The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Leave Excel Limitations in 2018
December 17, 2018
Despite the limitations and lack of flexibility of Excel, it is still the main tool used by FP&A departments for analyzing and reporting data. Excel is a familiar platform that is easy to use, cost friendly, and comes with many formatting and graphing capabilities. However, the negatives far outweigh the positives when using Excel for data analytics. With Excel, calculations are made in reference to their position on a grid. In a modern solution, calculations are named and thus are always applied to the right data. This makes the calculations easy to set up and manage, while with Excel you can only hope the right data is being accessed. In addition, Excel has limitations when being used for data modeling, reporting and data analytics, and combining data from disparate systems. To get users to give up their spreadsheets requires showing them that there is a far better, faster alternative that is secure and doesn’t have the inherent integrity issues.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
Empower your Business-Enabled Data Analytics With PAML Technologies
December 13, 2018
An intelligent enterprise is a company that understands their customers and delivers customer-specific outcomes using data and technology, like predictive analytics and machine learning (PAML). These technologies are advanced enough for standardization. We can now model common business problems at high enough levels of abstraction that they can be used as starting points for a wide variety of common challenges. With intuitive tools and the right data, business analysts can use these models to start realizing value quickly and empowers the business to achieve results.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
Reshaping the Last Mile with Agility
December 12, 2018
The “last-mile” is increasingly becoming a key issue in the e-commerce supply chain. Many companies that struggle are focused on transportation alone, instead of managing inventory and getting the right items to the right place at the right time. The F.A.D. (Flexible transport networks, Automation and Data) model is a framework that will help retailers and logistics operators ensure their competitiveness over the last mile. By improving their performance in increasing automation, managing data and building flexibility into their networks, e-commerce companies in all markets will be able to better manage inventory and increase the efficiency of their last-mile delivery networks.
Leveraging Modeling and Analytics for a Competitive Edge
December 11, 2018
Organizations are increasingly turning to predictive analytics and modeling to help drive their businesses and execute on strategic objectives. These organizations are applying analytics in diverse functions; including financial, operational, risk management, and customer relations. There is a broad spectrum of analytical tools that business leaders can use to drive competitive advantage; including artificial intelligence, simulation modeling, and predictive analytics. To meet these objectives, organizations should build business-specific analytics and models. Unfortunately, doing this effectively is not possible without the right tool.
Read More at The Wall Street Journal >
