We’ve all heard the familiar refrains around the new year and improving personally, but what are your company’s resolutions for the new year? Here are some ideas to jump start your Digital Transformation in 2019!
Analytics
You’ve been hearing about analytics tools for years. Maybe you’ve put off implementing one because it seems too complex, or one was hastily implemented and doesn’t seem to provide value. Most of the perceived complexity of analytics tools comes from the marketing material that shows these tools can do everything. Like any other system, you still have the ability to start small and grow into the full feature set. We’ve also seen issues where an analytics tool was quickly implemented without much planning, and the business does not see value from the tool, so it has been abandoned. No matter what the vendor tells you about the ease of use, you still need to plan for a proper implementation that configures the tool for your business’ use.
If you’re ready to launch or relaunch an analytics tool, start by asking what metrics are used today to make decisions. Everyone has a system, and while they may not be able to summarize it in a few words, seeing their system in action will help build a requirements list for your analytics suite. Dig deeper by asking what information is missing that could make their process better. Finally, gather information about all the data sources; what data is reliable, which system holds the true data, who is responsible for data maintenance, how do we get the data? All of this information will help you plan for a successful implementation.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
These two terms are starting to mean the same thing to many people, but it is important to remember that machine learning is a subset of AI. Just like every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square; all machine learning is artificial intelligence, but not all AI involves machine learning. Every business should benefit from simple AI tools that provide “next best step” information or remind employees to take action. A lot of tools have these simple formulas built in. Where things are getting very interesting now is using machine learning to alter those simple formulas. If your business is already using and finding value from the simple if-then type formulas, but still feeling like more could be done to streamline your processes, maybe an ML tool is the next best step. These tools take your starting formula, but then analyze the actual results to determine if there is a better formula and modify it accordingly. If you sell goods online, you may have a list of related items for every item you sell, and present those to a customer as they are ordering. Machine learning takes that starting point but analyzes what your customers actually end up purchasing to make that list better, helping drive repeat and larger orders. Using simple AI or complex ML can help grow your business.
System Consolidation/Integration
Something we hear all the time from employees is that there are too many disparate systems, they don’t know which one has the most up to date information, and they waste time moving between systems just to complete their day to day tasks. Most of the time, these systems were all specialized when they were initially launched. Today, lots of products can perform the same functions as three or four of those systems all from one place. Consolidating your systems not only frees us your employees time, but reduces your maintenance costs.
No system today can be a one stop shop, and who knows if or when such a product will ever reach the market. In the meantime, it is critical that your business develop a central data store and integration pathways between your systems. This increases your employees’ faith in the accuracy of data, and also allows them to see complete information in one location instead of jumping between systems to get the full picture.
These three areas are great focus points for 2019 because they apply to any company in any industry, and the underlying technology is mature enough that there aren’t as many risks. These are also areas where we see companies having the greatest need, so it is likely that your company can benefit from committing to these areas. We hope you have a successful 2019!
Visit our services pages to learn more about what we offer, read our case study to get an idea of what that would mean for your business, and contact us if you want to discuss your Digital Transformation Goals!