In a Chief Information Officer (CIO) survey conducted by Epicor in India, the Middle East and Africa, an overwhelming 90 percent* of respondents agreed that speed, reinvention, agility and innovation are critical to the success of any organisation serious about optimising performance and gaining a competitive advantage.
The feedback from the survey validates the complexities of today's business environment. Many companies, including manufacturers, face difficult business challenges, from volatility in raw materials to currency fluctuations, rising customer expectations and demands, and a globally competitive marketplace.
To achieve faster and more effective decision-making, companies will need to increase their access to business intelligence data in real time. In fact, companies that can successfully leverage their data to gain greater business and consumer insight, are able to set themselves far apart from competitors.
Lean manufacturing and data analysis
The most effective way for manufacturers to achieve agility, harness collaboration and drive innovation is through the analysis of data so that they can understand the intricacies of process from start to finish.
This helps to identify weaknesses, optimise production and solve problems before they negatively affect the business. The crux of lean manufacturing lies in the ability to do more with less and the only way to achieve this is through the use of data.
What is Big Data?
The term "Big Data" has received a lot of attention the past several years; simply put, it is a compilation of data gathered from both traditional (structured data) and digital (unstructured data) sources from within and outside of an organisation.
Think of all the data that resides in a company's business systems, add to the mix the plethora of data coming from the web and social networks -- sources of information that have to be sifted through and analyzed before any meaningful action can take place.
IDC has found that by 2020, India will see a 25-fold growth in useful information that will make the adoption of big data technologies and practices a significant opportunity for enterprises. The study also estimates that India's digital universe, digital bits captured or created each year, is expected to grow by 50 percent every year from 127 exabytes (EB) to 2.9 zettabytes (ZB) between 2012 and 2020.
It is imperative for manufacturers to start analysing the reservoir of data that reside with them. Big data should ideally be viewed as a business strategy for capitalising on information resources, not just as a technology.
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The author is Channel Director for Epicor in the Middle East, Africa & India.
