Supply Chain Efficiency Explained

THE ‘WHAT IF’ IN SUPPLY CHAIN
HOW TO CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN
DATA AND PRODUCTIVITY
© 2017 RMG Networks

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 3
The Numbers.......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Challenges......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Solution .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
2

INTRODUCTION
Technology continues to revolutionise the supply chain sector with
warehousing, distribution, logistics and transport businesses continuously
innovating and investing billions worldwide each year. However, through many
conversations with C level decision makers and participating in events such
as SCL Hub 2017, several important issues and challenges consistently tend
to surface. What is more intriguing is that these currently very often remain
unresolved, even with all of the investment in new or improved hardware and
software, data analytics and business intelligence. These challenges are not
new, and they often even go undetected due to lack of knowledge in how to
get the most out of systems and technology. Although most decision makers
know something is missing, it is often difficult to identify what that is exactly.
While new and improved powerful management systems for workforce,
warehouse and transport (to name a few) have increasingly driven up
performance through innovations and impact features and functionalities, the
long existing gap between the data these systems generate and turning that
data into real-time actionable insights was highlighted as a major challenge in
many conversations I had at SCL HUB. Many supply chain professionals are
aware of the fact that an ‘invisible’ gap exists between data and productivity,
yet do not necessarily have a clear view on the magnitude of this productivity
gap, what it is caused by or which solutions could close this gap. As such, the
whole problem often becomes unrightfully downplayed and does not receive
enough attention. However, once some of the most important causes and
solutions are being presented to these professionals, it becomes clear how
many valuable opportunities are being lost on a daily basis by not confronting
this gap heads on. This invisible gap suddenly becomes impossible to ignore
or downplay. The focus then shifts from debating whether there is a problem
to finding the most impactful and effective solutions for dealing with the
issues at hand, given the specific context.
Many supply chain
professionals are
aware of the fact
that an ‘invisible’
gap exists
between data and
productivity, yet
do not necessarily
have a clear view
on the magnitude
of this productivity
gap
3

The Numbers
How much is being invested globally in systems, business intelligence and
analytics on a yearly basis? Well… a lot: $3.5 trillion 1 is being spent on IT
systems by companies yearly, while $143 billion 2 is being spent on business
intelligence and analytics.
But the numbers hide a defying and intriguing conf ict …
Yet according to studies, only 27 percent of employees 3 agree that they get
the information they need to help them with their work, while supervisors and
managers are reporting that it takes on average more than 6 days 4 to obtain
performance reports with traditional BI tools. Sixty percent 5 of business and
technology decision makers report concerns with creating and updating
dashboards and the time and effort it takes to do so while 64 percent6
consider it difficult to get clear answers and insights from their dashboards
and metrics.
According to a study from Deloitte only 25% of decision makers and business
leaders say that investments in data analytics and business intelligence has
resulted in considerable gains in competitiveness. To the question whether
these investments have improved performance and competitive position the
answer was:
only 25% of
decision makers
and business
leaders say that
investments in
data analytics
and business
intelligence
has resulted in
considerable gains
in competitiveness
In 3 out of 4 cases, significant improvement is still possible and the
investments have delivered only partial results.
So, the crucial multi billion-dollar question is: what is the missing link here
that could enable companies to bridge the gap between these massive
investments and actual data driven, effective decision making, leading to
more efficient operations and improved competitiveness?
missing link that
could enable
companies
to bridge the
gap between
these massive
investments and
actual data driven,
effective decision
making?
4

Thank you for the insights into your challenges …
One of the main reasons why participating in industry events such as
SCL HUB is simply amazing is that it is one of the only places where
you find so many C level executives and knowledgeable decision
makers providing you with insights into their challenges, doubt and
most pressing quests for productivity. This provides professionals
such as myself with insights into what could make their business
run better structurally, and which obstacles companies face to make
that become a reality. But here is the best thing: I can safely say that
there are sophisticated yet simple solutions to many of these most
pressing challenges and they are all about real-time visualisation of
performance metrics and engaging internal communications.
Asking the right questions … ticking the right tick boxes?
Let me just ask you some very simple questions, and if by the end of
this article you think “those are the challenges I am faced with daily,”
then know this: the solutions exist, and it is a visual one.
• What if systems were no longer disparate data sources?
A crucial problem many organisations face is the fact that operational
data is often generated by disparate and unconnected systems,
each speaking their own language and not communicating with each
other. This makes it very complicated to get a clear overview of the
performance within the department or company hence making it
difficult to manage performance in an efficient and objective way
without investing a tremendous amount of time into trying to achieve
the right insights for good decision making. What if you had a way to
unify the data from all those systems into one comprehensive
cross-functional dashboard?
• What if once unified, these sources could combine to reflect
critical action points for teams?
Reports and dashboards often still require more effort to get to the
actual insights and understand what next steps to take. What if rather
than just receiving reports, you could benefit from an automated way
of seeing in which areas performance is on or under target, and could
further more receive intelligent automated inputs indicating to your
employees, supervisors and managers what the best actions to take
are based on a set of pre-defined parameters.
There are
sophisticated yet
simple solutions
to many of these
most pressing
challenges and
they are all
about real-time
visualisation of
performance
metrics and
engaging internal
communications
What if you
had a way to
unify the data
from all those
systems into one
comprehensive
cross-functional
dashboard?
5

• What if all that was presented to you and your whole team was in
real-time?
The typical scenario of monthly performance meetings where all
KPIs get put under the microscope and discussed is all too familiar.
However, all too often these meetings occur far too late when the
facts and past performance cannot be changed. What if you had clear
insightful and real-time performance metrics presented to every staff
member, supervisor and manager at all times, allowing actions to
be taken on the spot, assuring that at the end of the month KPIs are
in green rather than red? What if problems are detected and tackled
when they can be instantaneously solved rather than when they can no
longer be corrected?
• What if business-critical incidents could be push messaged to the
management’s phones, desktops or any other appropriate channel in
real-time?
Provide real-time insights when and where your employees need it,
no matter where they are. Provide them with the exact personalised
performance metrics that are relevant to them anywhere at any time
via desktop, smartphone or tablet. That is powerful performance
management.
What if at the end
of the month KPIs
are in green rather
than red?
Provide real-time
insights when
and where your
employees need
it, no matter
where they are
6

• What if a manager would “walk the department” instead of trying
to understand old data in an office?
Rather than spending time trying to build reports and understand what
is happening on the work floor from a distance, provide the real-time
actionable insights directly to your managers, anytime, anywhere so
that instead, they can walk the floor solving issues or taking advantage
of opportunities rather than spend their time looking for them in
outdated reports. No matter if it is two hours or three days, any key
performance metric measurement that is not reflective of what is
happening now is old and, therefore, only partially relevant and of
lower value.
• What if employees were more empowered and engaged to deliver
better stats and consistently improve?
By providing people with access and insights into their own
personal performance metrics and making performance fun through
gamification, a new dynamic is created within the company leading
to a culture of transparency, empowerment, engagement and
performance. What if that was not a utopia but a choice you had
today?
No matter if it
is two hours or
three days, any
key performance
metric
measurement that
is not reflective of
what is happening
now is old and,
therefore, only
partially relevant
and of lower value
The solution being able to tick the “yes you can” tick box of each of the
above “what if” questions is: real-time, intelligent visualisation of data
and content. I hear many of you think: “Well we have reporting tools
and dashboards in our company”. You might. But real-time, intelligent
visualisation of data is something very different all together. It allows
employees on all levels to have a clear insight into their individual and
team’s performance across activities and provides actionable insights
as well as solutions to any issue or opportunity arising, any time and
from anywhere. Here is an example of how that works in this case
study on Stanley Black & Decker.
Real-time,
intelligent
visualisation
of data allows
employees on all
levels to have a
clear insight into
their individual
and team’s
performance
across activities
7

“I want to drastically boost efficiency by ticking
all the checkboxes to the six questions above?”
Then come talk to RMG…
Email: sales@rmgnetworks.com
Number: +44 203 868 6930
Tower 42, 14th Floor, London, EC2N 1HQ
*Sources:
1. Gartner Industry Projection - http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3482917
2. www.thoughtspot.com/blog/15-game-changing-bi-stats-2015 Pringle & Company
3. Gallup Study – Amid Rapid-Fire Workplace Change, Pulse Surveys Emerge by Annamarie Mann and Jim Harter
4. Aberdeen Group Study - http://blog.predie.com/2016/05/19/can-notebooks-be-successors-of-traditional-bi-tools/
5. Forrester Research/ www.thoughtspot.com/blog/15-game-changing-bi-stats-2015
6. Forrester Research/www.thoughtspot.com/blog/15-game-changing-bi-stats-2015
7. Bain & Company