1) The Company

Client Name and Industry‍

Blizzard - Video Gaming Industry

Background

‍Blizzard is the largest gaming company in the United States, renowned for its groundbreaking games and significant impact on the industry. With numerous achievements and milestones, Blizzard continues to be a leader in the gaming world.

2) The Challenge

Initial Situation:

As Blizzard was in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, the company needed to expedite its financial reporting processes to meet the new demands.

Specific Problems:

The existing management package comprised over 100 spreadsheets, causing frequent calculation issues and crashes. Additionally, Blizzard wanted to add another 25 reports to the package, further complicating the process.

Goals:

Blizzard aimed to explore different technology solutions to streamline the report production, ensuring it could be managed by one employee and produced in less than one hour.

Previous Attempts:

Although Blizzard had made a few small changes, the finance team lacked the technical expertise to solve the problem, particularly due to the heavy processing load left inside Excel.

3) The Solution

Our Approach:

Idea House Collective began by analyzing the entire year's process requirements and the current methods used by Blizzard's team. We then sought additional resources to assist with the solution, ensuring a comprehensive approach.

Systems Implemented:

After consulting with the central Hyperion team, we incorporated some changes within the database to offload processing workloads from Excel. We coordinated with an external software developer to reconfigure the presentation software, reducing the workload for the final product used by executives.

Services Provided:

We provided finance, system, and process services, building additional finance reporting capabilities, setting up new system requirements, and adjusting processes to gather data from both operations and finance teams.

Collaboration:

We conducted interviews with internal business owners and developed an initial project plan that included these stakeholders. We held weekly status meetings and used tools like Slack, calls, and emails for ongoing progress discussions and problem-solving.

4) The Results

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

The success was measured by the ability to produce the management summary for the entire company in a single report within one hour of any financial or business KPI updates.

Quantitative Results:

• Reduced reporting time by 75% and labor cost by 50%.
• Increased report frequency by 400%, substantially boosting productivity.
• Cut 15% of time off month-end financial review.
• Reduced errors by 50% through robust, system-driven calculations and validations.

Qualitative Results:

• Simplified management meetings by requiring only one report.
• Eliminated Excel crashes, increasing trust in the validation process housed within the single report.
• Enabled report updates within one hour, significantly improving efficiency.

Client Feedback:

Blizzard was very pleased with the final product. One of the biggest benefits was building internal relationships that facilitated future automation projects. Large companies often have the necessary resources, but compartmentalization can hinder the implementation of effective solutions.

Long-term Impact:

The client has increased the amount of calculations within the database, allowing access by other internal teams and enhancing the ROI on their Hyperion database investment.

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This case study demonstrates Ideahouse Collective's ability to deliver impactful solutions that address complex challenges and improve operational efficiency.

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Through detailed analysis, strategic system implementation, and effective collaboration, we helped Blizzard streamline their financial reporting processes, ensuring they met the demands of their acquisition and future growth.

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