LTS Global Solutions has joined forces with logistics data specialist Mosaiq Analytics to integrate Microsoft Power BI across its operation.
The partnership forms part of LTS’ continued investment in technology as it looks to make the business more efficient as it continues to grow, with Power BI the latest addition to its systems.
The Power BI initiative is currently being rolled out across finance, transport, warehousing, shipping and sales, consolidating information from each of these areas to give management a clearer view of what is happening across the business.
LTS has historically relied on several different systems across its operation, with information often needing to be accessed separately, downloaded and manually compiled to build a complete picture.
Power BI, implemented by Mosaiq Analytics, is changing that by bringing information from multiple systems together into a series of interactive, tailored dashboards to improve visibility, support faster decision making and remove time-consuming manual processes.
Rather than requiring management teams to log into numerous platforms, remember different processes and manually transfer information into spreadsheets, the dashboards provide a centralised view of the data that matters to each area of the business.
Speaking on the partnership, Dave Hands, Managing Director at LTS Global Solutions said:
“Historically, getting the information I need could mean logging into several different platforms, pulling information from each one and then putting it all together in a spreadsheet to try and build the picture I required.
“That takes time and, more importantly, it means management time is being spent on collecting and compiling data rather than looking at what that data is telling us and actually acting on it.
“What Mosaiq is helping us to do is simplify that whole process. We can bring the information together, see it in one place and spend more time focusing on the areas of the business that actually need our attention.”
The flexibility of Power BI also means dashboards can be tailored to the requirements of individual teams and management levels, rather than creating a single set of information for the entire business.
This allows the same underlying data to be used to monitor performance, identify inefficiencies and support improvements throughout the organisation.
Chris Dallow, Founder at Mosaiq Analytics, said:
“The whole idea behind Mosaiq is to make data work harder for logistics businesses. We understand the challenges because the business was born out of the logistics industry. I originally taught myself Power BI after experiencing first-hand how difficult it could be to get useful information out of a logistics system when I previously worked at a 3PL.
“Since then, we’ve seen just how much potential there is to consolidating information so it can be accessed from one central point and making it genuinely useful to the people running a business.
“With LTS, we’re not simply creating dashboards for the sake of having dashboards. We’re looking at the data the business is already generating, bringing it together and making it much easier to access and understand. That means LTS can spend less time pulling information together manually and more time using it to identify where improvements can be made, drive efficiencies and focus its resources where they are needed most.”
LTS has continued to invest in technology to support ongoing growth, using systems to improve stock visibility, automate processes and give customers greater access to information across their supply chains.
The introduction of Power BI takes that approach further by bringing the data generated across these different parts of the business together, giving LTS a clearer overall picture of its performance and helping its teams identify where time, resource and processes can be better managed.
For LTS, however, the latest development is as much about improving the way its own teams work as it is about the technology itself.
By reducing the amount of time spent gathering, reconciling and compiling information, the business is also now able to make better use of the expertise within its management and operational teams according to Dave Hands.
Dave added:
“For a growing business like ours, people often have to wear several different hats, so time is at a premium. If you can automate some of the manual work and make the information people need much easier to access, you can redeploy that time into areas that need it more.
“That’s what this is really about for us. It’s not technology for technology’s sake. It’s about making the business more efficient, giving our people clearer information they can actually use and act on, and allowing our management team to spend more time focused on their core roles.
“That means we can identify the areas of the business that need the most attention much more quickly, while also giving us the ability to grow and scale without having to add significant resource simply to deal with surplus administration and data management tasks.”