SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 7, 2011) - Birst, a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service solutions for business intelligence (SaaS BI) and analytics, today announced that it is providing CATCO's management team and field sales force with key sales data and analysis. CATCO, a provider of truck parts and specialty services, will use this information to enhance customer service, prioritize business issues, and better understand business results.

"In our line of business it's unusual to see a sales person out in the field with anything more than a cell phone," said Kevin May, Director of IT, CATCO. "With Birst, we're leading the way -- providing our sales reps with access to the information they need to ensure customer satisfaction and maximize results."

Through its 17 retail locations and mobile sales force, CATCO provides solutions to businesses that rely on heavy-duty vehicles. To replace a static, time-consuming sales reporting system, CATCO began developing its own reporting dashboards -- but then decided to instead purchase a third-party solution in order to allow the company's IT team to focus on core operations. After evaluating a number of open source vendors, in-memory vendors, and traditional BI solutions, CATCO selected Birst because of its low implementation and support costs, quick time to market, and ease of deployment.

Following its speedy implementation of Birst, CATCO began providing essential, real-time sales information to its sales force, regional managers, and executive team. "Deployment was extremely easy," said May. "I provided the data, and the dashboards magically appeared." Using Birst's self-service dashboards, CATCO employees can now delve into reporting and analysis that allow them to more effectively prioritize business issues and make more informed decisions. CATCO plans to extend its deployment to also include inventory data generated by the company's ERP system and data from Sugar CRM.

"In any industry, customer-facing employees out in the field can have trouble accessing the information they need to make a sale or provide the best possible customer service," said Brad Peters, CEO of Birst. "Birst helps companies tackle this challenge by providing users on the road with the same up-to-the-minute information available to someone sitting in the office."

About CATCO
Founded in 1949, CATCO provides truck parts and specialty services to people who make their living using vehicles. With 17 retail locations and a remanufacturing facility in St. Paul, Minnesota, CATCO supplies long-term value to its customers by offering only the best products and employing expert staff that service everything the company sells. CATCO's 62 years in the trucking industry demonstrate its commitment to understanding customer problems and solving them with a CATCO solution. For more information, please visit www.catcoparts.com.

About Birst
Birst is the SaaS Business Intelligence leader that accelerates business results by deploying fast, powerful, and agile business intelligence solutions for its customers. Birst overcomes the traditional cost, complexity, and performance barriers of business intelligence with rapid, flexible, affordable solutions that simultaneously improve the reach and power of analysis in an organization. Birst solutions are accessible from any Internet-connected device with a modern browser, feature high levels of security, and are highly scalable. For more information, visit www.birst.com.