Pine Valley Furniture Company is like many manufacturers however who have put production efficiency, not customer or retailer and dealer satisfaction, at the center of their company values from an it standpoint. Overcoming the pitfalls of relying on it just for supply chain, production and manufacturing efficiency and not paying attention to customer data as a priority needs to change. Starting first with a redefining of data collection, reporting and analysis from the customer's standpoint, then progressing to the retail channels, the focus of it needs to shift to interpreting and analyzing demand, not just supply. Long-term marketing strategies including the measurement of product line sales by channel, analyzing the impact of pricing strategies by channel partner and product, and measuring the cost of returns by customer segment all need to be included. A redefinition of the it systems and platforms focused on customer data rejuvenates a company's go-to-market strategies...

Pine Valley Furniture Company must also introduce an entirely new set of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to better manage the customer, channel, retailer and service provider relationships they have. Included in metrics and KPIs there needs to be predictive analytics of customer purchasing, profitability and service return rates by segment (Nauck, Ruta, Spott, Azvine, 2006). The pitfalls that Pine Valley has experienced can be alleviated with more customer focused data.