All that data we ‘need’ to do something with, it is everywhere and nowhere. Your organisation finally wants to really speed up digitalisation, work in a data-driven or data-driven way, be a reliable and flexible supply chain partner and of course you also want to get rid of all those duplicate customer data and contract numbers in different systems. And Artificial Intelligence, well, of course you will do something with that too!
All the above have one thing in common, they lean on data. Your data and other people’s data. New data, but also existing data and even legacy data. But yes, that data is everywhere and the frustrating thing is that you often find it hard to get hold of it.
Let’s pick two ambitions for convenience; digitisation and data-driven working. What does it take for that and what are others doing to realise these ambitions?
It is quite extraordinary that this term is so ‘in’. As if we have mainly relied on our gut in the past decades! And if the aversion to algorithms (which, in my opinion, are mainly data-based) is growing, how are we going to work ‘data-driven’ in a balanced way? There is only one answer to that; by first making sure we have access to the right data. Data retrieval at source is perhaps the most well-known initiative to ensure clean data whose owner is known. In addition, every organisation should have an ‘open data’ strategy where all important data can be shared easily and securely. Because only then is it possible to adjust existing work processes and define new ones with a clear understanding of all data. Real-time and with confidence.
Actually a new word for automation. How can we speed up processes, eliminate manual actions as much as possible and leave decisions to systems so that processes are executed faster, cheaper or more competitively? Instead of asking what is needed to accelerate digitisation, we should ask why it so often fails! In our experience, the failure of initiatives is almost always due to the lack of access to the right data. Examples abound:
Many of our clients have recognised these problems before and have come to the conclusion that data, especially its availability, is crucial. You can have such an intelligent data strategy, if you can’t, or have difficulty getting that data, you won’t achieve your goals. Intelligent data distribution, unlocking data in hybrid systems, complex protocols and security challenges. An integration strategy will need to have all these components, and more, to realise your ambitions. A reliable integration partner to help you with an integration strategy is a necessity for this. So feel free to give us a call, or get in touch via our contact page.
