The secret to a company’s success? Knowing how to leverage its data assets. It is no coincidence that the companies that have managed to grow the most in recent years, despite the complications and difficulties that have arisen from the Covid pandemic, are those that have adopted an approach data-driven. All realities globally have first encountered disruption and delays in supply chains caused by Covid, and then faced new crises, those related to raw material shortages and, more recently, expensive energy.
A series of crazy variables forced companies of all sizes to revise their plans, and those who had already invested in advanced business intelligence solutions were better able to take the hit and react more effectively to unforeseen events. Beware, however: not those who simply accumulated more telemetry data, but those who were able to catalog and exploit it effectively. Today it is indeed relatively easy and cheap to store huge amounts of information, but this alone is not enough: it must be available easily and quickly (and securely) to all business functions, and tools must be put in place that allow everyone, not just data scientist engineers, to query it.
Business Intelligence: enabling it requires breaking down data silos
So many realities have over the years embraced the philosophy of data, but they have often been faced with some problems that in part have held back the potential of the investments made. A classic example is that of the information silos: data are present and, often, well organized, but they are separated as if in watertight compartments. The marketing department has visibility into some information, the sales department into others, but no one gets the big picture, which is often critical to making the right business decisions.
Another problem is extracting value from data: if every time you need to analyze data you need an expert who can query databases or someone who knows where the information is, how to export it, and how to interpret it, it is impossible to be responsive enough.
Being data-driven, in short, does not mean accumulating huge amounts of information, but being able to put it in order, to be immediately usable by anyone in the company, wherever they are.
SAP Analytics Cloud for planning, business intelligence in the cloud
One of the “lessons” we have learned from the pandemic is that regardless of the market in which you operate, you must always have to anticipate alternative scenarios when faced with unforeseen events. Being able to react quickly to a problem, whether it is a stranded cargo ship and the need to quickly find alternative suppliers, allows you to ensure business continuity and gain a competitive advantage. Being responsive, however, requires automation solutions that can quickly provide those answers that, with traditional tools, would require hours of work by experts. Smart Predict is a feature of SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning(SAC, for short) that leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, and statistical analysis to predict possible scenarios. Using AI, decision makers will be able to simulate within sandboxes the possible outcome of their choices, thus evaluating different options so they can make informed, data-driven decisions.
Another benefit of adopting SAC Planning is that it helps break down silos. Indeed, the cloud-based suite includes collaboration tools that enable streamlined and effective work processes, simplifying communication, collaboration and information sharing across business functions and consolidating all information assets within a single source. The SAC’s tools enable information to be securely shared among all departments and different priorities to be assigned through shared calendars and evolved workflows, particularly simplifying collaboration among teams operating remotely,
Search to Insights: querying data using natural language
Distinguishing the SAP solution is the function Search to Insights, which allows you to query data in the simplest way possible: using natural language. As one would do with voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Home, to understand. In order to come up with scenarios, make estimates, or get information about the current situation, experts capable of querying information sources will no longer be needed: just ask a question.
A data-driven approach is the key to staying competitive in any industry. With SAC Planning you can Be guided by the data in a simple and intuitive way.
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