I have always found it interesting to look at the statistics that are kept on the major league sports teams. I find it jaw-dropping that we are able to generate and store as much data as we do. This new world of big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning is our new reality. We either have or can generate all the data we need to prove or disprove just about anything.One piece of data that I have always found interesting is the winning and losing percentages of teams playing at home vs away. For those of you not familiar with the sports, the data is very strongly skewed in favor of the home team winning. This has always fascinated me – surely they are still playing the same game on the same regulation field/pitch/court. How can the results be so strongly tilted in favor of a home win and away loss? There are obviously other factors that need to be considered that make an away game more difficult.
The Growing Importance of Data
At Reveal, we deliver value to our clients at their place of business. For our project teams, this is essentially the same as delivering the results at an “away game”. We take a cold read of client data, we map a path to value, and then we engage on their “home court” to optimize their supply chain. We do this nationally and internationally with our people and their people learning together in their work environments. If sporting statistics are anything to go by, then this is a tough environment in which to deliver that maximum value. But we are able to do it – time and time again.
Yes, we have a great oVo® methodology that maps out how we deliver that value. This guides our efforts and ensures a level of predictability in the results we deliver. Yes, we have great people that understand the methodology and how to drive value. These are highly skilled resources who have extensive business and SAP backgrounds. They can walk into a new environment and quickly make sense of the processes and technology landscape. But these factors alone, could not account for a long track record of successful engagements. I would contend that the difference is that we have figured out how to take that “away court” disadvantage and turn it into an “away court” advantage.You see, being at that “away court” for the duration of a full initiative allows us to build relationships with the client team. We learn their environment, understand their processes and form real relationships built out of trust and mutual respect through the better use of their system and alignment of their supply chain processes. On the back of this, we are able to make a profound impact – not only optimizing supply chains but giving people their family lives back. An optimized Supply Chain serves corporate goals of lower cost, freed up cash reserves, better efficiencies and, at the end of the day, better customer service. This is vitally important because corporations need to continue to exist and grow so that they can serve the people and communities around them. Reveal also works directly with people – we like to say we are in the people business. We are only able to make an impact in organizations if we first make an impact on individual people. Over the course of our work, we have received letters from spouses thanking us for returning their spouse to them. People who were working 65-75 hours per week and missing out on their families growing up are now getting their work done in less than 40 hours and making it to the evening soccer games that were previously missed. All this while their companies are experiencing dramatic and sustained service level improvements and increased efficiencies.
The Road Ahead
The reward for us? We harvest “a-ha” moments. We live in that moment when someone learns something they have never known and then they see the impact that that one thing will have on their productivity. If we string enough of these together we start creating the larger impact on more people – such that it is felt across an entire organization. This is the business of Transforming What Matters – and doing it on our clients’ home courts.If you want to find out more about how Reveal can Transform What Matters in your supply chain, complete our self-assessment to see how your supply chain measures up.
