TRANSCENDING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE WITH RESPONSE MANAGEMENT

Business Intelligence (BI) is a hot technology in many industries— and justifiably so. Its ability to help organizations harness and leverage data is critical, since people can't be expected to make the right decisions without access to the right data.

When it comes to manufacturing operations, however, BI hasn't gained as much traction. This is because BI and other performance management solutions are designed to manage the future and report on the past. Yet manufacturers desperately need tools to help them better manage in the now world, not the past world. They must be able to answer questions such as "What should I do now?" "What are my options?" and "How do these options align with my objectives?"

Randy Littleson serves as vice president at Kinaxis and has more than 17 years of management experience, having held executive-level positions at Interface Software, Spyglass, and Palindrome Corporation (a Seagate company). To discuss this topic further, join him online at blog.kinaxis.com.

It's impossible to plan your way out of the demanding point-of-action situations rife in manufacturing operations. Planning systems operate in weekly, monthly, or even quarterly cycles and lack the detailed information required for point-of-action decisions. Nor is there time to dig through historical data or run queries and reports. Instead, companies must make rapid choices driven by collaborative evaluation of various "what-if" scenarios—supported by updated, accurate information—which can then be transformed into cross-enterprise action.

BI solutions can help businesses analyze manufacturing and historical information to make systemic organizational improvements. However, they do not provide the sophisticated real-time supply chain analytics and operational data needed to quickly determine an effective response to complex supply chain problems. This is where Response Management comes in—to drive action where speed and collaboration are paramount.

Response Management software is built from the ground up to meet the requirements of diverse ad hoc action teams inside and outside the enterprise. Through Response Management, all participants gain a real-time single version of the truth. "What-if" decision-making tools let team members quickly assess myriad action alternatives and choose the best ones. Response Management also helps businesses continuously align real-world, point-of-action decisions with corporate objectives.

BI software can be valuable in helping companies understand their data to improve long-term performance. But only Response Management gives manufacturing operations the tools required to proactively and effectively manage performance in the now.