CIOApplications
  • Home
  • Applications
      • 3D Scanning
      • Bioinformatics
      • Blockchain
      • BPM
      • Business Continuity
      • Business Intelligence
      • Collaboration
      • Configuration Management
      • CPQ
      • Container Management
      • CEM
      • Data Platform
      • Data Preparation
      • DMS
      • e-Discovery
      • Employee Engagement
      • EAM
      • Enterprise Communications
      • Enterprise Mobility
      • ERP
      • GIS
      • GRC
      • Human Resource
      • Innovation Management
      • Inventory Management
      • IT Infrastructure
      • IT Service Management
      • IT Services
      • Low Code
      • Managed IT Services
      • Marketing
      • Master Data Management
      • Mobile Application
      • Parking Management
      • Portal Software
      • Procurement
      • Project Management
      • Remote Monitoring
      • Remote Support
      • Sales
      • Software Asset Management
      • Software Testing
      • Supply Chain
      • Task Management
      • Unified Communications
      • Voice Recognition
      • Workflow
  • Verticals
      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Automotive
      • Banking
      • BioTechnology
      • Casino
      • Construction
      • Contact Center
      • E-commerce
      • Education
      • Field Service
      • Fintech
      • Food and Beverages
      • Government
      • Healthcare
      • Insurance
      • Legal
      • Life Sciences
      • Logistics
      • Manufacturing
      • Media and Entertainment
      • Oil & Gas
      • Retail
      • Space Tech
      • Telecom
      • Travel and Hospitality
      • Utilities
  • Technologies
      • API
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Augmented Reality
      • Big Data
      • Chatbot
      • Cloud
      • Content Delivery Network
      • Cyber Security
      • Data Center
      • DevOps
      • Distributed Technology
      • Drone
      • Enterprise Architecture
      • Enterprise Search
      • Enterprise Startups
      • Graphics
      • HPC
      • IoT
      • Java
      • Load Balancing
      • Machine Learning
      • Machine to Machine
      • Machine Vision and Imaging
      • Nano Tech
      • Predictive Analytics
      • Robotic Process Automation
      • Robotics
      • Security
      • Telematics
      • Testing
      • Video Surveillance
      • Virtual Assistant
      • Wireless
  • Partner Network
      • Adobe
      • Amazon
      • Avaya
      • ESRI Partner
      • IBM
      • Infor Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Mitel Partners
      • National Instruments
      • NetSuite
      • Nintex
      • Oracle
      • Progress
      • Riverbed
      • Salesforce
      • SAP
      • ServiceNow
      • SiteCore
  • News
  • conferences
  • Newsletter
  • About us
×
news

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Become a member of our mailing list for the latest articles, news, and exclusive insights.

news
news

Enter Your Email Address:

Thank you for subscribing with us. We sent you an email regarding this.

loading
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Business Intelligence
Editor's Pick (1 - 4 of 8)
left
Predicting a Better Future for Students

Predicting a Better Future for Students
Brian A Haugabrook, CIO, Valdosta State University

Driving Innovation through Business Intelligence

Driving Innovation through Business Intelligence
John Matelski, CIO and Director of Information Technology, DeKalb County Government

Cloud-Based Collaboration Is the Key to Driving Efficiency, Alignment, Analytical Abilities & Insight-Based Results

Cloud-Based Collaboration Is the Key to Driving Efficiency,...
Dave Pearson, EVP & CIO, Sykes

Unleashing the Power of Analytics in Academics

Unleashing the Power of Analytics in Academics
Leebrian E Gaskins, AVP-IT & CIO, Texas A&M International University

Tools That Allow Us To Turn Data Into Business Intelligence

Tools That Allow Us To Turn Data Into Business Intelligence
Philip Garland, CIO, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Data Science Isn't Just Business Intelligence: Here's How to Cross the Gap

Data Science Isn't Just Business Intelligence: Here's How to Cross...
Yohan Chin, VP Data Science, Tapjoy

How to Conquer the Last Mile of Analytics

How to Conquer the Last Mile of Analytics
Ritesh Ramesh, Data & Analytics Leader, Consumer Markets Vertical, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Business Intelligence a Top Priority in 2016, Again?

Business Intelligence a Top Priority in 2016, Again?
Ben Stewart, CIO, Stant USA Corporation

right

Business Intelligence that Delivers for Logistics

By Paul Schwartz, Director of Information, WSI

Tweet

Paul Schwartz, Director of Information, WSI

In logistics, information is the engine driving our industry. Sales history, transaction details, inventory levels, cycle counts and transportation routing. In an age where organizations demand real-time access to business intelligence, the ability to rapidly evaluate and disseminate that information can mean the difference between propelling a client toward market leadership or losing them to a competitor.

In the not-so-distant past, the tools at our disposal were arduous, at best. Starting with volumes of data from disparate sources, it might take days or even weeks to scrub the data, develop the logic and create analytics. But today, we have access to powerful business intelligence applications that effortlessly consolidate information from a variety of data sources, making it more readily accessible, flexible and understandable to a broad range of audiences. These tools have truly changed our industry.

There are a number of business intelligence tools currently on the market. When evaluating the options for my company, a national logistics provider, we felt that Tableau® offered the greatest flexibility and ease of use. Its graphic visualization approach is designed to make the complex data in databases and spreadsheets more readily understandable.

Seamless Data Integration

Tableau connects data from a wide variety of sources, including SAP, Oracle databases, MySQL, Google Analytics, spreadsheets, text documents and more. Regardless of the file's initial format, Tableau can create a single metadata element that provides a holistic view of business intelligence allowing us to manipulate the data, look at it in a variety of ways, and deliver a high-end, presentation-quality result that's easily understood by a wide range of audiences. The application gives you the flexibility to deliver business intelligence in dozens of different graphic presentations, from heat maps, to dynamic charts, timeseries graphs and more.

Complex Multidimensional Analysis

As customer needs for real-time information and precision performance continue to grow, so do the demands on IT to deliver detailed intelligence. Tableau gives us the ability to use extracts and create new data cubes on the fly, which is priceless in our world.

Transaction History. For example, if a customer wants to see whether there are regional trends in demand for a certain product, we can pull data on specific facilities, transactions and time…and create a visual presentation that illustrates where those peaks in demand are happening.

Distribution Center Location. We can help a customer identify the best location for a new distribution center by applying information relative to inbound product, outbound shipments, zip codes (which are already loaded into the application) and transportation costs to create heat maps showing them which locations would offer the most benefit for their money. In one case, we showed a customer how they could save over a million dollars a year by moving their DC closer to a region of high demand cutting transportation costs while reducing delivery times and on-hand inventories. And best of all, a process that used to take weeks can be accomplished in a single day.

"Using Tableau has cut our data analysis time by around 90 percent. We're able to respond to customer needs more quickly and they, in turn, can react to the market faster"

Facility Engineering. Another area where an analytical tool like this is extremely valuable is in optimizing the operations of our facilities. We can look at our labor needs over time and flex accordingly; review cycle counts for different products to determine which are A, B, or C level product fulfilled more or less frequently and then, design the best facility layout for fulfilling those fast-moving products more efficiently.

Real-Time Visibility to Key Performance Indicators

I think one of the most exciting features of an application like Tableau is having dashboard access to a business' key performance indicators (KPI's). Instead of writing code and using wizards, we can connect directly to our data using dragand- drop functionality to create real-time presentations around shipment volumes, customer trends, staffing levels and more.

Some of the dashboards Tableau has created specifically for logistics include:

• Calendars
• Customer Mapping
• Distribution Center Statistics
• Inventory Pareto
• Quantity-on Hand/ QOH by Product Bundle
• Routing Maps To view demos and report galleries, visit tableausoftware.com.

Technology That Delivers Results

In an industry that revolves around accurate and timely performance, Tableau is a useful business intelligence tool that aligns well with the requirements of our industry. It's invaluable in our daily operations and a value-added service for our customers helping us both improve profitability. Recently, we were involved in an international distribution RFP with a "need it now" timeline. As a result of being able to use a tool like Tableau, we were able to pull international volumes and transactional histories from a variety of different ERP systems. We were the only participant who was able to respond within the required timeframe and ultimately, we got the business. Bottom line, having a business intelligence tool like Tableau allows us to continually deliver the high level of service our customers have come to expect from WSI.

Read Also

Tools That Allow Us To Turn Data Into Business Intelligence

Tools That Allow Us To Turn Data Into Business Intelligence

Philip Garland, CIO, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Data Science Isn't Just Business Intelligence: Here's How to Cross the Gap

Data Science Isn't Just Business Intelligence: Here's How to Cross the Gap

Yohan Chin, VP Data Science, Tapjoy
How to Conquer the Last Mile of Analytics

How to Conquer the Last Mile of Analytics

Ritesh Ramesh, Data & Analytics Leader, Consumer Markets Vertical, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Business Intelligence a Top Priority in 2016, Again?

Business Intelligence a Top Priority in 2016, Again?

Ben Stewart, CIO, Stant USA Corporation

Business Intelligence Special

  • WayPoint Analytics: A Go-to Solution to Maximize Profitability
  • Tableau Software: Revolutionizing Data Visualization and Analysis

Featured Vendors

  • Tableau Software: Revolutionizing Data Visualization and Analysis
    Tableau Software: Revolutionizing Data Visualization and Analysis
  • 360Science: The Next-Generation Approach to Matching and Unifying Customer Data
    360Science: The Next-Generation Approach to Matching and Unifying Customer Data
  • Allwyn Corporation: Innovation Driven Custom Solution Provider
    Allwyn Corporation: Innovation Driven Custom Solution Provider
  • Innova Solutions: Empowering Businesses to Embrace the Digital Transformation
    Innova Solutions: Empowering Businesses to Embrace the Digital Transformation

Copyright © 2019 CIOApplications. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy |  Sitemap  |  Subscribe

follow on linkedin follow on twitter follow on rss
This content is copyright protected close

However, if you would like to share the information in this article, you may use the link below:

https://business-intelligence.cioapplications.com/cxoinsights/business-intelligence-that-delivers-for-logistics-nid-486.html