Why Analytics Should be Your Top Priority in the Post-COVID Business World?

Double down on your data and analytics during these turbulent times. Your ERP data is a goldmine of information that can help to steer your business through the COVID storm. Executives who take proactive steps now can, not only put their companies in a better position to tide over the crisis today but can also help achieve a competitive advantage in the future.

No matter where you live and work, it goes without saying that you and your business are impacted by these unprecedented and challenging events. Covid-19 has brought unexpected changes for companies across the globe. Uncertainty in supply and demand, disruptions in operations and supply chain, and cash crunches are just a few among the many challenges confronting businesses. Amidst all the uncertainty, executives are finding themselves having to make critical decisions – often without the necessary data-driven decision support systems.

The good news is that the economic rebound seems to be well underway with the gradual reopening of the economies. Most economists however predict that it could be a long road to recovery, with some even saying that it could stretch to the end of next year. Whatever the timeframe for recovery is, one thing is sure: Now’s time to prepare for a post-COVID-19 world that’s settling in. The pandemic will pass, and the steps you take now to prepare your business could alter its trajectory for years to come.

How to get prepared for the post-COVID business world? How to plan for short term sustenance and long-term growth? 

Before we begin, first let’s look at what it could take for businesses to thrive in the post-COVID era. While the details are evolving, critical success factors will include operational efficiency, optimizing spend, strengthening and building new customer relationships, revisiting product mix, refining supply chains, and maintaining cash flow, among other things. The changing nature of business will demand increased agility. As of now, we may not know what post-COVID era looks like, but we are sure it is going to be different. The impact on various industries, segments and subsegments are going to be different. And for the next few years, it could be evolving. And this means that everyone across the organization must be supported with timely and relevant information to make critical decisions quickly with minimal risk.

Yes, it’s imperative that organizations take advantage of the opportunities their data affords them. Organizations have more data than ever before. And with advanced analytics and AI, they now have the opportunity to analyze and use that data in new and more effective ways. This includes analyzing immense volumes of data (internal and external) and uncovering underlying patterns, enabling executives to make predictions, identify true cause and effect relationships, and make the best decisions.

Indeed, the benefits of having strong analytics capabilities extend beyond basic operational reporting. Besides real-time operational reports and dashboards, analytics can facilitate cross-functional analysis, opening up better insights across operations. And you can even leverage the power of machine learning and AI to unlock precise, granular, and actionable insights to address many of the challenges businesses face today. To understand the possibilities, let’s consider some of the questions your ERP data and analytics can answer for your business as the evolution of post COVID era happens:

• Product Intelligence – Which products should we focus on in which markets? Are there products which we should exit? Which channels bring in the most revenues- at which times? What’s the right price for a particular region or customer or season? Which product combinations are being purchased together by customers, and in what sequence
• Supplier Intelligence – How do each of our suppliers perform when it comes to quality time cost and payment terms? Where can we negotiate? Are we relying on too few suppliers and do we need to diversify sources? Who should we address our urgent orders to?
• Inventory Intelligence – How many units of inventory do we need to have on hand for each product, and geography? How much raw materials do we need in the short term and in the long term? Can we give pipeline visibility to our inventory planning teams?
• Manufacturing Intelligence – What should be our production priorities? Are our production plans yielding 100% of the required quantity? Which of the operations are resulting in more Scrap and what are the reasons? Is our shop floor finishing the jobs by deadlines? Which operations are causing the delay?
• Financial Intelligence – How can we optimize our operating expenses? How much money will we need to run the business? Can we pay our short-term and long-term obligations? What is the average number of days taken by each customer to pay?

As you can see, data and analytics can offer tremendous clarity in a time of great uncertainty. By making them central to decision-making, both during and after the crisis, businesses can realize tangible and measurable benefits related to operational efficiency, productivity, costs, margins, and also revenue generation. While some of the answers may remain the same for your business, it is almost certain some of them are going to be different.

Here at Anvizent, we are making ERP analytic faster, smarter, easier, and also more cost-effective through the use of automation and AI. Our fully automated, end-to-end analytics solution integrates all your data into one platform and automatically turns it into personalized reports, interactive dashboards and predictive intelligence.

You can now test drive Anvizent with a 14 day, no-obligation free trial.

Get started here – http://anvizent.comtest-drive/