The Customer Edition.
THE
DASHBOARD
Tridant’s Online Magazine | Issue 06 | November 2017
Editor’s Note
A
n issue of The Dashboard dedicated to our clients is a no-brainer, and over our ten plus years we have worked with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Now, before you get too heated and question my sanity, I was referring to technology. Despite what you read – not all technology is created equal, and how do you avoid the associated hype around Digital?
One theme that remains a constant with our clients is cost management. Digital has challenged the way business is run. It’s no longer “business as usual”, and yet it’s surprising that most companies today base their cost management approaches on a traditional method – build a budget on what happened in a prior period, a year for example. There is another way!
Well, it’s not getting easier as the rate at which new technologies are being launched is staggering and the battle of the platform players vs. the best of breed is just getting started. At Tridant, we like to take a measured approach and describe these new digital tools in terms of the capability they will deliver to an organisation.
It’s called zero-based budgeting (ZBB), and while this is not a new concept at all, the new digital tools we have today make it so much easier to build a budget based on current demand rather than last years. We are building our ZBB capability rapidly and look forward to working with our clients to leverage this method.
For core modernisation; it’s all about extending current capabilities, more of a steady change to performance, and here it’s all about cloud, process automation and visualisation. When our clients look for exponential change to performance we think of new capabilities in advanced analytics, cognitive computing, in-memory computing and blockchain.
On behalf of our wonderful client-centric team here at Tridant, I would like to wish you a festive time over the coming Christmas break, try something new or just avoid digital for a while. Hamba Kahle,
Alec Jeffery Director, Tridant
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
Editor’s Note | 1
Menu Spotlight on Analytics
A conversation with Deborah Leff Global Sales Leader, IBM Business Analytics Page 3
Zoos Victoria
A conversation with David Methven Director of Digital Engagement, Zoos Victoria Page 7
Richard Crookes Constructions
A conversation with Alison Kindred Finance Manager, Richard Crookes Constructions Page 10
Advanced Analytics and FMCG A conversation with Dany Krivoshey FMCG Specialist, Singapore Page 12
Aconex
A conversation with Andrew Cook Systems Accountant, Aconex Page 16
Spotlight on Analytics A conversation with Deborah Leff Global Sales Leader, IBM Business Analytics
T: What have you observed across the Business Analytics marketplace over the past few years? DL: I am passionate about the Business Analytics space and its potential to help companies leverage insights to forge their path forward as they become more efficient and effective. While IBM was modernising Cognos Analytics, a whole new field of desktop BI solutions gained momentum. As we talk to companies that have embraced a wide variety of solutions, we typically find a few very passionate individuals who love their desktop solutions, but, the overwhelming majority of users are not too impressed. While the visuals are pretty, most companies are finding the investment did not deliver on their promise – to enable self-service data Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
discovery. Most users lack the skills to blend data on their own and, in most cases, it requires data to be exported outside of governed processes. Companies are now faced with data lineage and consistency issues as it is not uncommon for multiple people to attend a meeting with differing numbers. Decisions can (and are) being made based on questionable data or questionable analytics, and it has already caused some major problems. Even Gartner advised in the Hype Cycle for Analytics and Business Intelligence, 2017, that: “BI and analytic leaders should recognise that visual data discovery tools do not offer all the features of the traditional BI platforms, particularly with respect to governance and manageability.�
Spotlight on Analytics | 3
We are also seeing that companies want to embrace Cognitive and AI solutions but feel hamstrung by legacy systems. Most of these advanced technologies are additive capabilities which means they are layered on top of a solid foundation. For example, if you have a process that relies on complex calculations, and those calculations are derived from a myriad of spreadsheets, you will need to replace that with more sophisticated calculation cubes in order to benefit from machine learning, advanced analytics, cognitive, and AI. This has created a sense of urgency among companies to ‘get their house in order’ lest they get left out of the Cognitive Era and allow their competitors to break away. T: There seems to be a major resurgence in interest in the IBM platform in North America. What do you attribute that to? DL: I believe two things have happened that are contributing factors to the resurgence. First, IBM is treating our Business Analytics portfolio as a platform. We are considering how IBM technologies and assets compliment the solution so that our customers don’t have to manually stitch them together themselves. IBM is the only vendor that can address the entire analytics maturity curve and add in Cognitive and AI capabilities as well. Rather than each product area market themselves individually, we have restructured so that we can evaluate and create examples of how the solutions can be used together to drive real change. This is the first time I can “borrow” from other areas of IBM, and it makes all of us so much stronger. For example, we combined Natural Language Processing with our optimisation engine so the results are presented in plain English – that is two capabilities from two different areas of IBM being used together to benefit our customers. The cognitive team is publishing new cognitive service APIs at a dizzying rate so we are constantly evaluating what we can leverage for Business Analytics - these are exciting times! Secondly, Analysts are also now evaluating IBM based on the platform. We Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
are getting very high marks from the BARC Score and the Forrester Wave based upon multiple products and how they work together to solve business problems. This has created a new buzz in the market as companies wonder if maybe they have not been able to climb the curve and achieve more value with more capability because their bespoke solutions are holding them back. T: What advice would you have for legacy Cognos customers out there wondering where to go to next? DL: Whether you are legacy Cognos customer, or using alternative products, I would encourage you to think about a couple things: Where have you unintentionally accepted extra risk? Are decisions being made based on incorrect data? Have you removed errorprone excel from critical processes to reduce exposure to potential errors? Has all possible, relevant data been included in your models? Are you including social sentiment, weather, and other external data that could contain important signals? Have you provided tools to enable data mining without individual’s bias impacting the analysis? If you have not upgraded to the latest version of Cognos, users may be exporting data sets to run analysis outside of your governed environment. If users are using their own desktop based tools for analysis, how are you safeguarding to ensure the results are not misleading or misrepresented? As companies have asked themselves these questions they have been able to successfully identify problems and head them off before suffering catastrophic results. For new projects, look for business process candidates that would benefit from advanced analytics to help your organisation make more confident decisions. The best projects to prioritise first are the ones that have the potential to drive more revenue, reduce costs, or mitigate risks. Think of the example we used in our demonstration – we applied descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and pre-scriptive analytics to optimise inventory to maximise Spotlight on Analytics | 4
revenue. Many companies have seen that demonstration and thought of business processes candidates ripe for optimisation. From there, I’d encourage you to discuss the candidates internally, and with your business partner, to understand the level of effort and investment necessary to transform the process and measure the expected return on investment. I always recommend clients start with a project that is not the most complex so they gain experience and expertise before attacking the more complex endeavours.
ing to adjust sleeping and meal times to the destination time, which seems to minimise the impact of jetlag and allows me to hit the ground running when I land. Of course, I use light snacking and napping to help with the transition to the new time zone, but I tend to walk off long-haul flights at least somewhat adjusted.
T: You recently did some executive events with Tridant and IBM, how did you think they went?
DL: I love nature, wildlife, and nature photography and will quickly sign up for nearly any outdoor activity! My family shares this passion and we try and take at least one nature-inspired holiday each year. Planning our trips is a wonderful family activity and we love researching and picking places together. In my spare time, you can find me editing photos, creating artwork, and compiling photobooks. We have been really fortunate to have visited some extraordinary places like the Galapagos Islands and Tanzania to see the Great Migration. Feel free to check out some of my favourite photos on Instagram: @debcakes21.
DL: The heart of our presentation was to discuss how companies attain more value from analytics as they introduce more capabilities into their organisation. As the amount of data that pulses through an organisation continues to increase exponentially, companies are finding it challenging to keep up with the pace with regards to harvesting insights necessary to make confident decisions. And, this new data-driven economy has created the expectation that companies know what they should know, what they need to know, and how those caught not knowing are getting blindsided. We discussed trends in the market for how companies can protect themselves against getting blindsided by using a combination of technologies to inform decision making. We were encouraged by the conversations we had with executives during and after the event. It seems that we introduced new concepts and ideas about risks that people didn’t realise they have along with strategies to mitigate those risks. T: What tips do you have for the frequent traveler? DL: My best tip for international travel is that I set my watch and phone to the destination time as soon as I board the plane and take my seat. Then, I spend my time in the air try-
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
T: What does Deborah Leff do in her spare time and how did you like your first visit to Australia?
I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to Australia! I was already planning my return trip while I was there! Not only is the country incredibly beautiful, but the people are so very warm and welcoming. I spent time in Melbourne where I loved the street art and enjoyed some fabulous meals with new friends. In Sydney, I enjoyed the beautiful waterfront scenery of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House – especially at sunset. I took a trip to Manly Beach and loved the easy beach town vibe, but my absolute favourite was visiting Bondi beach and the Coastal Walk. I was lucky enough that the Sunday I was there was a beautiful spring day and ended up walking for over 3 hours! That coastal walk was just beyond gorgeous and I didn’t want to leave. It was meant to be a power walk, but I just kept stopping to sit on the rocks and take in the incredible scenery. ●
Spotlight on Analytics | 5
Do you have a Data Analytics Strategy?
In our work, the one big question we see organisation leaders wrestling with most is:
“How can data and analytics create real value and make us more competitive?”
A
ccording to The Economist, the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data. With the vast amount of data being generated and collected daily, organisations have a significant opportunity to leverage this data to change company performance and identify new business imperatives to support growth. Whether it be to support department specific initiatives, to transform systems and processes to be Customer Centric, or to discover industry insights to increase company competitiveness, transforming your data in to a strategic resource will support these business initiatives. To answer the How question, we recommend an approach which is about developing a data analytics strategy that is structured, provides direction and discipline, and is focused on an outcome that gives the most impact. The Data & Analytics Agenda (D&A Agenda) is our recommended approach, providing a comprehensive, enterprise-wide executable plan to achieve short, medium and long term strategic change driven by the company’s Business Priorities. The D&A Agenda will review Business Priorities, assess the current state of IT capabilities to support these priorities, develop a Gap Analysis and provide recommendations on addressing these gaps which directly align to the identified and validated priorities. The outcome includes an unbiased vendor executable roadmap, which outlines projects and activities required to support achievement of Business Priorities and Outcomes.
Contact us at info@tridant.com to learn more about our Data Analytics Agenda, or visit: https://www.tridant.com/solutions/analytics-advisory-strategy/
Photograph by Chris Phutully, Wikimedia Commons
Zoos Victoria A conversation with David Methven Director of Digital Engagement, Zoos Victoria
Zoos Victoria Director of Digital Engagement, David Methven, shares his thoughts on the value of liberating data from the confines of spread-sheets and making it more visible across the organisation. T: David, can you tell us a little bit about Zoos Victoria? DM: Zoos Victoria is a not-for-profit conservation organisation dedicated to fighting wildlife extinction. We are a large, diverse and complex organisation operating 365 days across three zoos, hosting more than two million visitors per year. T: The sheer volume of visitors and the wide range of environmental programs you run must make data a very vital component of the zoo’s lifeblood. What was the catalyst for deploying the Tableau data analytics solution? DM: Like most organisations, our data was spread across a multitude of spread-sheets Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
making it difficult to gain true visibility across the data and use it in the ways we felt would benefit the organisation. So, it was really about making the data more accessible and presenting it in a way that clearly demonstrated the impacts and outcomes that various initiatives had on the business. T: How are you using analytics today and how do you see that evolving in the future within Zoos Victoria? DM: The dashboards are being used for management planning right across the business. They enable us to monitor what is, and what is not, working in terms of the various strategies we undertake to drive our key metrics of visitation and membership. Zoos Victoria | 7
We have put a lot of effort into creating dashboards that transform the data into a visual assessment of where we are as a business; giving a clear view of the impacts our various business initiatives have on our actuals. Additionally, as a result of having greater clarity on what is happening in the business, we can take more immediate corrective action when we see the dashboards alerting us to potential issues. And lastly, and possibly most importantly for us as a business, the dashboards provide us with an accurate view of the likely outcomes that certain activities and campaigns will have on our key revenue drivers across the three zoos. T: It’s clear that Tableau has brought a lot of practical value to the business David, but how do you see the interplay between technology and people at Zoos Victoria? DM: For us, technology is an enabler, as it has helped us achieve our key goal of making the data more visible to business users right across the organisation. The key is to enable people with the right information from which to take the right set of actions with confidence. T: What role do you believe that analytics bring to the table in terms of providing organisations with game changing insights? DM: Having the ability to take data out of spreadsheets and using it to provide a very visual view of the organisation and the impacts key decisions and actions have on your core business is a game changer in itself. Tableau has really helped us transform the way we use data to drive the business, enabling us to present information and metrics in ways that are visually attractive and simple for everyone to understand and take action on. Tableau has allowed us to take a whole lot of information and present it back to the business in terms of trends, impacts and outcomes against key initiatives.
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
T: Can you tell us a little bit about Tridant’s role in all this and the value you believe they brought to the process? DM: One of the things that Tridant have been very good at is producing reports that fit our specific requirements – they really understood what we needed and built reports that reflected those needs. They have also been fantastic at helping us identify ways in which we could be extending Tableau’s value to our planning process. For example, helping us focus our ideas around ways of minimising the impact of things we cannot control (like the weather) and helping us focus more on those things we can control and amplify their impacts. T: We have talked a lot about the value data analytics have provided to the business but what impact would you say it has had on the way your customers experience Zoos Victoria? DM: I think the key element is that we are now in a far better position to understand what our visitors find appealing and which of our offers and programs are of most benefit to them, which ultimately provides a better overall zoo experience for everyone. T: And finally, what advice would you give to companies who are about to commence their Data Analytics journey? DM: Just make a start. The key thing is to start to bring the data into the light. Simply by making it more visible it becomes more useable and as a result more valuable to the decision making process. ●
Zoos Victoria | 8
Application Management Services
F
rom our beginnings in 2007, Tridant has been committed to client success in Financial Performance Management and Business Intelligence. With cutting-edge solution design and implementations, our clients have established the systems and processes to drive databased decisions, gaining rich insights about the performance of their organisations and fostering a culture of information maturity. Tridant continues to invest in new ways to contribute to client success with data analytics, offering a complete portfolio of application management services tailored to suit any needs or requirements. This includes 24-hour support around the globe for organisations with distributed user-bases, from our offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Manila and South Africa.
Staff augmentation Application out-tasking services
Tridant provides skilled personnel, who work under your direction to develop, maintain, manage and support your applications. Tridant provides ongoing management and support of your analytical applications, including continuous improvement activities.
Design-build-manage
Tridant designs, builds and provides ongoing management for a targeted set of applications. With a low up-front investment and the security of a fully managed solution for a fixed term.
Business application modernisation services
Tridant collaborates with you to transform your existing analytic applications and processes so that your applications better meet your business needs.
It’s easy to get started. Partner with Tridant for support at any level and allow us to become an extension of your team, providing you with the expertise, people and processes to maintain all aspects of your analytic solutions.
For more information or to contact us today, please visit: https://www.tridant.com/support/
Richard Crookes Constructions A conversation with Alison Kindred Finance Manager, Richard Crookes Constructions
Finance Manager, Alison Kindred, talks about how IBM Planning Analytics have transformed the planning and forecasting process at Richard Crookes Constructions (RCC). Operating throughout NSW and the ACT, RCC is a private, family owned Construction Company that has been delivering projects as promised; on-time and budget, safely and to the highest quality since 1976. T: RCC has a strong heritage and a deep commitment to its core values as a familyowned business – how would you say that history has driven the way you consumed data as an organisation, and what prompted you to look at alternatives? AK: Historically, RCC’s data was contained over a variety of data sources, including core construction software as well as various excel spreadsheets. As the company grew, we found the task of collating the board reports and business forecasts increasingly onerous and potentially subject to error. The RCC board report collates “to-date” data as well as forecasts out over 3 financial years. It was really the need to get that functionalIssue 06 | The Customer Edition
ity more streamlined that was the catalyst for engaging Tridant and going down the IBM Planning Analytics (TM1) path. The forecasting capability that IBM Planning Analytics provides has delivered on the promise of enabling fast access to accurate information, which is key to continuing to grow and evolve our business. T: Having been through the labour and time intensive excel driven planning process, how do you see the interplay between the new technology and your staff? AK: I think the main shift has been in what we now use our resources for. Where previously the bulk of the finance team’s focus was Richard Crookes Constructions | 10
spent on data collation and entry, we are now able to refocus that energy towards analysing that data knowing that it is based on a true and accurate reflection of our business.
T: We have spoken a lot about the value the technology has brought the organisation, can you tell us a little bit about the value that Tridant brought to the process?
T: I know that you are still in the early days of the implementation, but what kind of impact points are you already seeing as a result of having this capability?
AK: I have never worked with consultants that have been as professional as the Tridant team. From start to finish they have been absolutely brilliant.
AK: For us the point was always about ensuring that our tools do not hold us back from moving forward as a successful company.
As an organisation we spent almost two years clarifying what it was we needed but we were unsure how best to get there, so having Tridant come in and create the right architecture was immensely valuable.
We view these tools as inherent to our longterm journey, providing better, more valuable information with integrity we can rely on in order to make the kind of decisions that will contribute to our future success. We see Tridant, and IBM Planning Analytics as an ongoing business development partnership, and as our understanding of TM1 grows so will our ability to leverage its value across the whole organisation. The board report is really just the first step in helping the organisation understand and use the technology. T: As a chartered accountant, what trends do you see shaping the future of the industry? AK: Accounting as a function is definitely going beyond the realms of traditional accounting systems and I absolutely feel that the ability to harness increasingly complex analytical capabilities will be the way of the future. It’s really the layer that has the ability to bring together the different functions within an organisation and use the data to drive greater collective value.
I cannot recommend Tridant enough; their whole approach from the very beginning was extremely professional. From the architecture and tool selection right through to the weekly reporting, they made it really easy for us to stay on track. We had very open lines of communication throughout and Tridant’s team – both on and offsite – were always available to us and very responsive to our questions and feedback. T: Alison, based on your experience with RCC’s data analytics implementation, what advice would you give to other companies commencing their Data Analytics journey? AK: Be very clear about the outcome you require. Spend time in the early stages to really hone your requirements. That was a piece of advice that we received very early on in our own journey and it has proven to be key to our ability to stay on time, on budget and achieve the outcome we needed. ●
From our perspective, being able to use Planning Analytics in this way will mean that we have the entire business process – from tender to solution to forecasting to finishing projects – covered. Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
Richard Crookes Constructions | 11
Advanced Analytics and FMCG A conversation with Dany Krivoshey FMCG Specialist, Singapore
Dany Krivoshey, FMCG Specialist, talks about how advanced Data Analytics have created a culture of continuous improvement at one of the worlds leading FMCG companies. T: Dany, can you tell us a little bit about the key drivers behind the organisations decision to invest in Data Analytics? DK: Consumers within the FMCG market are characterised by the speed with which they make purchase decisions. This means that in order to maintain our market position, our business decision making capabilities need to be equally as fast - enabling us to not only respond to the rapidly changing market conditions but anticipate them. We knew that our need for ‘speed of information management, insight and decision making’ could only be delivered through the advanced analytics capabilities offered by Alteryx and Tableau. Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
T: Given the highly dynamic nature of the business environment you operate within, what role do you see data analytics playing in your organisations success. DK: We see data analytics as absolutely critical to our ability to deliver on our growth and profitability objectives. For us, success is largely determined by the speed with which we are able to anticipate and deliver on our customers needs while maintaining tight control over costs. Speed is everything within the FMCG market so we really see advanced data analytics capability as a key enabler of fast, accurate decision-making.
Advanced Analytics and FMCG | 12
T: How are you using the products to achieve that? DK: In combination, Alteryx and Tableau provide us with cross-functional analytic capabilities that deliver accurate data to the business in real time and in a format that allows the business to make sound decisions quickly. Tableau’s highly advanced visualisation capability delivers insights within seconds of the event taking place, allowing the business to react in real time to take advantage of the changing market conditions, or course correct where we see issues arising. T: Given the need for speed across the entire organisation, how critical are Alteryx and Tableau to enabling speed of decision making? DK: We are using data analytics to answer business critical questions right across the organisation. There is not a line of business that does not rely on the power of advanced analytics to deliver the right information to the right people at a speed which allows us to turn our decision making processes into a real and sustainable form of competitive advantage.
our unique pain points and addressing them with a tailored solution within a very short space of time. Tridant were instrumental in ensuring that our internal resources were focused on the areas of most impact and that the products we selected were those that would support our long term success. T: Which product features do you see as key to supporting that long term success? DK: Because speed is such a critical competitive driver for us, we need solutions that are highly intuitive, and user friendly - meaning that they not only speak in the users language but give users complete self sufficiency when it comes to adjusting the reports to meet their rapidly changing needs.
The business case for data analytics is literally built on its ability to inject speed and accuracy in; process, information delivery, analysis and decision making - all of which roll up to creating an organisations unique point of leverage. T: In terms of the deployments success, what do you feel were the most important factors that Tridant brought to the table? DK: The partnership with Tridant has been game changing for us - within a matter of weeks they were able to implement solutions we could never have even dreamed of. Their level of professionalism, knowledge and expertise within this field has been invaluable. They are exceptionally good at understanding
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
Advanced Analytics and FMCG | 13
Both Alteryx and Tableau deliver on those needs - they offer highly advanced capabilities that are designed with the business user (not IT) in mind. This means the user is in full control of they way they tap into the data and visualise it with the ability to make any necessary adjustments at a moments notice. T: Quantifying ROI is often a difficult task what are some of the benefits the business has seen as a result of the deployment? DK: One of the key outcomes has been a significant uplift in decision-making empowerment. Users have access to data they trust in a format they can easily take action on from anywhere at any time, meaning that as a business we are able to focus our peoples time on high value activities while becoming increasingly more agile and responsive. The speed with which we are able to extract and transform data into actionable insights has also had a significant impact on our ability to manage our costs both in terms of controlling them and mitigating them.
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
T: What key piece of advice would you give organisations when selecting a data analytics vendor? DK: I believe that for any partnership to be successful it must be based on a shared set of core values. For us, sustainability is key to all that we do and in that sense Tridant was the perfect match. Tridant not only delivered a highly creative solution based on our particular market dynamics, they based that solution on a proven architecture enabled by products that have stood the test of time. For us, this was very important as we believe that the true value of data analytics capability is its ability to create a culture of continuous business performance improvement that is essential to long-term success. â—?
Advanced Analytics and FMCG | 14
From the team at Tridant,
we would like to wish you all a safe and enjoyable festive season, and a prosperous New Year.
Thank you for your support in 2017
Protecting Bees with Internet of Things Technology Data Creation
Manage
Sensor nodes are placed on the beehive to measure its health.
These results are viewed on an electronic device for real-time interpretation.
Collect
Data such as temperature, weight and activity is transmitted to a cloud server and analysed.
Use
Beekeepers take action to ensure that their hives continue to thrive.
To learn more, visit: https://www.tridant.com/iot/
The Tridant office and support desk will be closed from 22 December 2017 to 8 January 2018
Aconex A conversation with Andrew Cook Systems Accountant, Aconex
Aconex is the world’s #1 digital project delivery platform for construction and engineering projects. Aconex Systems Accountant, Andrew Cook, talks about how Adaptive Insights have helped their users take a more forward facing view of the business.
T: What was the catalyst that prompted Aconex to start their analytics journey?
sis and forecasting capability that boosts users confidence in making real time decisions.
AC: The company’s growth and evolution over the last decade and particularly since listing in 2014 really prompted the need for a more agile, cloud based, future facing reporting capability.
T: How are you using analytics today and how do you see that evolving in the future within your organisation?
Historically speaking, our reporting systems did a great job of past analysis, however, in order to continue to grow and expand our business a more advanced capability was required - one that would enable us to harness our data in order to visualise the future. Adaptive Insights allows us to be a lot more dynamic and responsive in our financial planning processes. It not only delivers fast and accurate data but also provides detailed analyIssue 06 | The Customer Edition
AC: Our first step was to use Adaptive Insights to drive the budgeting cycle - giving users more control over the data and helping them use it more effectively in managing their lines of business. Recently, we also launched a series of monthly predictive performance reports via Adaptive Insights focusing on employee cost and revenue forecasting capabilities. Adaptive’s intuitive planning, forecasting and reporting capabilities mean that the finance Aconex and Adaptive Insights | 16
team can now focus on high value analysis which will help us drive the business forward.
T: What is your favourite thing about Adaptive Insights and why?
T: How do you see the interplay between technology and people when it comes to harnessing the value of analytics within your organisation?
AC: Probably the fact that it facilitates a process of best practice right across the organisation in the way we use and consume data.
AC: The technology has brought us to a point where we can generate reports faster, while the visualisation capabilities enable us to access perspectives and insights that help us make better, more informed decisions for the future.
Adaptive Insights is designed for the business which has made it very easy to train users and provide them with a greater level of decision making confidence - knowing that the data is an accurate reflection of our business at any given point in time.
It has really freed the finance team to spend more of our time on value added analysis - finding the key value points. It also means we can give our GM’s greater visibility into our cost drivers and give them the ownership they need to take the necessary corrective actions with confidence. T: How much of your organisations success today would you say is attributable to deploying Adaptive Insights? AC: Bearing in mind we are only a year into our Data Analytics journey, the immediate impact point has been our ability to produce forward looking information quickly v’s our traditional ‘tail light’ view of the business. T: What role do you believe that analytics bring to the table in terms of providing organisations with game changing insights? AC: For me, the main game changer is the speed with which you can bring information to the users. Instead of spending the bulk of our time looking at historical information trying to understand what has already happened, we can now focus on forecasting and visualising data in order to make projections that have the ability to change our future. And equally as critically, we are making those projections based on data we know we can trust, and making it available to the business quickly enough for them to be able to act on that information and turn it into real advantage. Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
T: What do you consider to be the single most important feature of the solution and what value has it given Aconex? AC: Being able to enter our budgets at a granular level of detail and being able to report on that information and produce comparatives to our actual results is absolutely key to understanding past performance and allows us to forecast in a faster and smarter decision making process. T: What key trends and changes have you noticed within the analytics space over the last 12 months and where do you believe the future of analytics is heading. AC: I think the future of analytics lies with its ability to extrapolate historical data in order to predict and understand the future.
Aconex and Adaptive Insights | 17
Every business needs to know where they are heading and how they are going to get there Adaptive Insights helps organisations to harness their data in order to answer the HOW.
I would say the strength of the partnership together with their depth of knowledge and expertise has been instrumental in maximising Adaptive Insights value to our organisation.
T: What value did Tridant bring to your Adaptive Insights implementation?
T: How has the solution changed the way your organisation interacts with its customers?
AC: Our first impression of Tridant was that they were an organisation with an immense amount of knowledge and experience, with whom we could build a solid long-term partnership with.
AC: The timeliness with which we are now able to make decisions enables us to better respond to changes in the market, which ultimately helps us serve our customers more effectively.
Tridant worked onsite with us migrating our existing models into Adaptive and the thing that really impressed us was their dedication to knowledge sharing and ensuring we became as proficient and self sufficient as quickly as possible.
T: What advice would you give to companies who are about to commence their Data Analytics journey?
They really encouraged us to take full ownership of the product and taught us everything we needed to know in order to use it with confidence.
Issue 06 | The Customer Edition
AC: Be open to change the way you work in order to make the best use of the functionality that advanced analytics platforms offer. â—?
Aconex and Adaptive Insights | 18
Contact Us General Enquiries
Tridant Support Desk
1300 737 141 - Australia
1300 789 927
+65 6818 9261 - Singapore
servicedesk@tridant.com.au
info@tridant.com Melbourne
Sydney
Level 3, 1180 Toorak Road Camberwell, VIC 3124 T: 1300 737 141
Level 4, 50 Clarence Street Sydney, NSW 2000 T: 1300 737 141
Canberra
Perth
Level 1, The Realm, 18 National Circuit Canberra, ACT 2600 T: 1300 737 141
Level 4, 45 St George’s Terrace Perth, WA 6000 T: 1300 737 141
Adelaide
Singapore
Level 2, 70 Hindmarsh Square Adelaide, SA 5000 T: 1300 737 141
16 Collyer Quay, Lvl 21 Singapore 049318 T: +65 6818 9261
Hobart Level 6, Reserve Bank Building, 111 Macquarie Street Hobart, TAS 7000 T: 1300 737 141 Australia The Dashboard is designed by Dilan Gunawardana - www.dilanjgun.com
Asia