on the RADAaR™ – April 2015

Competitive Insights, LLC

on the RADAaR™

a convenient resource for current Integrated Business Planning (IBP) information

latest news

on big data ::
where’s the beef?

how are companies really solving specific business problems using analytics and big data? More here


on integrated business planning ::
how CFOs and supply-chain leaders can boost earnings

global supply chains tend to deliver better results at lower costs when CFOs and supply-chain leaders work closely together … more here


on supply chain risk ::
BSI Global Supply Chain Intelligence report reveals global business impact of security, human rights and environmental violations

$33 billion of business losses due to natural disasters and $23 billion of cargo theft in 2014 … more here


on advanced analytics ::
business users neglect deep data analytics in favour of limited self-service tools

survey reveals that a need for speed in gaining big data insight is preventing organisations from driving more transformative results here


  FREE webinar

Competitive Insights in conjunction with Georgia Tech presents …

The Three Cornerstones of
Supply and Demand Planning

Date/Time: April 30, 2015 • 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Location: Register here
Phone: (404) 894-2343
Email: [email protected]

  join us

Competitive Insights chairs the session
on
Intelligent Analytics - How to Drive Ongoing Business Value

3PL Summit &
Chief Supply Chain Officer Forum

Date/Time: June 16-18, 2015
Location: Chicago, IL, USA


Special Discount code: CI200
More information here

we appreciate your feedback, please respond to our five minute survey here
what’s on your RADAaR? want to stay updated on a topic not listed? email us at [email protected]

Competitive Insights, LLC

4200 Northside Parkway NW, Bldg. 12 • Atlanta, Georgia 30327 • 770.922.4400
www.ci-advantage.com

Where’s the beef?

Richard Sharpe Analytics & Big Data
 

Where’s the beef?

With all of the attention being given to analytics and big data, the question that I often hear is:

“How are companies really solving specific business problems using analytics and big data?  Talk to me about the real and sustainable value that companies are finding by investing in analytics and big data capabilities.”

To coin a phrase made popular years ago by a fast food chain “Where’s the beef?”

In earlier blog postings, I explained how analytics, coupled with accurate and specific data, can be used to facilitate cross functional decision making that is based on facts, not allocations, estimates or opinions.  Moving beyond “siloed’ data and decision making processes can create a real advantage in driving increased financial performance.  This advantage becomes a competitive differentiation that is based on factual insights across the entire enterprise versus departmental decisions that are based on isolated operating metrics.

Navigating in today’s complex business environments requires the ability to make smarter, pinpointed decisions.  The myriad of systems with segregated data often make it difficult to have the right information that is needed.  Better decisions are driven by having complete visibility across the enterprise.  With that visibility, very specific strategies by region, individual customers, product categories, SKU’s or channels can be tested, deployed and monitored.  This avoids the trap of trying to force a 'one size fits all' policy decision based on incomplete data both before and after the decision.

So assume for a moment that your company has defined very specific profit improvement goals that are not being met.  You have a cross functional team assembled.  You have all of the data you need, not just from one system but from EVERY system.  The data is accurate and complete.  There is no organizational anxiety about its source or validity.  With the proper analytics and data, you would want to simply and quickly answer the following questions:

  • What are the specific and detailed facts that offer insights regarding this current lack of performance?  (Descriptive Analytics)
  • Considering the end to end operation, what caused this performance to happen, i.e. the root cause that drove this performance? (Diagnostic Analytics)
  • What would be the financial impact if we make these very specific cross functional changes? (Predictive Analytics)
  • What other options do we have that the team has not considered or that are too complicated to completely define currently?  (Prescriptive Analytics)

It might be utopia for your company, but not for companies that have successfully developed Integrated Business Planning (IBP) solutions through the proper alignment of analytical and data capabilities.  Having this organizational capability provides immediate and sustainable value.  Value that drives competitive advantage by showing “Here’s the beef”!

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.

All the best, Richard

Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe is CEO of Competitive Insights, LLC (CI), a founding officer of the American Logistics Aid Network(ALAN) and designated by DC Velocityas a Rainmaker in the industry. For the last 25 years, Richard has been passionate about driving business value through the adoption of process and technology innovations. His current focus is to support CI’s mission to enable companies to gain maximum value through specific, precise and actionable insights across the organization for smarter growth. CI delivers Enterprise Profit Insights (EPI) solutions that enable cross-functional users to increase and protect profitability. Prior to his current role, Richard was President of CAPS Logistics, the forerunner of supply chain optimization. Richard is a frequent speaker at national conferences and leading academic institutions. His current focus is to challenge executives to improve their company’s competitive position by turning enterprise wide data from a liability to an asset through the use of applied business analytics.

on the RADAaR™ – February 2015

Competitive Insights, LLC

on the RADAaR™

a convenient resource for current Integrated Business Planning (IBP) information

latest news

on big data ::
“Who’s” on First, “What’s” on Second, “I Don’t Know’s” on Third

so what does this have to do with Big Data and the value that can be derived through meaningful business analytics? More here


on integrated business planning ::
bending time to enable smarter supply chain decisions

anyone involved in supply chain management has already witnessed the compression of time… more here


on supply chain risk ::
the financial risk lurking in your supply chain

when a brittle supply chain snaps, customers don’t get their products, companies lose revenue, brands are sullied, and the company suffers. More here


on advanced analytics ::
C-suite tip for 2015 -- advanced analytics

The question is: will they think about it, and more importantly will they make them a part of their decision processes? More here


  what CI offers

Competitive Insights is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides detailed and insightful IBP solutions to its customers using advanced analytics for:

Complexity Reduction
Customer Segmentation
Product Segmentation
Specific, Precise and Detailed Profitability

schedule a one our webinar demo
   
www.ci-advantage.com

  join us

Georgia Institute of Technology is offering Supply and Demand Planning certification. The following are the required courses for the certificate:

  • Supply and Operations Planning
  • Integrated Business Planning
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
More information here

we appreciate your feedback, please respond to our five minute survey here
what’s on your RADAaR? want to stay updated on a topic not listed? email us at [email protected]

Competitive Insights, LLC

4200 Northside Parkway NW, Bldg. 12 • Atlanta, Georgia 30327 • 770.922.4400
www.ci-advantage.com

“Who’s” on First, “What’s” on Second, “I Don’t Know’s” on Third

Richard Sharpe Analytics & Big Data
 

“Who’s” on First, “What’s” on Second, “I Don’t Know’s” on Third

Many of us remember the great comedy routine by Abbott & Costello Who’s” on First, “What’s” on Second, “I Don’t Know’s” on Third.  If not, take a look at this YouTube link for a quick laugh:

 

So what does this have to do with Big Data and the value that can be derived through meaningful business analytics?  Well just about everything.  In the Abbott & Costello routine, the names of the players on the bases are creating miscommunication and confusion.  The same confusion can often be seen when companies are trying to derive meaningful insights through Big Data initiatives.

Big Data initiatives that create “One Version of the Truth” are more successful in driving strategies that are actually implemented and that have significant financial impact.

Here are three considerations to help drive One Version of the Truth to achieve success and the realization of significant financial impact through the use of analytics and Big Data:

 
  • Cross-functional participation is critical.  This is especially true in defining the objective (intent of the effort), reaching agreement on how the Big Data is going to be used (repurposed), determine the sources of the data and the data validation process.  Cross-functional consensus early in the process can help eliminate the analytical results being questioned and or dismissed. Without cross functional participation, you minimize your chances at finding One Version of the Truth and achieving success.
  • Assuming the result you are seeking is an ongoing need of the business, it is important to recognize early on that your Big Data approach must be sustainable.  This means that the sources of the data, the rules on how data is going to be used and the way that validation occurs are repeatable and consistent.  Not giving this the right level of priority is a sure way to lose the organization’s confidence in the ongoing results. You don’t want to create One Version of the Truth once, you need to be able to create it every time.
  • Big Data initiatives need to be very intentional with regard for the desired result. Hoping to find those nuggets of gold by wandering around a landscape containing masses of data is futile.  One Version of the Truth eliminates turf battles and highlights not just nuggets but veins of gold.

Naturally there needs to be flexibility to make changes but ensuring that the above considerations are applied is critical.

For those that don’t agree, consider the following: how many times have you been involved in a project where the work that was done was solid but at the close of the effort someone objects to the results?  Their argument is that they don’t trust the data that was used or agree with the analytics approach that was taken.  Yep, one step forward, two back and then the nail in the coffin.

No one wants to be associated with a career ending project that fails.  Following the three considerations above can help.  Otherwise you may find yourself answering the question from others in your company “Who’s on First”?

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.

All the best, Richard

Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe is CEO of Competitive Insights, LLC (CI), a founding officer of the American Logistics Aid Network(ALAN) and designated by DC Velocityas a Rainmaker in the industry. For the last 25 years, Richard has been passionate about driving business value through the adoption of process and technology innovations. His current focus is to support CI’s mission to enable companies to gain maximum value through specific, precise and actionable insights across the organization for smarter growth. CI delivers Enterprise Profit Insights (EPI) solutions that enable cross-functional users to increase and protect profitability. Prior to his current role, Richard was President of CAPS Logistics, the forerunner of supply chain optimization. Richard is a frequent speaker at national conferences and leading academic institutions. His current focus is to challenge executives to improve their company’s competitive position by turning enterprise wide data from a liability to an asset through the use of applied business analytics.

on the RADAaR™ – January 2015

Competitive Insights, LLC

on the RADAaR™

a convenient resource for current Integrated Business Planning (IBP) information

latest news

on big data ::
roadkill – how to avoid being crushed by data

Imagine that you are having a dream that is quickly turning into a nightmare. You find yourself standing in the middle of a newly constructed super highway. More here


on integrated business planning ::
integrated business planning is not just a marketing hoax

achieve step change improvements to how they plan and manage their business by developing strategies that combine EPM and S&OP … more here


on supply chain risk ::
Allianz tabulates top risks for businesses

business and supply chain interruption, natural catastrophes, fire and explosion top the risks for U.S. and global companies in 2015. More here


on advanced analytics ::
finance departments need more advanced analytics

finance departments must lessen their reliance on spreadsheets and look to advanced analytics to become more strategic, experts say. More here


  what CI offers

Competitive Insights is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides detailed and insightful IBP solutions to its customers using advanced analytics for:

Complexity Reduction
Customer Segmentation
Product Segmentation
Specific, Precise and Detailed Profitability

schedule a one our webinar demo
   
www.ci-advantage.com

  join us

Georgia Institute of Technology is offering Supply and Demand Planning certification. The following are the required courses for the certificate:

  • Supply and Operations Planning
  • Integrated Business Planning
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
More information here

we appreciate your feedback, please respond to our five minute survey here
what’s on your RADAaR? want to stay updated on a topic not listed? email us at [email protected]

Competitive Insights, LLC

4200 Northside Parkway NW, Bldg. 12 • Atlanta, Georgia 30327 • 770.922.4400
www.ci-advantage.com

Roadkill – How To Avoid Being Crushed By Data

Richard Sharpe Analytics & Big Data

Roadkill – How To Avoid Being Crushed By Data

Imagine that you are having a dream that is quickly turning into a nightmare.  You find yourself standing in the middle of a newly constructed super highway.  You are amazed at the vast number of lanes on both sides of this man made structure.  You have been told that you are there to find out how drivers are performing on these lanes with accurate measurements and to report back meaningful insights.  To do this, you are to utilize your computer, camera and a smart phone.

Blog012_Roadkill  

As you stand there trying to get your bearings, you notice the following:

  • the volume of the cars moving in each direction is significantly increasing over time
  • cars are entering from a variety of new entry points
  • the speed of the cars is exponentially increasing to a point that what you are seeing is turning into a blur

You feel helpless using the tools that you have been given and cannot see how to possibly do your job.  In fact, you realize that if you are not careful, you could become so confused that you could put yourself in harms way and become a roadkill casualty!

Sound silly?  I am sure it does but replace the road lanes with data streams coming from a growing number of sources and at an ever increasing rate of speed.  Add the pressure of a rapidly changing commercial environment and the need to gain meaningful insights to stay ahead of the competition or to be left behind in the commercial dust.   It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination.

Recently, I watched an interview of Thomas Malone, from the MIT Sloan School of Management on DCV-TV. The interview concerned his prediction 25 years ago on the emerging role of e-commerce.

DCV-TV

Mr. Malone made several interesting observations about how successful organizations will operate and win using ever increasing amounts of data:

  • by harnessing the power a collaborative approach between man & machine where both contribute and learn from the work of the other (“collective intelligence”)
  • by creating an environment to empower the individual to use data and computing power to solve critical business needs (e.g. Google and eBay)

These are directly applicable to any company’s strategy in getting the full benefit of the ever increasing volume and speed of data and to obtain a competitive advantage over your competition.

Let’s build on Mr. Malone’s thoughts and go back to our analogy of not being “roadkill” on your data super highway.  How many of the following are true for your organization?

  • You have cross-functional consensus on the value of measuring specific areas of performance
  • You have a technology platform provides one “One Version of the Truth” of information captured from ever increasing sources and volumes of data
  • You have created a user environment that empowers individuals to continually gain insights by applying their creative skills in addition to taking advantage of advanced computing correlations and learnings (“collective intelligence”)
  • You have recognized that your approach must be scalable and repeatable for sustained value
  • You periodically highlight to the organization the value that has been gained by the effort

The world today is full of examples where relatively young companies are outpacing traditional competitors in multiple industries by changing the game of how to win market share.

I read recently that certain state Department of Transportation organizations are experimenting with recycling roadkill into compost as a cost savings initiative (click here for article).

Companies that take on the challenge of mastering their data and empowering individuals with various forms of intelligent analytics will not need to worry about being someone else’s compost. For everyone else, there are no guarantees.  Like Mr. Malone said, just look at Google and eBay!

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.

All the best, Richard

Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe is CEO of Competitive Insights, LLC (CI), a founding officer of the American Logistics Aid Network(ALAN) and designated by DC Velocityas a Rainmaker in the industry. For the last 25 years, Richard has been passionate about driving business value through the adoption of process and technology innovations. His current focus is to support CI’s mission to enable companies to gain maximum value through specific, precise and actionable insights across the organization for smarter growth. CI delivers Enterprise Profit Insights (EPI) solutions that enable cross-functional users to increase and protect profitability. Prior to his current role, Richard was President of CAPS Logistics, the forerunner of supply chain optimization. Richard is a frequent speaker at national conferences and leading academic institutions. His current focus is to challenge executives to improve their company’s competitive position by turning enterprise wide data from a liability to an asset through the use of applied business analytics.

on the RADAaR™ – December 2014

Competitive Insights, LLC

on the RADAaR™

a convenient resource for current Integrated Business Planning (IBP) information

latest news

on big data ::
show me the money – building organizational momentum

how to build momentum by focusing on how other companies are financially benefiting from their successful efforts with Big Data … more here


on integrated business planning ::
the big question: can you do more with less?

BRG Sports wondered whether reducing its number of distribution centers would let it cut costs but still improve customer service. More here


on supply chain risk ::
firms ‘gambling with their existence’ by having no supply chain risk mitigation strategies, says report

nine out of 10 firms do not quantify risk when outsourcing production, according to a survey. More here


on advanced analytics ::
the DNA of business: imprinting data in the corporate culture

businesses are increasingly abandoning gut-feel, instinctual decision making for data-based analytics … more here


  what CI offers

Competitive Insights is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides detailed and insightful IBP solutions to its customers using advanced analytics for:

Complexity Reduction
Customer Segmentation
Product Segmentation
Specific, Precise and Detailed Profitability

schedule a one our webinar demo
   
www.ci-advantage.com

  join us

Georgia Institute of Technology is offering Supply and Demand Planning certification. The following are the required courses for the certificate:

  • Supply and Operations Planning
  • Integrated Business Planning
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
More information here

we appreciate your feedback, please respond to our five minute survey here
what’s on your RADAaR? want to stay updated on a topic not listed? email us at [email protected]

Competitive Insights, LLC

4200 Northside Parkway NW, Bldg. 12 • Atlanta, Georgia 30327 • 770.922.4400
www.ci-advantage.com

Show Me The Money – Building Organizational Momentum

Richard Sharpe Analytics & Big Data
 

Show Me The Money - Building Organizational Momentum

Continuing the theme of Big Data initiatives need to be very intentional, we now turn our attention on how to build momentum by focusing on examples of how companies are financially benefiting from their successful efforts with Big Data.  Specifically, let’s talk about three areas that are getting a lot of attention in many companies.

Product Segmentation – having accurate insights with regardto how a particular product is performing with regard to contribution to profit can be eye opening.  Forget the expected “bell-shaped” distribution curve and expect to see more of a skewed left hand spike (left is negative or marginal behavior) and a prolonged tail of the curve to the right.  Couple this with where the product falls in its product life cycle and you have the tools necessary to drive actionable steps to dramatically impact financial performance.  This has been demonstrated in multiple industry with astonishing results.  You may be saying, “Yes but we have to have product x to sell product y”.  That may be true but what if the customer is “cherry picking” and you actually have an opportunity to identify where that paradigm just doesn’t hold water.  Getting to these forms of actionable insights builds excitement and momentum for your Big Data efforts.

Customer Segmentation – talking about skewed bell shape curves, how about having over 50+ % of you customers performing marginally or continually being unprofitable.  Want to fire them?  Well possibly a better strategy would be to understand why they are unprofitable vs a minority of similar type customers who are contributing to the bottom line.  A better strategy for some customers may be to determine how to get the marginal customers to emulate the behavior of the well performing ones.  Moving away from a “one size fits all” customer strategy can offer significant increases in profit contributions.

Operational Realignments – no, we are not talking about a large, time consuming optimization project that will be difficult to accurate monitor the realized ROI due to unforeseen changes in the future.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  Identifying very specific and target changes using Big Data can yield impressive results and have the organization want to do more hunting for operation improvements.  A recent example was the changing of certain inventory stocking decisions tied to customer demand yielded not only higher service levels but cut millions of dollars of cost out of the operation.

The above are just a small sample of how companies are driving increased momentum for their quest of improving financial performance using Big Data.

We would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.

All the best, Richard

Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe is CEO of Competitive Insights, LLC (CI), a founding officer of the American Logistics Aid Network(ALAN) and designated by DC Velocityas a Rainmaker in the industry. For the last 25 years, Richard has been passionate about driving business value through the adoption of process and technology innovations. His current focus is to support CI’s mission to enable companies to gain maximum value through specific, precise and actionable insights across the organization for smarter growth. CI delivers Enterprise Profit Insights (EPI) solutions that enable cross-functional users to increase and protect profitability. Prior to his current role, Richard was President of CAPS Logistics, the forerunner of supply chain optimization. Richard is a frequent speaker at national conferences and leading academic institutions. His current focus is to challenge executives to improve their company’s competitive position by turning enterprise wide data from a liability to an asset through the use of applied business analytics.

on the RADAaR™ – November 2014

Competitive Insights, LLC

on the RADAaR™

a convenient resource for current Integrated Business Planning (IBP) information

latest news

on big data ::
creating a success framework – 5 steps to follow

five steps that will increase your chances for having successful Big Data initiatives are … here


on integrated business planning ::
people are fundamental to successful integrated business planning

companies that do Integrated Business Planning (IBP), and do it well, are more efficient, more effective, and make more money than those who don’t … more here


on supply chain risk ::
how did supply chains get so brittle?

small, targeted investments in supply chain resilience can make a huge impact in business continuity and, ultimately, performance.… more here


on advanced analytics ::
why supply chain leaders are using Big Data analytics

achieve the best results when they take an enterprise-wide approach to Big Data analytics rather than a process-focused strategy … more here


  what CI offers

Competitive Insights is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides detailed and insightful IBP solutions to its customers using:

Descriptive Analytics
Diagnostic Analytics
Predictive Analytics
Prescriptive Analytics

schedule a one our webinar demo
   
www.ci-advantage.com

  join us

Georgia Institute of Technology is offering Supply and Demand Planning certification. The following are the required courses for the certificate:

  • Supply and Operations Planning
  • Integrated Business Planning
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
More information here

we appreciate your feedback, please respond to our five minute survey here
what’s on your RADAaR? want to stay updated on a topic not listed? email us at [email protected]

Competitive Insights, LLC

4200 Northside Parkway NW, Bldg. 12 • Atlanta, Georgia 30327 • 770.922.4400
www.ci-advantage.com

Creating A Success Framework – 5 Steps To Follow

Richard Sharpe Analytics & Big Data
 

Creating A Success Framework – 5 Steps To Follow

In my past blog posting, I continued to highlight the need for Big Data initiatives to be very intentional in their focus and execution and suggested that there are three main success drivers.  In this posting, I will address the second driver which is following 5 steps that increase the chances of success.

The five steps that will increase your chances for having successful Big Data initiatives are:

  1. Ensuring ongoing Senior Level Sponsorship
  2. Gaining and maintaining organizational consensus
  3. Taking an Enterprise wide perspective
  4. Implementing a rigorous data governance process
  5. Obtaining repeatable and measurable impact

It would take too much space to discuss each of these steps in detail but I will offer specific points for each one.

Ensuring ongoing Senior Level Sponsorship – like any important initiative, the organization needs to understand that the Big Data initiative underway is a high priority for the organization.  This message needs to be continually reinforced and tied to the expected value it holds for the company.

Gaining and maintaining organizational consensus – recognizing the significant financial potential of making fact based decisions using Big Data insights can be very motivating.  However, nothing can kill the initiative faster than lack of buy-in to the results from those organizations not involved from the beginning.  Yes, it takes more time to gain consensus each step of the way but in the end you will cross the finish line faster.

Taking an Enterprise wide perspective – one of the biggest problems that companies face is the fact that so much of their data is held in “functional silos”  that are not easy to connect.  To be most effective, Big Data initiatives need to utilize methodologies and technologies that allow for data from disparate systems to “play well together”.

Implementing a rigorous data governance process – if the organization does not have confidence that the way the Big Data is being organized, validated and used consistently over time, you are basically wasting your time.

Chart_BarObtaining repeatable and measurable impact – people like to get on the bandwagon of success.  Celebrate and make visible the early wins from your Big Data initiative.  In addition, track the performance gains over time to continue to reinforce to the organization the value of fact based decisions using insights from Big Data.

Following these five steps will help ensure the success of your Big Data initiative.  We would appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments.
All the best, Richard

Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe is CEO of Competitive Insights, LLC (CI), a founding officer of the American Logistics Aid Network(ALAN) and designated by DC Velocityas a Rainmaker in the industry. For the last 25 years, Richard has been passionate about driving business value through the adoption of process and technology innovations. His current focus is to support CI’s mission to enable companies to gain maximum value through specific, precise and actionable insights across the organization for smarter growth. CI delivers Enterprise Profit Insights (EPI) solutions that enable cross-functional users to increase and protect profitability. Prior to his current role, Richard was President of CAPS Logistics, the forerunner of supply chain optimization. Richard is a frequent speaker at national conferences and leading academic institutions. His current focus is to challenge executives to improve their company’s competitive position by turning enterprise wide data from a liability to an asset through the use of applied business analytics.