
Board Day 2020 Virtual Edition: What to expect
This year’s Board events are going digital! Taking inspiration from our physical conferences, Board Day…
Managing large-scale manufacturing and distribution activities is challenging and complex, and who else would know this better than Santa, the master of global operations. Making sure that every child receives the right gift, on-time, and within budget, is part and parcel of Santa’s role in bringing festive cheer, but how is it all made possible? How can you keep a close eye on production, demand, finances, and more across a huge global supply chain? Let us take a look behind the scenes to find out just how Santa manages to do it through the use of a unified decision-making platform.
Traditionally all toy manufacturing took place at the North Pole, but following rapid annual growth it is now a global operation with activities worldwide. Each year Santa looks to decrease costs and increase efficiencies across this global supply chain, but continuous growth meant it was no longer appropriate to rely on spreadsheet-based ledgers, production plans, and individual reports to keep track of all activities, which were proving to be inaccurate, inconsistent, and unreliable.
Things were no better on the front line either. Influencers were causing the popularity of toys to change in an instant, requiring a complete shift in priorities at short notice. Elves managing the production lines were unable to properly prepare for these eventualities and ensure the right resources were available to meet demand, and costs could easily spiral out of control without a centralized view of expenditure.
Not one to fall behind the times, Santa decided to invest in a solution that would ensure presents could be delivered on-time and on-budget for future generations. As the North Pole wouldn’t be the North Pole without a list, Santa, Mrs Claus, and the Head Elves set about making one which specified exactly what the solution needed to do.
After defining their requirements, a search of the marketplace led to the discovery of the Board decision-making platform which unifies analysis, advanced analytics, and planning across the entire organization. A review of Board’s capabilities convinced Santa, Mrs Claus, and the Head Elves that it was the solution for them, and the decision was made.
Since implementing Board, Santa and the management team now have full visibility of performance, finances, and more across the organization, allowing them to make more informed decisions about everything from toy design right through to delivery. Strategic goals can be cascaded down into financial and operational targets, ensuring that all departments work towards a collaborative goal.
In one platform, the team now has access to a variety of capabilities:
With all of this in place, Santa and the team are now able to keep the North Pole operations running efficiently thanks to end-to-end visibility of activities, using data to predict future outcomes and drive more informed decisions about this year’s deliveries. This leaves Santa with only one problem to worry about: how to shift all of that festive weight once January arrives…
To find out more about how you could take inspiration from the North Pole and benefit from a unified decision-making platform, request a demo of Board today.