Many of the latest business trends like vertical integration, margin pressure, and globalization have forced manufacturers to look for innovative, new ways of boosting their performance and improving their decision-making processes. This is where business analytics can prove helpful. Traditionally, the manufacturing sector has been quite slow in the adoption of analytics. Yet, now, it has begun to leapfrog other industries through the application of business analytics to a broad spectrum of business areas, from supply chain and finance to product development and marketing.
Now that external and internal data is exponentially expanding, and insights-driven by data has become a strategic necessity, it’s no wonder that many manufacturers have been tempted to launch analytics initiatives across their enterprises that try to analyze and capture all aspects of their business. Yet, taking an all-encompassing approach is risky, time-consuming, and expensive. Therefore, as Corporate Business Solutions consultants say, it’s a better idea to focus analytics on targeted areas to produce optimal results.
Why Do Business Analytics Matter To The Manufacturing Sector?
Analytics provides actionable insights to support any company’s key business decisions directly. Which products have yielded a lower margin? Which suppliers have been more disruptive to production processes? How does the landscape look when it comes to competitive sales incentives? How is it possible to manage and predict the levers driving sales revenue?
Products, typically, lie at the heart of any manufacturing business. Therefore, the first analytics wave is usually focused on improving the development of those products. Other common areas of focus include management of the marketing and sales spend, optimization of the chain of supply, reduction of warranty spend, and improvement of financial management overall.
Analytical insights in those key areas can have major impacts on the manufacturer’s performance. They can also potentially deliver impressive returns on the business’s analytics investment. Not only that but by using business analytics, it’s possible for new revenue models to be enabled that have been designed around the sale of services rather than solely products.
What Are The Advantages Of Business Analytics For The Manufacturing Sector?
Analytics provides an edge over any manufacturer’s competition by revealing new opportunities for the improvement of efficiency through the product’s lifecycle. This allows the company to spread the cost of innovation across various product lines so margins can be boosted.
Also, with business analytics, the link becomes clearer between investments in analytics and business decisions that can deliver improved performance and results. In the manufacturing industry, this is particularly important, since many organizations use the federated business model, with multiple relatively independent business units. Responsive, flexible, and agile analytics provide insights that are forward-looking enough to aid the organization in the more effective management of its resources.
By taking a focused analytical approach, results can be produced that are more relevant than when taking the enterprise-wide approach. Not only that but it’s also cheaper and swifter to implement.
How Can Manufacturers Benefit From Business Analytics?
It’s clear that business analytics has great potential to improve your manufacturing company, giving you a greater competitive advantage within the marketplace. Yet, it isn’t a sure thing. You’ll need to take the correct approach to achieve the results you seek. The best way to do this is to seek advice from experts in the field and Corporate Business Solutions are here to help.