Business Intelligence Defined
“Business intelligence”. It’s a term that can have many meanings – and is largely dependent on a company’s size and which sector it operates in. However there are some guiding principles which GWD media has adopted for the Genkiosk platform. Here we make it easy to access the data that guides business intelligence – and best practice – in the world of interactive kiosks.
What does it mean?
At a macro level it relates to business strategy and the approach that is taken by the organisation.
At a micro level it refers to a single, quite narrowly defined task.
Genkiosk is able to provide businesses with different information dependent on need. For example a retailer will be keen to see sales receipts on a daily basis, whereas a car showroom may want to know how many unique visitors have looked at their new model of car and requested a test drive.
How to decide what is right for your business
Identify tangible benefits such as:
- Eliminating the cost of producing reports.
- Reducing site visits.
Wherever possible, make information accessible to the entire organization. This will ensure that even a small advantage, such as a few minutes saved, will make a big difference across an entire organization, once multiplied by the number of employees.
- Look for your project to be driven by other business initiatives that have produced results.
Business Intelligence – the Components
Benchmarking
Definition: Comparing commercial processes and performance within your own industry, and to other industry sectors.
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Examples include the measurement and comparison of uptime, availability, response times, energy consumption, sales per square foot, version control etc
This enables companies to compare and contrast benchmarks centred on baseline facts and figures such as:
- What targets should be set realistically?
- Where can you be doing better?
- Which areas are improving, and which declining – compared to the rest of the field.
Forewarned, you’ll know where next to address your attention.
Analytics
Definition: Attaining an optimum or realistic verdict based on existing information
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Use analytics to solve problems and to measure any improvements. Remove the need for managers to make subjective decisions based only on past experiences or rules of thumb. For example if an underperforming kiosk is relocated to a higher footfall area analytics can be used to measure any improvements. Use statistics to make sense of historical patterns to gain a realistic prediction of future performance in engineering, sales or usage etc.
Use data-driven processes to track and measure against benchmarks or targets
Reporting
Definition: Unified information that pulls together data from across an entire enterprise (or selected divisions) into one place
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Reports can be used to persuade specific people to undertake actions that will improve a situation. For example if a report shows that a kiosk is switched off when it should be on, support personnel or account managers can seek resolution with the site owner. Another example is if a kiosk is in use 95% of the time consistently, then maybe another kiosk could be installed at that site.
Use reporting to gain necessary information as a part of the larger movement towards improved business intelligence
Business Rules
Definition: setting and implementing alerts and actions depending on pre-set criteria
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Specifying exceptions through lack of activity is an important business rule that is popular on Genkiosk. This can look for lack of revenue or lack of usage and rate it in terms of severity (0 being good & 10 being bad). You can then set notifications at each severity level, creating a simple to manage escalation process that informs the right people of the situation at the right time. Automated events can also be triggered such as restart, put temporarily-out-of-service or connect via a different service.
Automated processes increase accuracy, improve responsiveness & reduce the burden on the workforce
Collaboration
Definition: Working together to achieve a goal
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Genkiosk provides a straightforward means of communicating facts to selected or all parts of the business and encourages the adoption of shared goals. Whilst it requires leadership, the methods can be social and decentralized, where appropriate. This approach encourages engineers, sales people, account managers etc. to cut across formal methods of dialogue and to comment on the facts before them in a natural way. The key difference is that discussions progress into how to tackle an issue, rather than arguing over just what the issue is.
Encourage conversation and shared goals through a collaborative dialogue
Operational
Definition: Specific processes used to ensure quality
What does that mean – in the real world – for interactive kiosks?
Ensuring kiosks don’t just work on the ground, but actually achieve their maximum potential, requires knowledge and a relatively complex skillset. Issues such as software image management and fault finding, often require experienced people and processes to keep things running smoothly. Best practice is required to ensure there is consistency in change control, legacy management and support activities. Some environmental considerations can be put in place by using Genkiosk to automate the switching off and on again of kiosks, reducing costs, wear and tear and carbon footprint.
Driving best practice through the use of IT can save money & the environment.