Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 46 | Page 42

FEATURE: ANALYTICS plan without appropriately reviewing if there is any potential impact on profit margins. Achieving full visibility of operations across the business is key for maximising the enterprise’s decision-making capabilities. This includes having on-demand access to the right information, at the right time. However, according to KPMG’s 2016 Global Manufacturing Outlook report, 43% of ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// analytic software – including enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and manufacturing execution software (MES) – should be used to provide these insights. These technologies work by collecting, distilling, interpreting, editing and presenting meaningful data in a timely manner, and highlighting issues and areas of concern in a way that is clear and actionable. ACHIEVING FULL VISIBILITY OF OPERATIONS ACROSS THE BUSINESS IS KEY FOR MAXIMISING THE ENTERPRISE’S DECISION-MAKING CAPABILITIES. senior executives admit they had either limited or no visibility at all into their supply chain – a concerning figure. How can analytics be applied to data and what are the benefits of this? While no one person can have direct visibility of everything that is going on in a company, business intelligence technologies and Cutting through the everyday influx of data is an ongoing business need and systems that can help make decision-makers choose Using analytics to futureproof your organisation 42 INTELLIGENTCIO quickly and wisely are more crucial than ever before. To eliminate analysis paralysis, businesses need to access contextualised data and present this in a format – in a dashboard, or as graphics or alerts – that users find easy to work with. To simplify this process, all data needs to be stored in a centralised system that can be integrated with other devices, so that information can be accessed across the entire business, by multiple parties. Solutions like ERP and MES make it possible to enable the integration of data across the entire product lifecycle, from design, through to engineering, manufacturing, delivery and customer service. This gives all stakeholders – from C-level executives to those working on the manufacturing floor – access to real-time and actionable, information and insights. Having a filtered view of all this detail will enable decisions to be based on relevant, accurate and reliable data. There is no room for uncertainty in business when paving the way for future growth. By applying analytics to data, decision-makers can swiftly access insights that will enable them to make the right choices to improve operations across an entire business, including customer service and demand planning and, ultimately, profits. n Analytics software can provide a 360-degree view of an organisation from an overwhelming amount of data that’s of limited use. Laura Timms, Product Strategy Manager at MHR Analytics, sets out ways companies can harness data analytics to thrive in tough times and plan confidently for 2020 and beyond. www.intelligentcio.com