If you do it right, data-driven improvement contributes to better decision-making and service provision. It provides insight and enables management based on (real-time) data and information. In this way, not only better but also faster decisions are made. Our whitepaper Data-driven Improvement in Mobility and Logistics provides more information about data-driven improvement and describes, among other things, a roadmap to implementation, with several important points to consider. In this article, we share our experiences in this area and some practical tips for dealing with it.
A successful implementation starts with preparation. A pitfall that we often see with data-driven improvement is in the chosen KPIs. For example, these are not relevant to employees, which means they are ultimately not worked with or are presented in such a way that there is room for interpretation. A well-designed KPI Dashboard can prevent these pitfalls and make a major contribution to setting up a cycle of continuous (data-driven) improvement. It is important to link the goals to the organizational objectives and to think about safeguarding within the organization upfront. In addition to choosing the KPIs, it is also important to integrate data-driven improvement into the processes. This way, the data presented remains up to date and there is regular feedback on the results. In this way, data-driven working is prevented from disappearing into the background among employees. Our whitepaper Supply Chain KPI Dashboard provides practical tools for both the design and implementation of a KPI Dashboard.
Even if the data is available, the KPIs are well defined and the KPIs are continuously measured, there are still many challenges that organisations face. An important part of these challenges has to do with behavioural change. Consider, for example, employees who do not see the added value, lose their attention due to daily activities, or do not dare to trust the figures. For a data-driven transition to be successful, the change must take hold at all levels of the organization. The image below shows five success factors that can contribute to a successful change. For more information, see our white paper Five Practical Tips to Make a Change Really Successful.
Supply Value has carried out various projects in the field of data-driven improvement. Our consultants are happy to discuss the successful implementation of data-driven improvement.
