When thinking about what to write about for our first ever Blog post, I must admit I am a little lost at where to begin. The past few months have been about intense study for me which, thankfully, I happen to enjoy. From a history of hospitality and some smatterings of technology thrown in, I had considered myself fairly up to date on all things digital. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that behind the screen, there was a whole world of Data Science and Programming guff I was never going to understand and that suited me just fine.
And then I met Keross. Little did I know that I would begin to scratch at the surface of what is commonly known as “Big Data” but is already an overused, ex-buzz word which means about as much as Digital Transformation. That is, not much, nowadays. Add to that I have had to read, read, read about data management, ERP (big software programs to run whole departments for those non-techs like me), API, RPA, a girl named Cassandra with a pet Python and what exactly Orchestration means and why it is the way forward. Needless to say, I am now a staunch convert.
A lot of my job has always involved translating IT guff into plain English so that “normal” people can understand what something is and why they need it. Orchestration can be thought of as, well, an orchestra. Lots of instruments learning to play together, in time and on key, to produce something beautiful. In our case, the instruments are software programs and the conductor is Keross’ orchestration platform “Ikon”. As the conductor, Ikon doesn’t do much on its own. It needs to bring all the talented instruments and players together in the same room to produce a symphony. And it needs you to tell us what you want us to play for you. Ikon does that by bringing all software solutions (and their data) together and training them to produce synergies never before heard, based on what you want to hear.
No doubt if you work in any type of organization you would know that there are tens if not hundreds of software solutions in use in business today. Starting with email, to free social media tools like Hootsuite, to a CRM like Hubspot to a full service ERP from Oracle or SAP and everything in between. When you also take into consideration unstructured data tools like video and social media posts – there is a lot of data being created that is often filed away and forgotten about forever. Or worse, deleted after it is used.
But bringing the instruments together (a.k.a. integration) is just the beginning for our conductor Ikon. It’s the variety of music that can be produced that will send goosebumps up and down your spine. Whether it is onboarding new staff automatically from the receiving of resumes to scheduling interviews, or rostering bar staff, ordering limes and hiring a band dependent on which guests will be visiting and whether it will be a sunny day, to automatically ordering a new clothing line based on upcoming trends, runway shows and colour predictions for a department store. The sky is the limit.
Where a lot of our customers get unstuck is that they know that need Orchestration, but they are not sure where to start or how to apply it. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Start your thinking by working backwards from problems you face in your business on a regular basis:
Problem: ABC Co.’s milk delivery to Aldi supermarkets was delayed
Why? The order wasn’t ready
Why? There were not enough empty milk bottles in the warehouse
Why? We had to use more for our last order than we expected, so were short
Why? Summer came early than expected so demand for milk was higher last month
Why? There is no planning or prioritization for seasonal variations
The final answer is your root cause, and where we at Keross get excited. In this case, we would work with ABC Milk Co. to develop a workflow model to ensure this kind of thing never happens again.
Once we have a workflow to understand the process of making milk, we can then develop automated systems to forecast seasonal changes, or even set alarms and change to system B if an unexpected change is detected. Once the workflow is created with your expertise, we are in our element.
Before you know it, bottles are ordered in advance of peak periods, extra staff are rostered on in the factory, trucks are scheduled for a service before peak delivery times, farmers are notified to bring out their high producing cows (recorded with an internet ankle bracelet) and increase water supply for the upcoming hot weather, Aldi is emailed to advise to order more milk than usual, ABC Milk Co’s marketing department is alerted to ramp up milkshake ads, and perhaps production of ABC Milk Co’s mint ice-cream production increased depending on trends and benchmarks. Oh, and your friends at Starbucks can also be invited to collaborate on your new, custom milk dashboards so that they know they will also need more milk so that you don’t miss out on your café latte in the morning and end up with UHT. Gee, I really hate that.
So when we say “Harness the Power of Data” we really mean maximizing every process, person, system and software available to get the best results for your business.
We challenge you to come up with your “root cause” and leave it with us to solve. Odds on, Ikon will blow your mind, as it has mine. Let me know in the comments below, and make sure you subscribe to see how we develop use cases, like the example above, across industry. We will be sending semi-regular updates of what we have been working on, and why orchestration should be a mandatory part of your business, as well as other valuable insights into what our customers (your competitors) are up to in the orchestration space.
Let’s talk
Simone Manché
Director – Marketing
Keross LLC
Green Group Global is a US Department of Defense andDepartment of Security licensed government contractor. It specializes in Private, Personalized & Corporate Security services with a focus on risk mitigation, litigation management and surveillance. It operates across 5 continents and employs 3,000 staff.
Mercedes-Benz Daimler is one of the biggest producers ofpremium cars and the world's largest manufacturer ofcommercial vehicles. Headquartered out of Stuttgart Germany and ranked 24th on the global Fortune 500. Daimler employs 290,000 staff with a dealer network of more than 1,000 worldwide.
Revolutionizing Fee Estimation: The Bid Model Solution for Centralized, Transparent, and Streamlined Bidding Processes
Datacenter One is a technology and service provider that provides certified data centers, location and connectivity services in Germany.
More than 20,000 large projects of Atkins, a well-known British AEC company, worked with separated management processes, resource planning and solution testing. Low compatible systems and manual reporting were used. Ikon allowed Atkins to integrate in real time data from finance, ERP, management, HRMS, CRM, and many sources, creating a “single source oif truth”, dashboards, resource management, trend and discount analysis, and more. Atkins is one of the a architecture and engineering consultancies responsible for designing some of the most iconic buildings in the world.
Aecom is one of the largest multinational engineering and infrastructure consulting firms, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges. Headquartered out of the United States, it operates across all continents with 86.000 staff and is ranked 189th on the global Fortune 500. It delivers professional services throughout the project lifecycle, with projects spanning from transportation, water, new energy and environment in both the public and private sector.
Atkins is one of the leading architecture and engineering consultancies responsible for designing some of the most iconic buildings in the world. The industry is under pressure with increasing competition, low margins and relative high risk. To survive and grow, the industry needs to modernize while driving productivity through agility and innovation in order to win bids, improve margin and offer new services.
Amadeus is one of the top travel technology companies in the world helping travel companies connect to the travel ecosystem. Amadeus builds critical solutions that help airlines and airports, hotels and railways, search engines, travel agencies, tour operators and other travel players to run their operations and improve the travel experience.
The explanation how automation can benefit professional services businesses in six ways: increasing efficiency, reducing errors, improving customer satisfaction, enhancing collaboration, enabling scalability, and gaining competitive advantage. It also introduces Ikon, a platform by Keross that automates data orchestration and enables digital transformation for various industries. The automation is not a threat, but an opportunity for professional services businesses to grow and thrive.
Digital transformation can be costly. Learn how to follow five essential rules to stay on time and budget. This article discusses common mistakes and offers strategies for successfully transforming your business.
Is the AEC industry broken? The discussion about a growing view that the current Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry operating model, relied upon all over the world for the delivery of infrastructure, is broken. Success in the AEC industry is now measured in isolation by each federated entity in the supply chain. Sharing data and using technology is the key to changing the landscape.
The introduction of the concept of data orchestration, which is the process of integrating, managing, and analyzing data from various sources and systems. It explains how data orchestration can help businesses achieve digital transformation and data-driven decision making, as well as improve data quality, security, and governance. It also relates data orchestration to the author’s personal experience of ordering a latte, and how it can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The criticism of the low-code/no-code (LC/NC) development trend as a convenient distraction that does not address the real problems of software development. It argues that LC/NC platforms are limited, costly, and risky, and that they create more complexity and dependency than they solve. It also suggests that the true solution is to empower developers with better tools and practices, and to adopt a data-driven approach to software engineering.
Data orchestration is more than just a new buzz phrase. Learn how Keross uses its solution, the Ikon Platform by Keross, for business operations integration and illumination. Read about how Ikon platform automates routine tasks, predicts upcoming issues, and provides user analysis and reporting in easy-to-understand visual panels.
