La-Z-Boy gets comfortable with data thanks to Domo.

Challenge: La-Z-Boy struggled to get its many departments across numerous subsidiaries on the same page.

Solution: La-Z-Boy incorporated Domo to become data-driven across the organization.

Impact: La-Z-Boy now uses its executive dashboards to instantly know the health of the business.

According to Erika Janowicz, the secret to becoming a data-driven organization is simple: “A couple of years ago, our CEO said, ‘If you want more money in your budget, prove it with data.’”

As the business intelligence and data manager at La-Z-Boy, she helps teams at this international furniture manufacturer and retailer do just that. “Every day I go to work and help every department from HR to finance to logistics to operations use data to do their work and build the brand.”

With more than 29 million variations of furniture and other products for sale around the world, managing the data needs of La-Z-Boy used to be a challenge. But with Domo, Janowicz has been able to raise the visibility of data throughout the organization while making it available for all, with users across the company making use of alerts to be notified when data is updated or when thresholds are met that require action. “We use Domo for everything, really. It’s great,” said Janowicz. “Today, we’re able to be better at understanding the data and where it’s coming from. That helps provide the confidence in data people need.”

More than 20 departments across La-Z-Boy use Domo to generate data-driven insights.

Examples include:

• Their custom, mid century modern furniture division Joybird used Domo to uncover an alarming increase in their average order to ship days. As a result, they were able to improve their operational efficiency to reduce their average shipping time by 17 days.
• Their Credit and Collections team previously had to reference four source systems, each using unique IDs, to understand account status. With Domo, they are able to automatically combine data from the four systems for a holistic view of its accounts, improving their ability to react to overdue invoices.
• The Quality team uses Domo to monitor warranty and product performance statistics in real time to help the company improve its event rates, cost of quality, and customer experience.
• The Supply Chain team uses Domo to monitor shipping performance and backlog to help the company uncover opportunities to optimize plant loads.

Thanks to their ability to better utilize data, La-Z-Boy was able to increase their consolidated sales by 10.2% to $1.75 billion in its most recent fiscal year.

Getting the organization on board.

With an organization the size and scope of La-Z-Boy, the adoption of Domo continues to be a rolling, ongoing process long after its initial implementation a couple of years ago. “The hardest part about Domo is probably getting someone to log on for the first time,” said Janowicz.

“Whenever I get a new team, first we have a conversation where I learn more about their needs and goals to make sure Domo is the right tool for them,” said Janowicz. “Once we’re moving in the right direction, we sit down and start talking about where their data is coming from so we can help automate the processes. Once the data is in there, then it’s just building cards, which is easy and fun.” To help new departments and users get more comfortable with Domo, Janowicz also holds monthly training sessions via online webcasts.

The entire business on one page.

As La-Z-Boy continues to expand through organic growth and acquisitions around the world, relies on Domo to keep on top of its performance. “The executive dashboard really lets us see the health of the business on one page,” said Janowicz. “From there, I can tell you how the financials are doing. I can tell you how things are moving through the plant. I can tell you things that are shipped out. I can tell you how long it takes to get from the factory to the customer in one area.”