Kathy Gibson at the IDC CIO Summit, Sandton – Just in time is not a new concept – but it is driving a new business model as companies look to become more effective in the market.
Manoj Bhoola, director: database and technology at SAP Africa, explains that companies around the world are looking to change their business models to be more profitable.
An example of a company that has successfully transformed, Bhoola says, is John Deere, which went from supplying tractors to farmers to providing services.
Each tractor contains literally hundreds of sensors that monitor the vehicles’ performance and alerts John Deere to being able to carry our proactive services and maintenance.
“We provided the platform for John Deere to get this information from the IoT, and using big data to capture and analyse it,” Bhoola says.
Bhoola shares the story of a UK beer brewer which wanted to enhance sales of slow-moving beers.
By changing their model from letting publicans buy barrels of beer, the purchase is only made once beer is actually sold – at which time it is measured, and can be used in marketing campaigns.
He adds that companies should all start collecting as much data as they can now – even if they don’t have a big data plan in place yet. “If you capture the data you may get the big data going.”