In the Parcel, Express and postal market
Big Data and
Analytics in
Why Analytics is the future of Parcel, Express and Postal
If there’s one sector where the growing wealth of data still isn’t being optimally leveraged by companies, it’s PEP. The potential for analytics to improve the performance of a PEP business is vast. The companies that make the best use of their data will have a big, perhaps even a decisive, competitive edge.
Volumes continue to grow
The explosive growth of the B2C market, pressure on margins due to rising service expectations of the PEP consumer, increased access to the internet... It’s all contributing to the continuing trend towards growing parcel volumes.
Increasing volumes means increasing amounts of data: ‘big data’. And at ORTEC we know better than anyone how big data - or rather the smart analysis of it - can open up opportunities for your business. High quality analytics gives you insights into where your business is today, where it needs to be tomorrow and how to get there. It reveals improvement opportunities and what you need to do to grab them.
What exactly are ‘big data’ and ‘analytics’?
It seems everyone’s talking about ‘data analytics’ and ‘big data’ nowadays. And as a company that’s been carrying out advanced analytics for clients since 1981 (long before ‘big data’ or ‘analytics’ were even coined), at ORTEC Consulting we’re delighted with the trend. But why the hype now?
The answer is actually simple. Every year, the amount of data within, and outside, your business grows exponentially. At the point conventional data analysis techniques can no longer process data effectively we call it ‘big data’. ‘Analytics’ is what turns that big data into useful insights.
But to do that you first need to know what data you have and which of it you can ‘unlock’. And how to then process, enrich and analyze that unlocked data in a way that allows you to explore it and uncover insights that will improve your business performance.
The good news for you is that, while they may all be raving about big data, most companies aren’t actually doing it properly. Yet.
The ORTEC Big Data Portal
At ORTEC we’ve therefore set up a Big Data Portal. Essentially, this Portal ensures all your data is brought together in one location. Where it’s then processed, modified and analyzed. Sometimes using traditional analysis techniques, sometimes newer big data techniques. The results are then intelligently presented using a range of visualization methods such as maps, graphs and tables.
What it’s all about hasn’t changed: uncovering fact-based insights and identifying improvement opportunities for your business
The ORTEC Big Data Portal brings all your data together in one location.
Your gateway to succes
The ORTEC Big Data Portal
Data
Value
Improvements Prescriptions Benefits Savings Visualizations Profiles Clusters Insights Strategy Reports Revenue Patterns Pricing Decision SupportHR
CRM Social Media Marketing 3rd Party Open Data Supply Chain ERP Finance © or tec-consulting.com | bigdatapor tal@or tec.comDeliver results into actionable improvements
to your business
The ORTEC Consulting Approach
The right questions
Analytics can give you insights into a great many things, but not all those insights will help your business. So it’s crucial to first consider what you want the analysis to achieve.
Our consultants have a unique skills set that combines advanced mathematics with extensive business knowledge and IT. They will ask the right questions. Ones that will deliver insights that help you solve your underlying challenge. We help determine what data is needed, and how to transform, analyse and process it into clear, meaningful results. Then deliver results in a way they can immediately be translated into actionable improvements to your business.
An analytics-ready business that can respond
Analytics not only gives insights into your company’s current performance, it can also predict likely future scenarios. So you can prepare and structure your organization to be flexible enough to respond to and benefit from any such developments.
At ORTEC we refer to the Analytics Maturity Curve. Starting with simple insights into your current situation; to predictive analytics that give a glimpse into the future; to analyses that determine what you should do; and finally complete optimization of your business. Our consultants also help you assess what steps you should take next and how quickly you should move. Because quicker isn’t always better if your organization
It all begins with the quality of data
Case-in-point: home delivery
Inadequate data produces inadequate analysis. It sounds obvious, but at ORTEC Consulting we often see this ‘beginner’s error’ made even in prestigious PEP companies with a long track record.
Take scan data. Scan data is ideal for helping operations, but not well suited to analytics. Within your linehaul it’s often impossible to tell which truck a package ends up on, so it’s difficult to determine the utilization of each vehicle. What’s more, scans are often done manually and not always at the exact time of the activity. Making those times an unreliable information source.
Another example is data cleansing. If you want to make a one-off analysis, you can give the data you’re going to use a one-time clean. But regular use of the data requires another solution. We help many companies cleanse their data properly for the purpose needed.
User-friendly KPI dashboards
Once you’ve got good enough data, you can use it to see how you’ve performed in key areas over a certain period. Results we display in user-friendly dashboards that benchmark performance against your chosen KPIs. For example:
■ Percentage of successful first delivery attempts ■ Number of deliveries realized within set time windows.
Continuously updated results
We can then help you take things a step further, by creating a direct data link that automatically refreshes your operational results every day. Letting you make quick improvements to your operations and service. For example by reliably predicting when vehicles will reach a customer.
The level of analysis your business needs
The beauty of analysis is that you can use it at the level of analytics maturity your company is currently ready for. From a small performance improvement, to solving an operational bottleneck, to developing a whole new strategy using the most complex mathematical modeling.
So knowing, for example, when you expect you can deliver to your customer actually triggers a number of follow-on questions:
■ Can I predict if the customer will be home then? ■ Can I reroute the package to where she is likely to be?
■ Can I message her that the package will be delivered to another location? ■ Can I message her that I’m coming later due to traffic delays?
■ What impact do I expect on my ‘% not home’ from different delivery strategies?
Ultimately you want to be able to perform full-blown big data analytics. Combining all sorts of data that together throw up completely new - and sometimes completely unexpected - insights.
For example by combining demographic or weather data with your own supplies data. Then the customer delivery questions become:
■ What impact does the weather have on a delivery attempt’s chances of success? ■ How does the makeup of a household affect the chances of successful delivery?
Big Data, big surprises
How ORTEC adds value
Though cost still drives the PEP market, the customer experience is increasingly important. And at ORTEC Consulting we have the experience and specific analytic skills in-house to ensure your company achieves both: cost efficiency and increased customer satisfaction. Delivering an even more important third goal: a genuine competitive edge.
Our consultants, together with solutions like the ORTEC Big Data Portal, make it easy for you to assess the enormous quantity of big data at your disposal as a PEP company. Connecting up the right data sources while using state-of-the-art analytics and big data techniques to process the results into crystal clear, fact-based advice on your current situation and future direction. Advice we always ensure can immediately be translated into actionable improvements to your business.
Rated the best by our peers
In 2012 ORTEC won the prestigious Franz Edelman Award together with TNT Express and Tilburg University for helping TNT Express optimize its supply chain.
The winning Operations Research tool analyzes and improves TNT Express transportation networks. Delivering major cost savings, service and management improvements, and CO2 emission reductions. The price is awarded by the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS®),
an international society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, focused on applying scientific methods to support decision-making, management and operational processes.
[email protected]
About ORTEC Consulting
At ORTEC Consulting we believe that Advanced Analytics & Optimization are key for companies to innovate and outperform. We offer ‘quants’ with in-depth experience in advanced analytics, tailor-made optimization models and technology, consulting services and projects for all levels of analytics maturity, as well as an analytics academy for education and training. Our domain experience ranges from Supply Chains, Capacity & Resource Planning and Pricing to Marketing, E-Commerce and Big Data. With a track record of 35 years and offices around the globe, we combine a passion for complexity with a hands-on mentality and a determination to solve the unsolvable.
Don’t take our word for it
Other companies have discovered how ORTEC provides the facts and insights you need to make strategic business decisions with confidence. But don’t take our word for it.
Get in touch at [email protected] or on
+31 88 678 32 65 to discuss your company’s specific needs.
Or we can put you in contact with one of our other clients to discuss the difference ORTEC has made to their supply chain.
