Who is leading digital transformation in your business right now?
We have all had to master the use of Zoom and/or Microsoft Teams as a result of COVID-19. But that is just one part of digital transformation that businesses have been driven to implement faster.
In times like this, you need to spend more time acting on data and less time on just trying to find it. It is time to use every tool available to analyse data to uncover hidden insights to improve future outcomes and we face the difficulties of the return to the new normal. As in previous economic downturns, the winners will be those that respond to the disruption with smarter use of technology. This will lead more businesses to embrace productivity-boosting digital transformation technology, including analytics.
Important to have visibility across the team with up-to-date analytics in easy to understand dashboards. It is time to stop manually updating spreadsheets!
Retail and Supply Chain
If you are a retailer or in supply chain, your world has been heavily impacted. Buying patterns have changed and supply chains disrupted. You need to use analytics to optimise your supply chain so that every location knows what is coming and when. Some products may be high in demand due to a change in buying patterns e.g. canned meals, cleaning products and home entertainment. But later, the demand will diminish, and you don’t want to get caught by over production and excess inventory. In addition, there has been low or zero demand for items like clothing, outside entertainment, furnishings and appliances. Uncertainty about the economy will keep many consumers cautious about their spending, so pent up demand as we come out of lockdown may be muted.
For many in the retail/supply chain world, demand patterns are not following previous patterns. No longer can they rely on weekly or monthly reports when things are changing rapidly each day. So now is the time use analytics to forecast trends in supply and demand and track fast-moving changes in leading indicators.
Workforce Management
It is now more important than ever to manage the number of staff working. You need workforce management analytics to help you predict how many people you need, with which skills, and when. Non-essential staff should stay safe at home and those working need to be keeping a safe distance apart.
It’s a rapidly changing world, and analytics can ease the challenge of reducing inefficiencies and keeping people safe while working.
Improved Productivity
With many businesses contemplating laying off workers after the wage subsidy runs out, unemployment is set to rise. In addition, many people are required to stay at home. As a result, many people have been learning and embracing new IT skills, driving improved efficiency, improved communications and cost reductions.
Advanced data analytics and dashboard solutions are on the rise. Not only to give clarity every day on rapidly changing data, but dashboards be more easily interpreted and shared by the whole team wherever they are working from. All this can be automated, giving one version of the truth and saving hours of analysis in Excel.
Analytics can be used to find bottlenecks, finding inefficiencies in your processes. You can’t just throw extra people at problems right now – you need to uncover the root causes using analytics. By making your operations more productive and, ultimately improve business performance, it will set you up for even greater success as we move into the new normal.
What To Consider In An Analytics Platform
You need to get on the analytics journey now to solve the problems posed by the COVID-19 crisis. Doing this will benefit both your customers and your employees. But all analytics platforms are not equal. Here’s what you need to consider:
- Cloud-based
You and your team want something you can turn on and have access from your home office too. That means cloud-based analytics.
- Easy deployment
In a crisis, analytics need to be easily deployed, as those that have never before been interested in data will now find it essential. Now is not the time to go through a huge learning curve.
You need to be able to deploy analytics to any team member that needs that information, anywhere, anytime. While some of the ‘cookie cutter’ solutions may suit smaller, simpler businesses, larger businesses want to see more things, the way they want to see them. If you have the in-house expertise, get started now.
If you don’t have in-house expertise, call in the experts that can do an end-to-end solution or part of the solution for you. Go for self-select rather than self-help. Choosing an analytics provider that has previous experience in your industry will shorten the time to implementation.
Start with a few dashboards in critical areas and add more as you get more comfortable with dashboards.
Want to get started? Get in touch