3. Promote sustainable decision-making
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues make companies rethink the way they do business. Whether it’s planning decisions about building location, future supply chain routes, or the amount of insurance to buy, almost every aspect of business operations is affected by ESG. Artificial intelligence tools, which can ingest and analyze all kinds of information, such as climate patterns, optimal delivery routes, and population growth trends, are helping companies make better ESG decisions.
Many companies, for example, are using data to see if they should build warehouses in a particular area or if climate change will eventually affect these operations. Others are using data to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, a large detergent company wanted to reduce its emissions by reducing the size of the container, but at the same time increase the concentration of detergent so that consumers could wash the same number of loads. Its retailer said that even with the same efficiency, a smaller size may not be sold, as consumers think larger packages are a better deal. Instead of sticking with the larger size, the retailer managed to get all detergent manufacturers to reduce their packaging by showing them how they can keep the same number of loads in a smaller sized container while becoming more sustainable. . This demonstrated the power of analysis: a company influenced the entire industry to reduce its carbon emissions due to timely data-driven decisions.
4. Improved productivity
The digital age has to do with hyperprecision. By consolidating, analyzing, and leveraging the right quality data at the right time to evaluate, predict, and prescribe decisions, companies can significantly improve the productivity and value of their resources.
For example, global automotive supplier ZF wanted to compare efficiency between its different plants. He created a digital manufacturing program, built into PwC’s Azure Cloud with Factory Intelligence, to analyze performance data between each location. Through advanced analytics, visualizations, and automated workflows, the company has reduced conversion costs, improved overall performance, and increased workforce efficiency and effectiveness at its more than 200 plants.
5. Promote product or service innovation
When it comes to creating new products and services, data changes the game. The more you know about a customer, the better you will get an idea of the types of products they may want. However, companies need to go beyond big data and start looking at what is called “thick data” to effectively influence the use of products and services through human-centered design.
While big data is about capturing what people spend money on, when they bought an item, and how much they paid, the big data focuses on human behavior and delves into people’s motivations to buy something. the ways in which they use a product. For example, a credit company typically identifies fraud by looking at unusual transaction patterns. But gathering thick data around customers affected by fraud and the behavior of scammers can bring a new level of sophistication. By interviewing people who have committed fraud and identifying their motivations and patterns of behavior, this knowledge can be incorporated into more traditional fraud tracking analyzes, a combination of which allows companies to track fraud. when fraud can occur before it occurs. This ultimately leads to better fraud solutions.
It brings together experience in data and technology
Achieving high value results will require new solutions and a different approach to data. Now you need to think about what actions your data can report.
Working together, PwC and Microsoft have seen first-hand the challenge for companies to understand what the “data drive” really is. Many companies believe that it is enough to collect information and run numbers using a data visualization tool. While basic analysis can help you get information about something that has already happened, this kind of information, when combined with real actions and results, can help you assess what might happen in the future and say what you can do about a problem before it happens. .
Explore how PwC and Microsoft use Azure data and the latest technology in cloud, AI, and mixed reality to transform experiences. from the football field to your industry.
This content was produced by PwC. It was not written by the editorial staff of the MIT Technology Review.
