dependence on its principal products, proprietary software technology and software licensed from third parties; risks associated with international sales and operations; risks associated with indirect distribution channels; the adequacy of Datawatch's sales returns reserve; risks associated with a subscription sales model; Datawatch's dependence on its ability to hire and retain skilled personnel; disruption or failure of Datawatch's technology systems that may result from a natural disaster, cyber-attack or other catastrophic event; and uncertainty and additional costs that may result from evolving regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure. Further information on factors that could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated is detailed in various publicly-available documents, which include, but are not limited to, filings made by Datawatch from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, those appearing in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2012, Form 10-Q for the quarters ended December 31, 2012, March 31, 2013 and June 30, 2013, and Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on August 5, 2013.   Any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of those factors.

Investor Contact:
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Media Contact:
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SOURCE Datawatch Corporation