Chemicals Industry Checklist

Like most manufacturers, your chemical company isswimming in data that needs to be consumed quickly.You’re coping with fluctuating commodity prices andgrowing price sensitivities, while ensuring you’reprepared for a quality or recall audit. These processescreate data that, if used properly, can become avaluable business asset.

Many leading chemical companies cite analytics as alynchpin that helps keep their strategicdecisionmaking on the right course, especially as itrelates to important factors such as populationtrends, environmental issues, and energy demandsin the coming decades, according to InformationWeek. This early insight can help large chemicalmanufacturers like you improve day-to-dayoperations, while also helping to future-proof yourorganization. Still, taking advantage of your businessintelligence and analytics functions is easier said thandone. But that needn’t be so.

Chemicals

10 ways to make analyticsmore useful and consumable

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Chemicals Industry Checklist

Tactic Benefits

Here are 10 tactics your chemical company can employ at the userlevel up through your entire enterprise.

Democratize data to empower your users.Turn to page 3 to learn more.

Makes data and tools accessible tonon-technical users, so they can make moreinformed decisions

Filter the data each user receives bysetting permissions.Turn to page 3 to learn more.

Implement workflows based on yourbusiness processes.Turn to page 4 to learn more.

Deliver alerts automatically based on pre-definedevents or criteria.Turn to page 4 to learn more.

Incorporate social technologies.Turn to page 6 to learn more.

Decreases time wasted searching forrelevant information

Enables fast, proactive decision making;standardizes processes

Speeds up the time to detect and correctproduction problems

Adds context to decision-making; deliversinformation automatically to subscribers

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Provide mobile access to information.Turn to page 6 to learn more.

Increases responsiveness; satisfiesemployee demands for mobile access

Choose flexible deployment options, including cloudand hybrid models.Turn to page 7 to learn more.

Select tools that integrate easily with systems acrossthe business, regardless of vendor.Turn to page 7 to learn more.

Give your users access to pre-built analytics and data.Turn to page 7 to learn more.

Offer a real-time view of your business.Turn to page 8 to learn more.

Decreases total cost of ownership;improves data security

Provides a single source of data;optimizes existing technology investments

Saves time, increases usability, and makesit faster and easier to implementbest practices

Improves business agility and the quality ofdecision making

Chemicals Industry Checklist

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Democratize data to empoweryour usersToday’s digital business processes are creating moredata than ever before, and employees are becomingincreasingly data driven. They want more access todata, and they all want it now. In the real-time world inwhich we are all now operating, what good is data thatarrives several days (or even hours) after it wasrequested? Already-overwhelmed IT departments arestruggling to support this new paradigm.

The solution? Giving more people access to data isonly half the equation. Users must be able to analyzeit independently and make it meaningful—withoutadditional support from IT. Visual interfaces, along withthe ability to see data in charts and graphs andcustomize reports, are key to making data not onlyaccessible but valuable. As Nucleus Research hasnoted, when you eliminate the need for heavyanalytics training and give more workers access tosimple applications for using data, you can realizegreater ROI on your projects.

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Filter the data each user receives bysetting permissionsThese days, we all have more information coming atus than we have time to process. In fact, a study fromIBM has found that 82% of executives surveyedrecognize the value and effectiveness of integratingbig data and analytics into their businesses, but only24% of them think their organization can handle thejob. When you filter data by role, responsibility, orfunction, you make it more likely that workers will getonly the data they need to get their jobs done, ratherthan a sea of extraneous information. They’ll be ableto consume operational data quickly and not getbogged down.

The details

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Chemicals Industry Checklist

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Deliver alerts automatically based onpre-defined events or criteriaThe best data is actionable data; and to make dataactionable, you need to deliver it directly to the userswho need it. Don’t force them to go digging to find outthere’s a problem. Deliver the information to themwherever they are instead. By generating alerts basedon pre-defined events or criteria, such as when thesupply of an ingredient is running low or a piece ofequipment is scheduled for maintenance, you can getrelevant data to the people who need it early enoughto forestall problems. In the case of a recall or qualityaudit, this means tracking individual lots fromprocurement through manufacturing and, ultimately,into the finished goods supply chain. If you have anissue with a batch, everyone who can address theissue can be notified immediately to respond to the problem.

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Implement automated workflowsbased on your business processesConnecting your business intelligence and dataanalytics to your business processes ensures thatyour processes are being followed, so you canprevent costly mistakes and create audit trails—whilealso increasing productivity. For example, disruptionscaused by weather and geopolitical issues can createformulation problems or negatively affect yourenergy-related costs. If a formula has to be adjusted,you need to be sure the appropriate people sign offon the change. With an automated workflow system,each person who needs to approve an action getsautomatically notified when his or her input is needed,receives information on what action needs to betaken, and is given a deadline for whenthat action must be completed. Users can also drilldown to see the data behind the process change. Asa result, you can respond more quickly to challengesand take a proactive approach to problem solving.

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Connecting your businessintelligence and data analytics toyour business processes ensuresthat your processes are beingfollowed, so you can prevent costlymistakes, create audit trails, andincrease productivity.

Democratize your data: By 2018 the demand for deepanalytic talent will surpass the supplyWith the growth of big data, businesses across the US are facing a lack ofworkers with deep analytical skills. By bringing your data to all of your relevantusers, you can reduce your need for deep analytics talent.

2018 projected demand

400-490million people

2018 supply (projected)

300million people

2008 supply

150million people

Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Big Data: The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition, and Productivity, May 2011.

Talent gap by 2018

140-190million people

Chemicals Industry Checklist 5

Chemicals Industry Checklist

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Incorporate social technologiesIt’s taken some time, but businesses are finallybeginning to embrace social technologies andrecognize the powerful role they can play in makinginformation more valuable. Business intelligence andanalytics tools are particularly well suited to theconcepts that have now migrated over from theconsumer world.

■ The ability to “like” or “follow” people, topics,or even equipment: These capabilities fosterteamwork and collaboration to make sure thatinformation is delivered to those who need itquickly and automatically.

■ Chat features that can sit alongside analytics:This provides a way to capture companyknowledge and keep information from gettingburied in email inboxes and hard drives—placeswhere the Harvard Business Review has notedthat institutional knowledge is commonly lost.

■ Enterprise search capabilities: Search allowsusers to quickly find what they need and avoidgetting lost in a sea of irrelevant data. By capturingthis information and making it searchable, you’ll bemaking institutional knowledge easier to access,share, and save.

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Provide mobile access to informationMobile accounts for 25% of all Internetusage, according to Mary Meeker at Kleiner Perkins,and that number is growing. So, as Meeker noted inher report, Internet access growth is slowing down,but mobile is growing—aggressively. Your employeesaren’t tied to their desks—they’re on themanufacturing floor, in the warehouse, out on salescalls—and they need to stay connected. Manipulatingdata and building reports on a mobile device may bewhere your employees want to go, but most will behappy simply to have access at the start. A phasedapproach will give you time to get the right securitypolicies in place and test the waters.

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Chemicals Industry Checklist

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Choose solutions that offer flexibledeployment options, includingcloud hostingNot only does cloud help reduce capital expenses,speed up access to data, and simplify solutionintegration, but a move to the cloud also reduces timespent reacting to service disruptions. In fact, a recentIDC study showed that cloud solutions offer anaverage payback period of 7.1 months and a 5-yearaverage ROI of 626%, a level that few otherinvestments can equal. The same study found thatthanks to the cloud, end users often benefit fromfewer service disruptions and faster recovery time,“reducing downtime by 72% and saving nearly$32,600 per application, per year.” Additionally,BIScorecard has found that the cloud offers greater scalability.

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Select tools that integrate easilywith systems across the business,regardless of vendorChances are, you have some mix of home-grownapplications, out-of-the-box point solutions, andmoderately or heavily customized enterprisesoftware—mostly hosted on-premise but perhaps withsome cloud deployments in the mix. Integrating allthose systems is problematic. You need businessintelligence and analytics systems that can easilyintegrate with your production systems, HR systems,customer relationship systems, etc., without forcingyou to rip-and-replace or custom code connectors.These systems should seamlessly communicate witheach other so you have one reliable source of datathat is accessible from anywhere, for anyone.

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Give your users access to pre-builtanalytics and dataFor analytics tools to meet the needs of your chemicalcompany, they need to work the way your businessworks. Choose solutions that are built for a specificrole within your organization (like finance or sales) andthat provide industry-specific templates and pre-builtreports based on typical industry processes and KPIs.Your users will have tools that speak their language asthey work on chemicalspecific processes, which canhelp boost their productivity and increase their engagement.

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Offer a real-time view of your businessKeeping up with customer demands, while ensuringsafety and compliance with regulatory mandates,can’t be accomplished if you’re playing catch-up. Youneed a real-time view into all of your businessprocesses so you can make the right decisions—rightnow. Are you shipping the correct products to thecorrect place? Is the equipment in yourmanufacturing plant performing up to spec? Are yourenergy costs fluctuating so wildly that you may needto rethink where you maintain production plants?

Technology has made it easier to sort big data intosmaller, more actionable sets of data—which in turnallows you to break down business silos andincrease visibility. As a result, you have a greateropportunity than ever before to create a holistic, 360°real-time view of the interaction between your supplychain, purchasing, and transaction systems. You canfind a problem, isolate it, analyze it, find out what’sdriving it, and identify a solution before it creates a bottleneck.

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Technology has made it easier tosort big data into smaller, moreactionable sets of data—which in turnallows you to break down businesssilos and increase visibility.