Blogs
Author: Z. Caner Taşkın
Today’s supply chain companies have access to an overwhelming amount of data. Customer data, production data, GIS data, POS data, financial data, streaming data, and many other types of data are all collected – and this often results in data overload.
Indeed, data collection, storage, and calculation systems have all seen significant technological improvements in recent years, but – in most instances – this data is not being used to enhance business intelligence, processes, and decisions and add bottom-line value.
The central, crucial question that supply chain companies now must answer is: what do we do with all the data we have gathered?
A good analogy for the present data dilemma that supply chain enterprises today face is a fitness tracker (also known as an activity tracker). As everyone knows, a fitness tracker is a wearable device that monitors and measures your activity, collecting real-time data and reporting back to you on whole host of metrics including the distance you walked or ran or climbed, your heart rate, the duration and quality of your sleep, and number of calories you burned. Without a doubt, this data – combined with nice dashboards that you can view on your mobile phone – is interesting. But the problem is that the fitness tracker doesn’t actually provide you with actionable insights or a specific plan on how to change and improve your lifestyle. You need to figure out on your own which actions and decisions to take in order to improve yourself and achieve your fitness goals.
In this respect, fitness trackers are similar to the business intelligence tools employed by supply chain companies to visualize data collected through IoT (internet of things) devices, back-office systems, and other sources. These tools track and compile a wealth of data on each company’s business activities, but are not capable of generating a plan that gives planners and management the ability to optimize their business processes, practices, and decisions.
To truly harness the power of data and use it to propel your company to the highest levels of productivity and profitability, you need an algorithm-based, intelligent optimization solution.
With a decision-centric optimization solution, your company can make the most of your data, utilizing it to make optimal plans, projections, and decisions and chart a path to improved performance and profitability.
Are you ready to take the first step on your journey toward data-driven, optimized decision making?
If you would like to see ICRON in action, please contact us. If you have enjoyed this blog, you can find more content that you might enjoy here.
