Focus on the insight not the data

Many of the business intelligence events and webinars out there focus on the detail of working with data and the reporting tools available. This is great for Business Intelligence Managers who love data. However, it’s not so great if you're a business leader needing to make decisions from data.

Rather than focus on data sets and metrics, it’s best if you focus on the insight you need, so you can ask the right questions of your data.

Predict don't just react

At Acutus Consulting we have lots of experience of using business intelligence to deliver greater fleet management insight.

Let’s take fleet as an example. 

Imagine you're responsible for fleet management within your business. You may have hundreds of lorries delivering loads around the UK. You need them to deliver quickly and efficiently, not stuck by the side of the road with a mechanical problem.

Basic data gathering will help you keep a log of your vehicles and their maintenance history.

However, a business intelligence reporting tool will ‘power-up' that data and deliver true insight to help you predict future trends based on past behaviour.

For example, what should you do if the trend is telling you that, on average, a certain model of lorry requires a suspension repair every two years? Do you keep them on the road until the issue arises? Or do you ensure that you are ahead of the game and building in time for suspension maintenance before you have an issue?

By adding layers of data, such as there terrain the lorries normally drive on, you can also discover why the issue is arising in the first place. For instance, if one lorry is mainly up and down the M6 are they more or less likely to have a suspension issue than a lorry that is mainly driving on windy B roads?

Rather than taking a ‘fix on fail’ approach this insight can help you be proactive and pre-empt problems. This will help you make better decisions and save you time and money in the long run.

So, the moral of the story here is to keep firmly focused on the business decisions that will help you operate effectively, and the insight you need to inform them.

Rely on Business Intelligence experts

A Business Intelligence reporting tool will help you bring multiple data sets together. So, in this example you can combine your fleet management, asset maintenance and telematics data to give you a much broader picture. This insight could save you money on repairs and maintenance, and help protect your company’s reputation with your customers.

Once you know what insight you need, it’s time to rely on Business Intelligence experts to gather, analyse and report that data for you.

If you want to know more about BI reporting (across vehicle fleets or any other industry), get in touch today. Let us focus on the data so you can focus on the insight.