Business Intelligence Software Makes the Most of Your Data
A lot of data is generated by logistics operations. (BI) Business intelligence software can help you make sense of all that hard-earned information.
What’s the Point of Business Intelligence Software?
This type of software helps collect, interpret, organize, and analyze data. The effective collection and use of data can be leveraged to improve visibility in the supply chain. Better visibility leads to better decision making. This software can help you identify negative trends, understand where you’re going wrong, and create solutions to help improve upon the current status quo.
As is ever the case in logistics, the real goal of business intelligence software is to improve efficiency and cut costs. Different BI tools may help achieve that end goal in different ways. The tools may be primarily reporting information compiled from data collected. They might be used to help track trends in productivity and pricing so that companies can get a true picture of where their goals should lie. BI software can also be used in real time to help make decisions based on the current conditions, providing easy-to-use dashboards so that decision makers can act based on the latest information.
How Does It Work?
It all starts with data. Data must be input into business intelligence tools in a way that the tool understands. That might mean using EDI solutions to help get data from various systems into the business intelligence software, or it may mean using tools developed specifically to understand the supply chain systems you’re already using.
In traditional logistics operations, people would be the ones trying to make sense of the data extracted from internal systems. Business intelligence software turns that data into usable information with less human intervention. It presents that data in a way that is readable and easy to act on.
Implementing Business Intelligence Software
The rise in 3PL providers and the improvement in the technologies they bring to the table mean that BI tools don’t have to be a one man show, so to speak. Hiring on a 3PL company can mean turning your data into information with an expert team at a scale that makes sense for your business.
