For decades we've been telling each other and ourselves, "Once the technology catches up, once all this data is available to us, we'll be able to run operations more efficiently.” But now we're beyond that point, the visibility into operations is almost endless.
There are few to no obstacles, including the cost, data accessibility, or technology, standing between your company and being truly data-driven. The only remaining challenge is identifying the starting point and best strategy suited to your organization.
Data has always been important to businesses. It's what allows us to make informed decisions, including those decisions based on quantitative statistics and those based on qualitative insights such as case studies.
Today, data is more important than ever before. The list of technologies available to support the data-driven optimization that companies are seeking include, but is not limited to:
The transportation industry has witnessed a substantial boom in innovation, such as in sensor technologies. For example, continuous monitoring of trailer cargo conditions such as temperature and humidity now gives you full visibility into the status and condition of your cargo and assets.
The amount of data we can collect is growing exponentially. And it's not just about collecting more data; it's about collecting higher quality data, in real time, with greater accuracy than ever before. The challenge is that all of this data needs to be analyzed quickly so that it can be put into action immediately.
This means that companies need solutions that will help them manage their data more efficiently and cost-effectively so that they can gain maximum visibility into operations and avoid costly mistakes. Maximum visibility aids businesses and organizations in getting ahead of the competition, and ahead of set-backs.
Data-driven operations are a central part of the data-driven transformation that is taking place in many industries. Cloud technology plays an important role in making this possible, by enabling companies to collect, store, and analyze operational data with greater ease than they could before. The Cloud is also ideal for sharing information among employees, partners, regulatory organizations, and customers. Many modern-day businesses are built solely on the Cloud and operate within it.
Research has shown that organizations that have embraced the Cloud are more likely to be data-driven in their decision-making processes than those whose infrastructure remains on premises. This leads to improvements in operational performance including safety, efficiency and sustainability.
Previously, the lack of data has constrained operational decision making. Most decisions involve trade-offs between greater efficiency and other objectives such as safety, reliability, and sustainability. There simply was not enough data or the ability to analyze the data to make an optimized decision that increases value across operational goals. This is what data-driven operations systems deliver and why investing in operational data is an effective management improvement and solution.
Historically, operational excellence has focused on optimizing individual processes through stand-alone process improvement efforts. However, this approach does not address the full range of challenges that organizations face today. Challenges range from managing supply chains to managing customer experience across multiple touch points.
Operational excellence must now take a new approach that incorporates data-driven operations capabilities into every business function across an organization. This requires a new set of skills that are more widely applicable than ever before: analytics skill sets paired with engineering skill sets; business process design expertise coupled with data management expertise; structured decision support tools coupled with unstructured decision support tools, and so on. This requires maximum visibility into data.
It's not something you can just "do," it's something that must be embraced by all organizations, regardless of size and industry. The path to optimization is a journey, but it starts with understanding the benefits of DDO and how it can be used to improve your operations.
As an organization, you'll need to look at your current processes and determine which ones are relevant for your organization's goals. You may also have questions like: "How do we measure if we're making progress?" or "How do we know if our efforts are working?" These are all questions that can be answered with data-driven operations.
If you're a part of a team at an organization looking to improve operations across all sectors of your business, you need DDO. The longer you wait to implement DDO, the further you'll fall behind your competitors. To learn more about what types of data-driven optimizations can help your business, contact us!
CloudHawk is a leader in telecommunications, and data-driven operations optimization, specializing in the commercial fleet and trucking industry! We enable intelligent fleet and asset tracking solutions that give your company an extraordinary vision. So track more than just your location, track your processes and optimization possibilities, with CloudHawk.