DATA MINING TO ENSURE ROI

New technologies are a source of increased value creation and growth. However, Gartner report shows that more than half fail to deliver the desired ROI. Effective and broad data mining across the organisation is part of the solution. For several reasons.

A new report from Gartner documents that the desired results from the implementation of new technological solutions often do not materialise or manifest too slowly. It can potentially damage the willingness to innovate and cause a stumbling block for future projects, even if they are the prerequisite for business development and continued strengthening of competitiveness.

Data mining

In the report, Gartner has a specific focus on a higher degree of extraction and analysis of data from multiple data points as a factor that can ensure both more efficient implementation and satisfactory ROI.

According to exacto partner Peter Nørvig, the focus on better data mining is also growing in Denmark, but among exacto's customers he finds that it has both a strategic and organisational nature as well: 

"In combination with the design and rollout of solutions for budgeting, forecasting and resource planning, we enter into a close dialogue where we focus on establishing a more complete and efficient data mining. It could be to be able to carry out statistical analysis of sales and production data to support the forecast. Here we see a pronounced desire for a better data foundation for insights into how the various units and order flows affect the entire value chain. A closer follow-up of the effects of new initiatives is therefore naturally a priority".

In these cases, analysis of value chains, organisation and workflow is absolutely essential, Peter Nørvig explains:

"With the identification of the necessary data and data sources, you become more aware of the blind spots. This is the starting point for the work to establish a new setup for the design of the optimal matrix, which defines which stakeholders to involve as owners of delivery and suppliers of data".

Ownership

The Gartner report specifically identifies greater involvement of key personnel as an area of focus. For the provision of data and as a driving factor for faster and more efficient implementation. A share of 59% of the interviewed managers in Gartner's report indicates that the implementation takes too long.

Peter Nørvig emphasises that effective implementation and ultimately derived ROI is completely dependent on establishing clearer ownership of performance:

"Giving employees who use new technologies to increase productivity and profitability an ownership of performance data is a strong incentive to accelerates implementation. There is a growing awareness of this among our customers and the Gartner report confirms both that these processes must be optimised and that companies across the world are looking for methods to achieve it".

Analysis

The second thing, which according to Peter Nørvig is in great demand, and which Gartner identifies as a key point as well, is more and better options for analysing data:

"If you are to have the insights that are the prerequisite for documenting the effect of new technologies, the right analysis tools are a prerequisite. However, we typically see that standard solutions do not sufficiently provide the ability to make the desired analysis of the impact of the various units and processes.

Companies are therefore often faced with the choice of either getting a total reconfiguration of a standardized solution, or getting a solution that has been developed on the basis of their individual needs", Peter Nørvig concludes.