A recent survey from the Manufacturing Leadership Council contained a surprising statistic: 63% of manufacturers report they’re analyzing or using less than half of their data.
The reason so much data is sitting idle comes down to data management. Manufacturers have the data. What they lack are smart, streamlined, scalable processes to get that data into the hands of decision-makers.
Even though this problem is widespread, as the survey reveals, many manufacturers don’t realize it affects them. They either believe that data always comes with some difficulty. Or they assume their strategy is working effectively enough already.
To get a more objective assessment of the situation, look for these five signs that data management needs an upgrade:
Data Maintenance is Too Manual
Anytime it takes a manual process to move data from one place to another it wastes time. And when that process is repetitive, the time loss compounds. Manual processes limit how much data can be turned into insights. They also drastically increase the risk of errors, omissions, and other issues due to typos and lapses in judgment.
Data Quality Issues are Too Common
Poor data quality is evidence of ineffective data management, as well as a cause of the problem. When there are inaccurate, inconsistent, or duplicate records, it takes human input to find and fix the issues, which is a slow and distracting process. Worse, if those issues get overlooked or ignored, it leads to inaccurate reporting and misinformed decision-making, with impacts ranging from minor mistakes to major miscalculations.
Routine Changes Take Too Long
Data should flow freely and flexibly through an organization, but it’s often the case that mass updates are slow to complete, and simple modifications are cumbersome or impossible. This leaves decision-makers without the information they need, forcing them to make decisions based on incomplete, outdated, or irrelevant data. Even when the problem is obvious, the solution is not.
Data Requests are Too Difficult
When users have to rely on the IT department to prepare a report or access a data set, it’s more than just annoying. Limited self-service capabilities cause bottlenecks, both for the IT team and for managers across other departments. Those bottlenecks then lead to productivity problems because people have to wait for the information they need and rely on estimates and assumptions in its absence.
Scale and Growth are Too Challenging
A data management process that works now may not work once the speed or scale of data grows, or more sophisticated requests start arriving. The problems manifest first as inefficiencies that didn’t exist before, followed by inconsistencies that make data less accessible or reliable than in the past. Unfortunately, these issues arise exactly when organizations have the greatest need to make objective, data-backed decisions to continue their upward trajectory.
What is the System-Link Toolkit from Guide Technologies?
Moving data directly from Excel into Infor XA has never been faster, easier, or more reliable thanks to System-Link Toolkit (SLTK), available exclusively from Guide Technologies. Before, getting data into the ERP took special training, extensive work, and lots of patience. Now, it takes just a few clicks for any user to process millions of transactions in hours instead of days. The System-Link Toolkit instantly transforms data management. In the process, it unleashes the full power of the Infor XA ERP to refine abundant amounts of data into valuable insights and actionable guidance.
If any of the five signs outlined above look familiar, Guide Technologies has the solution. Contact us to learn more about the System-Link Toolkit.
