Introduction:
Mobile devices have brought about a giant leap in the modern world, providing myriad combinations of services to be leveraged by users depending upon their need, or more so, creating opportunities for different needs. While stamping their presence in most avenues of daily life, there are still some areas where their application is recognized but has yet to catch up to their full potential. One such area of opportunity, especially in the world of IT, would be the use of analytics on mobile devices. The following scenarios are discussed to study this prospect in further detail.
Mobile Analytics dashboard (Kronos & Oracle)
Case Study 1:
Scenario - The client is a leading global sports gear and apparel manufacturer and among the first to keep up with latest trends in technology and business. Apart from adopting new technology, the organization is also keen to pilot cool initiatives and gauge customer responses towards the same.
Background - The organization uses Kronos - a leading Workforce management product to capture time and attendance and also drive forecast and schedules of its workforce. With the introduction of Kronos Tablet they have also planned for a pilot rollout to select stores. Salient modules in use on the tablet include basic employee time and attendance, scheduling and forecasting along with advanced analytics.
Problem Statement - The client needed to explore the analytics app offered by Kronos for their store managers to leverage the real time trend update functionality offered by the same.
POC details - The tablet version (iPad only) app for analytics was tested and deployed as a pilot to select doors across the US region. The app was shared with both senior management and store level users. Being a retail domain the primary metrics on the app included volume drivers such as consumer traffic, sales amounts and employee demographics like coverage, shift effectiveness, etc. Focus groups were setup with pre-built dashboards to monitor various trends and daily heads up on metrics. Dashboards had roll-up, roll down functionality, real-time update of data and trend-analysis algorithms enabled using back end ETL (Extract Transform Load) jobs. The real time metrics would be updated on a preset frequency through the day as and when a threshold data point was reached. App used on the tablet was a readily downloadable app from the Apple store, developed by Kronos and integrated with the on premise application.
Pilot & Feedback - As a pilot, the app was made available to senior management and leadership in select stores. A preview of the analytics functionality, comprising a dashboard customized to the look and feel of the retailer's other existing apps, was highly successful. The core functionality and use case scenarios were also well received. This was followed by the rollout of the real time option, which again was very successful and instantly popular.
At a store leadership level this provided unprecedented control and rapid decision making ability.
For example, if in a large store area there is a shortage of employees in a section OR if there is a dip in forecasted sales in a department then the stakeholders can immediately get to the problem zone and plan alternatives with the aid of mobile analytics.
Frequent back office planning meetings were eliminated.
With access to all the necessary inputs in the tablet and with tools like heat maps and trend-analysis charts, they are able to simulate the next available options and also validate its success criteria immediately on the shop floor.
Taking a realistic scenario, during peak hours like Thanksgiving or Christmas, these actions save tremendous amount of time, not to mention an exponential increase in productivity/flexibility during day-to-day operations.
End of part 1... in parts 2 and 3 we will see more case studies and inferences.