Published on the 29/01/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Enterprises which exploit multiple data sources and implement systems to instantly identify patterns and act on them are going to secure a hard-to-erode competitive edge…
There is mounting evidence of a competitive edge being built up by organisations which are able to exploit not just their own data collections, but to add insights from third party sources, interpret that data and then implement systems that can automatically tweak operations to optimise performance and improve the customer experience. It’s probably why business intelligence ranked second on Gartner’s list of CIO priorities for 2014.
Software AG senior vice president Stephen Keys offered the example of Dutch shipping company Royal Dirkzwager which has constructed an information system that integrated its own data – such as ship location and fuel levels – with weather reports and data from ports regarding berth availability. The insights from such a mesh of data meant it was possible to instruct ships to, for example, reduce their speed, conserve fuel, and arrive at a port as a berth became available, and at the same time arrange trucks to be on hand just-in-time for unloading.
He said that there were similar local examples – Fonterra in New Zealand and Woolworths in Australia for example – of enterprises building up richer data networks which could then be exploited to make supply chains more efficient and effective.
Some of the best innovation emerged from lines of business and IT departments working in concert to explore what was possible Keys said.
To get started organisations needed to perform a business process analysis, audit the information assets available, automate business processes, and then implement systems to provide process visibility and analytics to allow action to be taken.
Software AG’s regional chief technology officer Dan Ternes explained that in many cases it was necessary to automate that action step as; “the information is coming too fast for a human to make sense of it. The value is coming where the system is interpreting and taking decisions in milliseconds – before human intervention.”
Ternes said that many organisations were analysing data to improve customer experience and hence reduce the likelihood of churn. “This is where the first mover gets a real advantage as it’s difficult for the second or third followers to catch up.”
Keys said that in those organisations leading the charge there was an “interesting rise of the chief marketing officer. We are seeing a shift where cap ex is owned by the line of business.”
While there was a role for both CMOs to challenge the status quo and CIOs to explain the art of the possible, the greatest success came in those organisations able to foster a closer alliance between IT and marketing said Keys.
