ACC
Each Revolution Is Chased by the Next: Microchips, Internet, Now Data
What does acceleration actually mean? What are the opportunities and risks for your company? Microchips were the first devices in the last fifty years to radically change our world thanks to a dramatic increase in performance. In 1972, Intel introduced the 8008, the first 8-bit processor, before the internet took over the baton of digitalization in the mid-’90s. Today, the internet is currently home to the staggering number of nearly two billion websites. But while current hardware and networks are easily capable of affording faster progress, there’s a rather absurd catch: our data. Yes, we’ve never generated as much of it as we do now, but all these different pieces of information don’t “talk” to each other. Or if they do, they usually fail to “understand” each other. These issues start in companies and spread into the respective supply and retail chains.
But while the challenges are enormous, so too are the opportunities. Today, 25 years later, companies once again have the chance to get ahead of the curve, easily outpacing their competitors. Yet almost everywhere you look, data projects are still isolated solutions – in fact only five percent of European CEOs state their company is already pursuing a comprehensive data governance strategy. The other 95 percent simply don’t or are still looking for one. Maybe because they don’t know enough about data leadership, they’re afraid of making the wrong decisions, or they’re just hoping to wait and see. So what are your plans?
Acceleration Means Achieving Quick Wins for Your Organization
Many managers want to put points on the board fast and deliver a clear benefit to the business in a short time. They are guided by the Pareto principle and know that "striving for perfection" usually takes too much time – and is bound to fail anyway in the context of a still young technology trend. So instead of focusing on a long-term program, they opt for an iterative, agile approach: Identify areas for improvement, implement, test, and put them into practice. In a very short time.
In most cases, we can already tell from our customers' specific issues which approach would suit them best. You are definitely a candidate for an Acceleration project if, for example, you ask yourself the following questions: How can I implement standard software quickly using a standard approach? How can I perform a health check of my data as efficiently as possible? How can I identify suitable software providers when selecting a system? Together, we will successfully tackle these and similar challenges and create value quickly. Because of our experience in hundreds of comparable projects – and our methodological strength.
IMPACT STUDY Acceleration
HEMA B.V.
Making Good Data Available to Everybody, Very Fast
New PIM for HEMA
“Our colleagues’ roles and responsibilities are changing to improve the quality of our data.”
Ingmar Hensbergen
Manager Category Support
HEMA B.V.
The Partner
HEMA B.V. is a Dutch retail chain with about 750 stores. Their product groups include fashion, food, home accessories, toys, electronic goods, and more.
The Challenge
To meet their digital customers' evolving expectations and drive the company's digital transformation, HEMA needed to replace their existing Product Information system with a new, cutting-edge approach. Product data is essential for HEMA – for both brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce. This involved not only implementing a system but also setting up appropriate interfaces that could effectively replace the manual maintenance of product information in target systems, as well as establishing release processes with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Extensive knowledge in data management – far beyond the product domain – was essential.
The Solution
The new Product Information Management System (PIM System) significantly accelerated HEMA's e-commerce and New Business processes. Not only was product information available more quickly; but the improved use of data and more efficient processes also increased profits and reduced costs. Parsionate was chosen after a series of steps and extensive discussions. First and foremost, to ensure that the people fit together – because implementing a system environment means working closely as a team.