Process Optimization: A New Digital Priority?

According to a survey* conducted by EY in June 2022 (as the COVID-19 crisis was winding down), 88% of respondents believed that digital transformation remained a strategic priority, even though a majority of companies had already launched projects in this area.

At that time, the expected benefits were primarily focused on value creation and revenue growth, with objectives such as:

• the development of new growth drivers (e-commerce, marketplaces, social media),
• the creation of new services (payment, delivery, omnichannel),
• the implementation of new business models (secondhand),
• and a better customer engagement (loyalty program, personalized CRM).

A dynamic driven by the pursuit of performance

But today, amid an uncertain economic climate marked by shrinking margins and more cautious investments, priorities are shifting.
Companies no longer want to use digital technology solely as a driver of external growth, but rather as a catalyst for internal transformation.

The goal becomes clear: to improve operational and organizational performance.
This involves two major initiatives:

• theoptimization of business processes,
• and the digitization of the information system, while taking into account the existing (legacy) information system.

Concrete examples illustrate this change in approach

• Fnac Darty recently appointed Géraldine Olivier as Director of Transformation and Performance, with the mission of leading the Horizon program. This project aims to streamline operations, enhance organizational efficiency, and modernize processes on a national and international scale.
• For its part, a major player in the home improvement and interior design industry wants to implement a Master Data Management (MDM) solution to catalog its store fixtures, suppliers, and stores.
  The goal is also to provide its teams with a new ordering interface that is more streamlined, faster, and minimizes costly errors and duplicates.

Optimizing processes means striving for greater efficiency at every level

Process optimization refers to all the actions taken to improve an organization’s efficiency and performance.

It allows you to:

• toautomate repetitive tasks (e.g., data entry),
• to better coordinate teams,
• to reduce errors and downtime,
• toimprove the quality of deliverables,
• and ultimately, to reduce costs.

Every step that is eliminated or streamlined, every automation that is implemented, helps to free up time for tasks with higher added value.

The Key Role of PIM in E-commerce and Retail

In the retail sector, there has been a rise in the use of Product Information Management (PIM).

They provide a single, reliable, and expandable source of product data, which can then be used across various channels (e-commerce site, print catalog, marketplaces, etc.).

This prevents multiple business teams from having to manage multiple files, which often leads to errors and wasted time.

Artificial Intelligence as a Performance Accelerator

Today, AI is becoming a powerful tool for optimizing processesin many fields:

• Search Engines : Improved results through the management of synonyms, spelling errors, common search queries, autocomplete suggestions, and more…
• Product Recommendation : based on purchasing behavior, weather, browsing history, etc.
• Machine Translation : speeds up international deployments.
• Customer Service : Implementation of AI-powered chatbots to answer frequently asked questions outside of business hours.
• Product Repository : attribute grouping, automatic categorization, data enrichment (colors, descriptions, images, etc.).
• Inventory Management : forecasting demand, optimizing inventory flow, reducing unsold inventory.

To learn more about AI, check out our three-part series of articles dedicated to its business applications:

• AI for E-Commerce
• AI for the Product Experience
• AI for the Customer Experience

Improving business processes has become essential to remaining competitive.
But to succeed, two approaches must be pursued simultaneously:

• Continue to provide impeccable product quality and service.
• Involve the teams from the very start of the project, by explaining their roles and the concrete benefits expected.

*The survey was conducted through approximately 30 interviews with various departments at 12 companies across a range of industries, as well as through a quantitative analysis of members of the EBG community.

DATASOLUTION helps you optimize your processes and integrate PIM and MDM solutions.

Do you have a project in mind? Our teams are here to help.