Dynamic Decision Making
Before analytics, companies had to base their business decisions either by using simple rules and partial data or using irrelevant data but within a more sophisticated approach – creating an ‘imaginary’ and unrealistic picture.
But now, everyone from on-the-ground sales reps, to customer service staff to senior management, can access up to date information and move the business forward based on a single version of the truth.
- Access and analyse sources from your company’s Big Data
- Use predictive trending within your existing CRM
- View the right company data, right now
How does this impact my decision making?
No need to wait for new data to be reflected in analysis – it appears immediately
All teams will access, analyse and work from the same data
No need for staff to work on gathering information and data mining – it’s done automatically
If data needs updating or adjusting, once is enough
No more guessing how your business is doing
Make decisions quickly based on correct information
See the results of specific actions and activities immediately
No reliance on data warehouse or IT team to generate the reports you need
Be pro-active instead of reactive when issues arise
The Decision Making Journey
Anticipate
Anticipating issues is a fantastic way to avoid certain negative business situations from arising at all. Whilst the analytics platform will not eliminate all possible problems, your organisation will have the opportunity to set certain parameters surrounding common issues.
For example:
Set limits on how much expenditure can be made (for example) by your sales reps before manual approvals have to be made
Assign automatic re-order cycles for anything from stationary to raw materials to eliminate slow sign off process
Optimise consumer sales by tracking popularity and replenishing goods before the stock runs out
Use social media tracking and keyword analysis to anticipate customer complaints
Provide real-time offers, discounts and information to customers at the point of sale based on customer profile
Collaborate
Collaboration is key in any decision making process. Rarely should business decisions be the responsibility of one ‘key man’ employee. Instead they need to be based on a common set of values and principles which everyone is familiar with.
Working both within your organisation as well as in conjunction with subsidiaries and partners to unify processes wherever possible helps to reduce decision-freeze (where no one wants to take charge of the situation and make a decision for fear of being wrong!)
Accessing the same source data can help organisations to view a ‘single version of the truth.’
Plan
Based on your newly found data, your organisation is able to make both quick and long-term plans for better business performance across each platform.
Workforce planning and hiring decisions can now be based on real data instead of guess work
Downtimes and upgrades can be scheduled to optimise operational capacity
Purchasing can be planned according to real customer trends
Leverage
Gaining access to the vast amounts of data generated by companies can be overwhelming. Reports, data analysis and statistics are brilliant – when they are used in the right way, for the right reasons. Using the information you are able to gather means something different for each organisation but the point is to know what you want to be able to improve on then taking the steps to carry it out.
Certain tasks can be eliminated or vastly reduced
Projects might be given the green (or red) light based on your data insights
Will you change your product or service offering because the figures just don’t add up?
Decision making needs to be bold, quick and correct in any industry. How confident are you to make such decisions for your organisation today?
This article is based on a blog post previously published by me at Blue Ocean Systems
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Photo Credit: Tim Gouw on Unsplash