Page 14 - Logistics News July 2019
P. 14
Opinion
The INs and OUTs of IT
By Doug Hunter, doug.hunter@za.syspro.com
A large LSP divisional closure made producers/distributors sit up recently and take real
interest in their business IT (outsourced sales order entry and EDI to the major retailers).
Time to check your IT!
WE TAKE information technology for granted and So WHAT?
simply expect it to always be there, be intuitive to The ‘what’ is how much attention we take of our
use and to simplify our lives. It enables our personal, ins and outs. We all know about data cleansing
logistics and business processes and actions to help and master data management – yes, you do –
us lead organised and eff ective lives. But, the ins rubbish in, rubbish out.
and outs are completely interconnected. You cannot The future has come to enterprise resource
have one without the other, and successful outcome planning (ERP) users and we need to be
relies on what’s put in. more aware of the power that business IT
IT constantly grows to enable more, and that can off ers today. Allowing rubbish in is a crime as
be a problem or a missed opportunity if you don’t data-in forms the basis of future processing,
see it. So, what should you be aware of? thinking and action; not just the stats for past
performance or mistakes.
The INs
The fi rst purpose of IT relates to data. IT stores, Looking at the new OUTs
processes and regurgitates data more eff ectively We don’t just get alerts as our plans go out of
and faster than humans do. Then it must present sync; we get visibility of what the root problem
that data in a way that creates information in an is and predictions on how to handle it. We
easily digestible way. get real business intelligence, not just reports,
Data can be static, such as the number of presented clearly and graphically – and on
kilograms in a ton, or changing, such as stock-on- laptops or phones in an Uber.
hand of a product you make, sell or distribute. We see trends in topics, like customers or
Next, IT handles transactional data – a record of products we ‘liked, because they are our key
what someone or some machine did, such as buy customers or products that make our margin or
a donut, sell a car, deposit money... updating many grow our market.
areas to record this transaction for future use
IT helps transform seemingly unconnected facts And on the IN side
and records into insights or ‘paintings’ that tell a Information comes from searches on articles
thousand words. Plus, it can recall this information and info on the internet. It comes via IoT
on demand without any problem, unlike humans. from RFID tags and factory equipment to ID
performance, GPS trackers for global position
The OUTs and movement, pedometers on our sheep to
It’s information, of course. Linking data in the check they exercised optimally – not just from
progression of effi cient supply chain processes, plugged-in users.
rather than people creating scribbled notes, arrows Input from customers can be interpreted and
and diagrams on a piece of scrap paper, which routed by bots that get better with practice –
only means something to the original creator. IT we call it Machine Learning. And even more,
must enable collection, processing, sharing and we can use social media for our own info,
presentation of this processed data to others. letting customers, suppliers and employees add
The results can be reports showing the activities comments and likes to bring sentiment into the
we executed, plus cost analyses, inventory balances analysis.
and deliveries made. We get dashboards facilitating There are new habits humans must learn
easy understanding of problems, trends and or sharpen to get the best from today’s
insights. IT makes sense of all our ‘stuff ’... but you business life and reaction to supply chain
knew that anyway... glitches. •
12 July 2019 | Logistics News
