Every relationship needs to be nurtured, including the one you have with your data, and a full modernization of your legacy software is the first step. But regardless of where you are in your modernization journey, one key system that must be upgraded is your analytics platform. This platform behaves like a third-party, non-biased interpreter of your data, able to mine relevant and sometimes hidden information from all areas of your business, ultimately providing you with actionable solutions. Relationships with humans can be messy and hard to interpret, but a healthy relationship with your data shouldn’t be, especially with these 5 key strategies:

Strategy 1: A Good Relationship Needs Support
The best way to grow your relationship with your data is to give it the support it needs to reach its full potential. Thus, working with an experienced partner is imperative to obtain a full and comprehensive assessment of your current software needs and to implement the right modernization for you. Because modern ERP solutions are the primary system of record for your business, upgrading or updating your existing ERP system is one step to providing you a gateway to a better, more powerful relationship with your company’s data. And ultimately, a strong partner can help determine and direct you on linking all your systems into your analytics platform.

Strategy 2: A Good Relationship Needs Effective Communication
Is all your data talking to you, or do you have some pockets of data that have gone “radio silent”? With a modern-day business analytics platform like Qlik, the ability to connect disparate, siloed systems with simplicity and efficiency provides you with new insights to explore and monetize. Qlik, an end-to-end analytics platform, empowers the entire enterprise workforce to make discoveries with all your data and extends analytics to wherever data can benefit your business. Qlik provides access anywhere/anytime: on your desktop, in the office, on the plant floor, at home on your laptop, or on your mobile device. And once you can obtain your data, from anywhere at any time, you can decipher a more complete picture of your company’s performance. Then, when it’s time to communicate the findings to your stakeholders, an analytics platform can help you tell the story with compelling and enlightening graphics.

Strategy 3: A Good Relationship Needs Understanding
Having the data isn’t what’s important; what you decipher from it is. For example, do you have details on how well production is performing or what sales region or product is selling the best or how well finance is managing cash flow? Your data can tell you all of this, but unless the two of you are effectively communicating, you may remain blinded to these key insights. To generate a more powerful relationship, you need to fully understand your data, and a modern analytics platform will give you the visibility into your data like never before with user and role-based dashboards, metrics, and reports. Better understanding creates better business decisions, and a platform like Qlik will keep your business growing and competitive in the manufacturing industry.

Strategy 4: A Good Relationship Needs Transparency & Honesty
Needing the ability to look deeper into performance and efficiency is essential in today’s market. Unbiased data will bring you good news, but more importantly, it will highlight the bad news as well. The bad may be a bitter pill to swallow, especially in areas where you were deemed successful, but complete transparency means shining a light in places that need change. Whether it’s gathering insight from IoT sensors in your manufacturing plants or insight into the products or equipment you sell, a modern analytics platform like Qlik provides impartial visibility into all operations. Authentic data helps you make tougher but more strategic decisions about how to change your business to meet the growing and changing market demands.

Strategy 5: A Good Relationship Builds for the Future
With the rise of customer demands and growing digital commerce, manufacturing is experiencing a new industrial revolution. These are exciting times for your business, and building a strong relationship with your data will empower you to embrace this new age. Analytics will give you the strategies to help you understand and improve almost every aspect of your business, from operations to sales and even to customer support.

Knowledge is power, and once you can access your data, from anywhere at any time, you will wonder why you didn’t add an analytics solution to your software sooner. Contact The Copley Consulting Group at 855-884-5305 or via email at sales@copleycg.com to discuss how the Qlik Analytics Solution can transform you and your data into a dynamic duo.