There’s been so much overuse and misuse of the term ‘Big Data’ that it can be difficult to understand exactly how it can help solve specific business issues. Many organisations are simply drowning in a sea of unorganised information, unable to leverage its full potential.

When it comes to workforce management, the problem isn’t just collecting the data; the real challenge is making the data easier to access and understand so that you can easily identify and resolve workforce challenges. To generate value — whether that’s decreased overtime, cost savings, a more productive workforce, or simply improved day-to-day operational management — you need to combine data with effective analysis and take action based on information-driven decisions. In other words, you need to bring order to the chaotic data for it to have any value.

Data in context After workforce data is gathered, it needs to be viewed in context. The first step is to find a technology solution that has the ability to integrate multiple sources of data and present a consolidated view of relevant information to end users without eliminating the ability to dive down into details when needed. Your Big Data strategy needs to incorporate a workforce management solution that can provide on-demand visibility for KPIs in critical categories like overtime, absence, scheduling, productivity, staff fatigue and timeliness.

It’s important to ensure that frontline managers can interact with the data they need to make decisions – even when they’re away from their desks. Don’t assume that more reports are the simple solution to Big Data challenges.

Traditional reports don’t yield necessary insight because they’re created in rigid, purposefully inflexible formats to present standard answers to straightforward, repetitive questions. Traditional reports reflect simple information points without any context.

For example, a traditional report can tell you that OT is above expectations, but you can’t tell why. Was it bad scheduling? Increased demand? But a true analytics solution enables you to work with your data.

Managers need to be able to drill into the data quickly – without combining multiple fragmented reports. When the data is viewed in context, you have actionable data so you can make the right decisions to keep cost, productivity and service on target.

Remember that data is only useful if it’s presented in such a way that decision makers can take action. An analytics environment, unlike traditional basic reporting tools, extracts and organises workforce data in a format that allows labour managers to easily access and work with it in the context of their business issues. Managers who have visibility to real-time status can make adjustments to better control labour costs and improve workforce productivity. Data visualisation tools, such as those available in workforce analytics, enable users to easily create a dashboard and visually explore workforce data using a variety of interactive charts and graphs, helping managers to find meaning in otherwise raw, hard-to-understand data.

They can easily spot outliers, patterns and trends. And uncover problem areas at a glance. This kind of visual interaction is much more engaging than traditional grid reports and makes it much easier to diagnose problems, understand root causes, and take action to improve workforce performance. Used effectively, analytics is more than a simple query and report tool.

Data-driven decisions

Big Data is re-shaping the way decisions are made. Managers have traditionally made “gut-decisions,” or they rely on a trial and error approach rather than use fact-based judgments when managing their workforce. This is mostly because managers today can’t easily see how their decisions impact workforce productivity or labour costs. There is no status to guide decisions. There are no expectations – no performance targets or thresholds. Across departments or from month to month, results are unpredictable and performance is inconsistent.

But this all changes when you have data presented in the context of acceptable thresholds. You’ve now empowered managers to be accountable for workforce performance, and they know what action needs to be taken. Visibility to actionable data leads to evidence-based decision making. Now you can tap into the potential of Big Data to make intelligent decisions that lower labour costs, improve workforce productivity and boost profitability.

The writer is product marketing manager with Kronos, a workforce management company.

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