At IntelliShift’s inaugural ConnectedOps virtual conference, attendees gained access to subject matter experts who shared actionable best practices for driving better business outcomes and operational excellence with connected vehicle and asset operations.
In his session, Best Practices in IT Integration, Tim Webster, senior product manager at IntelliShift, outlined the importance of breaking down data silos and integrating the disparate systems found in most organizations – and revealed the crippling result for companies that stay with the status quo.
A SnapLogic survey conducted in the U.S. and UK starkly illustrates the impact that data silos have on an organization. In just the two countries surveyed, $140 billion in losses each year were attributed to disconnected data.
Imagine what recapturing even a portion of those losses would contribute to your bottom line.
Disconnected Data Short Circuits Business Intelligence and Real-Time Decision Making
Under the status quo, individual departments have information to perform their core duties (i.e., maintenance department logs and stores maintenance schedules and records, and HR controls the information needed to complete payroll), but the problem of disconnected data runs much deeper.
Finding answers to even straightforward business questions can turn into a multi-step exercise. The data cuts across departmental lines, leading to a hunt that siphons away hours of productivity.
Imagine you’re preparing a new contract bid and need to know the real cost to deliver on that agreement. Sound simple? Not if your operational ecosystem is siloed. The data you need is scattered across different systems—none of which talk to each other, or directly to you.
You need to act to win the bid but you also need it to be profitable, and that’s the dilemma.
A quick decision based on “intuition” could be flawed in either direction. A proposal that comes in too high could mean you don’t win the business. A proposal that’s too low versus the actual costs to perform the service means reduced profit.
On the other hand, delaying a response while you gather information to make a fully informed decision could also cost you the opportunity. You’ve got to:
- Track down the maintenance department to find out the cost to maintain the vehicles and assets (assuming they have this data readily available)
- Reach out to the HR department to learn what the operators are paid and average number of hours to complete this type of job
- Dig into the exact cost to operate the vehicles and assets, including fuel spend and insurance
Getting to a confident, informed answer takes legwork – and time that you don’t have. And each time data is manually collected and entered, it’s vulnerable to data-entry errors.
So, is there a solution? You bet. The key is in integrating your operations.
Take on the Heavy Lifting of Data Collection and Analysis Using an API
Providing an easy way to connect your applications through our API (application programming interface), the IntelliShift platform is designed to eliminate siloed environments—and to unleash the power of connected, real-time data from even the most isolated corners of your organization.
Our API makes it easy for you to set up the integrations you need –integrations that connect and share data between your critical applications. You get the right information, to the right people, at the right time – in a context built to analyze and showcase your critical KPIs. True business insight.
Using IntelliShift as the connector, you can work within your company and with the applications you’re already using, to break down silos and bring all of your information together. And with IntelliShift’s business intelligence dashboards, you’ll be able to leverage and analyze your now-connected data to drive informed business decisions.
And rest assured, your real-time connectivity will deliver the business intelligence you require while keeping your data secure. All data is encrypted, every API call requires an authentication token, and we use a standard OpenID Connect option for additional layers of security.
Improve Productivity by Automating Common Tasks
Sharing data is just the first step in driving down the losses from disconnected data. With the IntelliShift platform, you can continue to make gains by automating manual tasks across your operations. For example, fleet operations managers and maintenance can be alerted in real-time the moment a driver reports a maintenance issue during a pre-trip inspection. Or drivers can receive automatic in-cab alerts if a safety issue – such as cell phone usage or smoking– is detected.
But the automation possibilities go beyond individual tasks.
For example, consider the purchase of a new vehicle or asset. The acquisition likely triggers a data input requirement in several different systems within your organization. The asset must be set up for things like maintenance, dispatching, billing and telematics. Separate manual entries create a perfect storm of potential problems – duplication of effort, lost productivity data-entry errors and non-normalized data.
With IntelliShift, you can automate that work. Instead of manually entering the information in each system, create the asset profile in a single dedicated place and our API will automatically populate the other sources – saving time and guaranteeing anyone accessing that data always has the current information.
Ultimately, we leverage our deep industry knowledge, and work in partnership with you to deliver a solution based on your business objectives – providing holistic insight that connects your people, technology and operations, and enables you to achieve a next-generation ROI that will take your business to new levels.
If you missed the ConnectedOps 2020 virtual conference, no worries. You can watch it all on demand, right now.
