Many organizations struggle to utilize their data effectively which means they’re not using insights to make informed business decisions. Learn how companies can transition from reporting to insights.
Michael Creasey
General Manager Exceedra
Revenue growth management (RGM) now has a unique opportunity to transform CPG companies by better utilising a myriad of data and analytics, to make better and faster business decisions based on insights.
With the increase in available data sets and constantly changing dynamics of the consumer goods retail landscape, many organizations are struggling to get the insights they need to make informed business decisions. In fact, most organizations struggle to utilize their data effectively. Moreover, many organizations invest in developing reporting solutions to find only 42% of reports are actually used by business users.
So where are these organizations going wrong?
The clue is in the name ‘Report’. Many organizations focus their reporting development on the available data and the visualization of that data. For example, I need a report that shows me if there is a gap to budget or target.
While this is useful information it does not help me solve the problem of how to close the gap. For example:
- Which customers/products have a gap?
- Is this gap trending to be solved or is it getting worse?
- Do I have available funds to help me close the gap?
- What tactics will be the most efficient in closing the gap?
How can organizations transition from Reporting to Insights?
To transition to true insights organizations, need to shift their focus to understanding the business problem to be solved and what insights are needed to make informed decisions through the decision tree.
Taking a ‘Problem Orientated’ approach is the best way to ensure your insights add value not noise.
1) Get out the post it notes!
- Who will use this information and why?
- What’s the business problem to be solved’?
- What decisions will be made, the decision tree and dependencies?
- What information do I need to make informed decisions?
- What else will influence my decision?
- How will I measure the impact of my decision?
2) Get out the crayons!
- What information do I need to visualize and how?
- What factors/influences are important i.e., trend, exceptions, etc.?
- What is the lowest level of detail I need?
- Which KPI metrics and logic is key?
3) Now unleash the development folks to build it!
- Now there is a clear requirement, the BI gurus can build it.
- This is the stage where data availability is considered/solved.
- The previous stages are critical to user adoption and confidence.
Exceedra partners with many clients across Revenue Management and Trade Promotion Optimization projects with a ‘Problem Orientated’ approach at the core of everything we do.