Published: January 19, 2006

Sony of Canada Selects Firstlogic's Data Quality Platform Supporting End Goals of More Targeted Customer Campaigns, Cost Savings

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Canada's Leading Electronic and Computer Products Solutions Provider Integrates Firstlogic Data Quality Technologies in SAP(R) Solution-Based Enterprise Environment

Firstlogic, Inc., a global provider of enterprise data quality solutions and services, announced today that Sony of Canada Ltd., Canada's leading electronic and computer products solutions provider for consumers and business, has selected and deployed Firstlogic's data quality technology with SAP® solution-based connectivity to manage the cleansing of its enterprise-wide, million customer databases. With the Firstlogic technology implementation, Sony of Canada expects enterprise wide customer data accuracy and cost savings for the organization.

Sony of Canada, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is using Firstlogic's natively integrated Global Data Quality Connector -- which offers global address assignment, comprehensive duplicate detection, and convenient record searching -- at multiple touch points within the SAP R/3® and mySAP(TM) Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) solutions. Sony of Canada is a long-time SAP customer, having implemented SAP R/3 in 1997 and mySAP CRM in 2000.

"Firstlogic's data quality solution was selected in large part due to the product's tight integration with SAP solutions," said Harold Lewkowicz, manager of SAP applications for Sony of Canada. "It fits seamlessly into the SAP solution-based process from the user perspective. We have been very pleased with our results to date."

According to Lewkowicz, mySAP CRM and the SAP Marketing and Campaign Management packaged solution were implemented initially to support Sony of Canada's rapidly growing B2C site. Lewkowicz said the major challenge the company faced was integrating and enriching the consumer database, with names entering the system through a wide variety of sources including warranty cards, retail stores, Sonystyle web site and the service center, as well as the Sony Help Desk Interaction Center.

"We initially wanted data cleansing tools for the consumer database," added Lewkowicz. "With multiple source systems providing us names, we were concerned about generating more than one distinct record per customer. We have implemented the online version of Firstlogic's data quality solution into our contact center so that customer validation and address cleansing can occur in real time against the Canada Post file before the data is loaded into mySAP CRM. We are working towards cleansing from all of our touch points enterprise-wide."

Lewkowicz said Sony of Canada's ongoing return-on-investment from its data quality initiative occurs in two main areas. "In terms of running campaigns, our customer data is going to be far more accurate, enabling us to perform more targeted campaigns," he said. "There will also be a cost savings component as it relates to eliminating duplicates, as well as a greater rate of delivery due to address validation, which means savings in handling, postage and printing."

About Sony of Canada Ltd.

Established in 1955, Sony of Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of electronic and computer products for consumer, business, electronics publishing and multimedia applications on a global scale. With headquarters in Toronto, sales offices in Vancouver and Montreal and distribution centres in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Whitby, Ontario, approximately 1000 employees support 75+ Sony stores and a network of more than 3,000 authorized dealers across Canada.

For further information, please visit us at www.sony.ca, www.thesonystore.ca, or www.sonystyle.ca, Sony's product information and e-commerce Web site.

About Firstlogic

Firstlogic is the recognized market leader for enterprise-wide data quality and print and mail solutions. In addition to developing commercial solutions, Firstlogic partners with many systems integrators, consultants, and original equipment manufacturers to provide its unique technology to their end-user customers. Founded in 1984, Firstlogic today serves thousands of customers worldwide, including Global 2000 companies across a broad spectrum of industries. For more information, visit .

SAP, R/3, mySAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.