October 14, 2015
How c-stores use back office data varies greatly. Customizing your reports is not a new concept. Most Business Intelligence and even some Back-Office tools come with standard reports, but this usually entails data that you can currently get from your Back-Office system already. There are core areas of activity that impact the totals these systems give you that need to be watched and measured in order to totally understand why the totals on those existing sheets are what they are.
How C-Stores Use Back Office Data Varies
Most companies have certain metrics they measure, for instance, one company measures how many coffee cups the sell each day. A generic BI tool will not give you this information without some form of custom development. With a configurable product you will probably only need to know the UPC code, and the report can be created in very little time. When it doesn’t cost anything, you will be surprised to see how many ideas you may have to improve your business through the performance measurement process. There are report writing tools, and business intelligence tool. An ideal tool for Convenience Stores is to find one that will do both.
C-Store Scan Data Versus Back Office Data
C-Stores have a unique mix of data to correlate so they can completely understand where their issues and opportunities lie. How c-stores use back office data depends on how well they use scan data analytics. Knowing sales amount by location usually is not enough to help you get to core issues that reside in those stores to help you understand why they may be failing. These reports identify a symptom, but not the root cause of an issue. There are a lot more views of data than simply the back office perspective. Operations is much wider than the HQ needs.
Getting to Scan Data Analytics
To get to the data that can help them identify core issues, c-store companies are often led to the expense of customization in their reporting. Not only is there the development cost, but the cost of time and resources to define what will be on the report, the time waiting for development to occur, and in some cases, even maintenance costs. Depending on the complexity of the report, or the number of systems it has to touch, will determine its costs. Because of the various activities, programs and detail, c-stores have to deal with, custom reports through software development can be rather costly. This forces a company to evaluate the benefits of the customization and whether the trade off would truly be in their favor. The need has to become a choice.
- What would the frequency of use be in such a customization?
- What is the possible savings it could generate with it’s use?
- How many people in the company would find it of value?
- When will ROI be realized?
- What is the cost to extract this information manually?
Ask How Others Use Data
Ask several of the larger chain CEO’s and they will tell you that your back office data should not be ignored if to succeed in this industry. So how does the small to mid size retailer get the reporting it needs without depleting all of their profits? The answer is to look for BI tools that offer configuration. Finding one that is built for C-Stores will prevent the expense of any customizations you would need with a generic Business Intelligence tool. These are tools that provide a templates that allow you to create your own reports, that will allow you to drill down to the areas of activity that impacts the results of the higher level reports. This help you adapt to the times and changing plans at no cost and it will put you on the same playing field with the larger companies.
Cost of Changing Data
Time is another consideration when deciding to go custom vs configuration. Sangeep Cherry wrote ” Customization vs. Configuration: The Effect on Deployment Velocity” which is an article that relays the benefits of configuration when it comes to deployment. The end result is that the report can be produced and rolled out much more quickly when configured. Hence, you receive more value from a configurable product a programmed one.
- Better reports for less money.
- See issues immediately.
- Specialized reports are easier.