Companies could create new, revenue-generating services from the "data streams" they produce, but it requires a data-savvy culture and new skills, according to research supported by the Society for Information Management's Advanced Practices Council.
Federal regulators served notice last week: They're watching how businesses use - and possibly abuse - consumers' personal information. And that's great. It's about time more official attention was paid to ways that companies invade our privacy. But federal authorities can do more, much more, to level the playing field.
Retailers are in the midst of a data land grab. They are trying to collect all of the consumer data they can possibly get their hands on. Why? Because they're hoping that some of it will prove to be valuable.
3PLs are much more than an outsourced logistics execution channel today: They're assuming larger contracts, more complex projects and increased authority as trusted advisors to companies navigating the omni-channel landscape. But with greater responsibility comes greater expectations all around - and it's up to 3PLs to rise to the occasion.
The transparent supply chain solution called the Control Tower acts as the supply chain nerve center, utilizing technology, organization and processes that capture product movement visibility from the supplier all the way to the customer.
Pharmaceutical companies are running hard to keep pace with changes brought about by digital technology. Mobile communications, the cloud, advanced analytics, and the Internet of Things are among the innovations that are starting to transform the healthcare industry in the ways they have already transformed the media, retail and banking industries. Pharma executives are well aware of the disruptive potential and are experimenting with a wide range of digital initiatives.
In 2010, when Netflix was still early into its shift from DVD rentals to online movies and shows, it started using Amazon Web Services, the retailer's cloud computing division. Now that Netflix streams 100 million-plus hours of video every day, it's sticking with Amazon partly because of Amazon's scale and features, and partly because switching vendors "would be a significant multi-year effort," says Yury Izrailevsky, Netflix's vice president for cloud and platform engineering.
If the company is the bus and its leader is the driver, as Jim Collins' famous analogy states, then it stands to reason that when the bus is moving, the driver should mostly be looking out the windshield (toward the future) rather than consulting the rear-view mirror.
An influx of sensors relating to Internet of Things technology is generating a growing volume of data to feed the predictive supply chain, and informs not only operational decisions, but also helps analyze the behavioral patterns of workers.
Manufacturing worldwide is on the cusp of a revolution. New information technologies are suddenly offering not only to make the management of manufacturing more effective, as we saw with early versions of plant and enterprise software, but the work itself smarter.
