Power your IT engine with the right fuel
Companies should control the information that feeds their back-end systems, writes Danny Bagge.
Investment in IT accounts for a growing proportion of business expenditure. But for companies to truly benefit from these systems and maximise return on their investment, it is vital to consider the bigger picture.
After all, the back-end systems are only as good as the information they receive. If you put garbage in, you're sure to get garbage out.
A powerful IT system relies heavily on getting accurate information at the right time. The only way to achieve this properly is through an effective mobile layer at the front end of business operations that manages, directs and reports on each and every activity.
If you succeed in doing this, you can extend both the reach and the life of your corporate systems, while maximising your business performance.
Every IT system that operates within the business environment is rules-based, which provides a structured format of activity for each process it controls. As a result, it cannot see outside the information it is provided with.
The latest front-end mobile systems can allow the monitoring of every single process across the corporate infrastructure, feeding information back into the IT system and giving a company accurate, detailed knowledge on which it can base business decisions and enhance IT control.
By integrating mobile technology more effectively into your business, productive and non-productive tasks can be managed to improve visibility over what is happening at the sharp end of your operations.
With a systems approach, the terminal can be used to capture and track a complete range of information from far deeper within the organisation, allowing a continual improvement process based on sound business knowledge.
However, with 60 per cent of blue-collar workers now out in the field, the business environment is continuing to evolve. A mobile front end is increasingly recognised as the key to fast, effective operations and success.
But to extend the life and reach of corporate systems today it is vital that the information collated by the latest mobile terminals is the right information in the right format.
Taking a systems-directed approach vastly improves the individual and business performance, simply by removing or reducing the element of human error that is bound to exist.
Indeed, a systems approach to business processes would save a minimum of 10 per cent on labour costs. For example, in a typical distribution centre with a labour bill of £20m, about £2m would be saved on labour every year.
While this type of control and management is available with the latest technology, many businesses are holding back largely because of fear of change and a lack of knowledge about how far this technology can really take us.
Danny Bagge is UK solutions director at RangeGate.
www.rangegate.co.za