Business Intelligence Blog

 

Industry-specific data analytics technology has advanced exponentially over the last decade. Before the development of analytics software, data management relied on manual input. Purchase orders were received in person, over the phone, or by way of fax or email. Today’s data analytics solutions offer distributors the ability to sift through mountains of data to discover the gold.

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Topics: Industry - Wholesale Distribution, Job Role - Sales, Strategy, Management and Performance, Job Role - Executive

ConvaTec is a global medical products and technologies company with innovations that advance wound care, stoma care, continence and critical care. ConvaTec deployed Phocas in 2015, and the following year, the company’s 30-plus sales team achieved record sales. The success was attributed to better visibility of their data and the ability to use data to support pricing decisions.

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Topics: Case Study, Job Role - Finance, Industry - Health and Medical, ERP - SAP

In today’s dynamic marketplace, modern CEOs must operate from a new playbook. Resilience and the ability to quickly adapt to mercurial customer demands is the name of the game. Consequently, the modern CEO must have the tools to maintain a competitive advantage.

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Topics: Job Role - Executive, KPIs

Phocas is pleased to announce the appointment of Blair Cassidy as the Chief Product Officer (CPO). Cassidy brings more than 19 years of digital product experience to Phocas, most recently serving as the CPO for SLI Systems.  Cassidy will lead the company’s efforts in developing innovations that build upon Phocas’ data analytics solutions and its success helping customers better leverage their business data.

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Topics: Company Updates

How good is your knowledge of business intelligence?  How many questions can you answer? Test your skills in the Ultimate Business Intelligence Quiz.

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics

Typically, having loads of data is overwhelming for a decision-maker, unless it can be consolidated and presented in a way that is useful and makes a point. One of the communication lessons from the Challenger disaster in 1986 is the way unclear information provided to NASA, affected the decision to go ahead with the launch of the rocket. The horror of the catastrophe overshadows the story of how it happened. Academics and journalists tend to focus on the political or economic bias of the decision-makers as the root cause. Not on the data presentation, and how the critical factor of temperature and how it affects O-ring performance, was not made clear to the rocket scientists. 

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Topics: Case Study, Job Role - Sales, Job Role - IT, Job Role - Executive

As advancements in technology continue to alter the way we do business, the role and function of the IT department must also adapt. IT managers need to consider ways to shift the IT department from the role of a cost center to a strategic asset. By developing innovative strategies that marry technology with business goals, your IT department can be your company’s competitive edge and drive efficiencies and superior customer service.

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Topics: Job Role - Finance, Job Role - IT

“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge” according to best selling author, John Naisbitt. Today’s businesses have the ability to collect an extraordinary amount of information on everything from customer buying patterns and feedback to supply chain management and marketing efforts. Are you drawing value from your data?

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics

My fascination with the psychology of decision-making continues. My latest sage is Daniel Kahneman, a leading psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in economics for prospect theory.  Kahneman has dedicated his life to researching human judgement – especially under uncertainty and whether people are susceptible to flawed intuition. His book, Thinking, fast and slow summarizes much of his research. The book explains why humans make errors of judgement, and the role of systematic bias. It has many examples of the way people ignore general facts if they conflict with personal experience.

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Strategy, Management and Performance, Job Role - Executive, decision-making

Locksmith Supply Company (LSC) is a thriving 93-year-old security hardware distributor for the locksmith industry. To manage the 20,000 lines of stock and serve customers well, the owners made a strategic decision to harness business data and turn it into useful information.  Data engineer, Gordon Howell explains “having those higher facts to back up what we're doing and being agile to use the on-hand data does help us make proper decisions.”

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Topics: Case Study, Industry - Wholesale Distribution, Job Role - IT, ERP - Epicor