Didn’t catch the beginning of our Data blog series? Read ‘Part 1: 3 Reasons why Data is here to stay’ here.
Data plays an instrumental role in solving the problems of a company. Sometimes, companies may not even know there is a “problem”. Everything is running smoothly, business is status quo, and the books are in the green.
Why fix what isn’t broken? Well, good is good…but isn’t great even better? Why not use data to increase your profit margin or improve your business processes?
Data can help us go from good to great. Over 50% of HR departments are already using data for their strategic decision making – and that number is projected to continue growing over the coming years. For this reason, organizations are looking for employees with data experience. In fact, 54% of organizations surveyed currently require human resource professionals who are skilled in data analysis.
Whether a company seeks out data collection to discover the root of a problem or to improve the good things that are already happening, they first ask questions that begin with phrases like “How can we…?”
- How can we reduce ______ ?
- How can we eliminate ______?
- How can we improve ______ ?
- How can we provide ______ ?
- How can we save ______ ?
One example of data analysis in action takes us to a mid-sized manufacturing company. Machine operators traditionally walked to a central location on the factory floor, searched for a job for their work station and then walked back to their work stations. Eventually upper management questioned, “How can we improve efficiency and output on the factory floor?”
Through the data collection process, management discovered that when operators went to get their next job, they didn’t always select the correct job. As a result, there was significant down time during the next job selection process. The company deployed a Digital Visual Scheduling System to automate job scheduling by accurately alerting operators to their next job without ever needing to leave their work station. It was a simple, cost-effective solution with a high Return on Investment (ROI), yielding both time- and cost-savings for the company.
You see, when we bring data into the picture and start analyzing our processes, underlying areas of inefficiency may begin to appear. Although these areas aren’t problems, per se, there remains significant room for improvement and the solution is probably much less complex or expensive than you may fear.
Why wouldn’t you want to explore ways to use data to increase your profit margin?
My next blog will explore 3 concrete ways to grow your business using data. Hope you’ll be back!
