Articles
Numerical Insights publishes articles on a variety of topics including business analytics, data analysis, data visualizations tools, improving business results, supply chain analytics, HR Analytics, strategic workforce planning, and improving profitability. We aim to make our articles informative and educational.
Turnover is an easy concept to grasp but can be elusive to measure. Three of the most important factors in measuring turnover can be gleaned from the definition. First, we need to determine “what” we are measuring as the baseline or denominator in the equation. Are we measuring employees or employees and contractors? Do we include interns?
Read More
As states of emergency were declared and stay-at-home orders obeyed, some companies declared analytics useless. For these companies, the primary goal was to keep the company operating. For several of my clients, the metrics and analytics that we had put in place in the last 6-12 months became the data tools by which they managed their business decisions during the pandemic closures. Here are their stories.
Read More
Every company that carries inventory wants to have enough to be able to fill customers’ orders but have a minimum amount of cash tied up on the shelf. Unfortunately, one half of that statement wants you to stock more items and the other half wants you to stock less items. You need… just the right amount.
Read More
Big data and data analytics are two of the hottest topics out there today. They come with promises of delivering business insights and high returns, but they also come with challenges for those new to the field. As a consultant in analytics, the most popular comment I receive from companies is, “we have so much data but we don’t know what we should be analyzing.” This article will provide business leaders with several tips on where to apply data analytics in order to impact the bottom line. The key thing to remember is that the value of analytics is not in the data. It’s in what you do with that data to make better business decisions or solve business challenges.
Read More
Those that operate in the learning space are familiar with The Kirkpatrick Model® for measuring training effectiveness. This article will outline a simple method for evaluating online and on-site workshops.
Read More
You purchased high levels of inventory to cover long lead times of overseas shipments and to leverage quantity discounts… and then it happened.
Read More
Individual locations of large restaurant chains are supported by the enterprise systems in their corporate locations. These systems assist each location in viewing sales, sales patterns, usage of ingredients, profitability, inventory analysis and more. An individual owner of a restaurant or bakery doesn’t have the luxury of corporate support and enterprise computer systems but still has to figure out how to compete with these chain locations. Data-driven decision making has become an invaluable tool for these entrepreneurs.
Read More
Taking the time to assess supplier performance is crucial since suppliers can make or break your business. Supplier reliability and flexibility have become performance factors that are just as important as price in order to protect your business reputation and top line. Setting up a method to monitor key supplier performance factors and studying demand patterns can help provide insight into supplier issues and set up a good path for reducing risk of the supply base on your company.
Read More
Within certain countries, the topic of diversity has become a strategic focus. Whether it's issues like gender pay equity or proper representation within a company's workforce, making good decisions regarding diversity goals and strategies has become key. Of course, by "good decisions," I am referencing the data-driven kind.
Like all new initiatives, there comes a time when a company has invested so much money that it starts to wonder when it will see a return.
Read More
When You Just Can't Win: In HR Analytics, it is important to look ahead and think about unintended consequences. With some people analytics studies, you need to know when you just can't win otherwise you'll waste valuable budget/resources to produce no results. I'll provide examples.
Read More
Why is product rationalization important? As the number of products increases and products move through their life cycles, the percentage of products that become low volume and/or low profit increases. So how does product rationalization work?
Read More
In the analytics world, there are teams that are “stuck.” This article is to help those teams get “un-stuck.” Perhaps you headed down the path of analytics without a plan. Perhaps you had a plan but the ever-changing data privacy regulations halted that plan. It’s time to refocus so you can begin to move forward once again.
Read More
The following overview is written as a guide to those new to analytics or new to solving business problems.
Read More
For those that attempt completion of workforce plans, the scenarios for these plans are almost always scenarios of growth. But the reality is, it is highly likely that a company will find itself in a reduction scenario at some point in time. It is these reduction scenarios where planning becomes crucial.
Read More
With all of our technology, big data storage choices, apps, data visualization tools and statistical packages, visibility and transparency remain a challenge for procurement teams. To make clear the difference between the two, when I speak of visibility, I am referencing the ability for procurement professionals to access and analyze their own internal procurement data. When I speak of transparency, I am referencing the exposure of procurement information to the public.
Read More
The concept of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) was first published in 2003 in an article called, One Number You Need to Grow. It was created as a way to measure and manage customer loyalty without the complexity of traditional customer surveys. Since that time, the same concept has been applied in multiple functional areas to replace longer surveys that require too much of a participant’s time.
Read More