Big data is no longer a buzzword or something strange or unknown to any business worth its salt. Big Data is now the foundation of many businesses, from production and logistics to marketing and investment, the access to enormous amounts of historical and longitudinal data sets has changed the way we do business. It is also this big data that will affect how you design, implement, and monitor your business quality management.
Quality Management Will Need to Be Automated
More data requires more time to analyze, hence the need to automate your QMS, keep it as agile as possible, and ensure that it is as specific to your product and service as can be. The ability to access substantial amounts of data means making sure you have used it to optimize your workflow and streamline production processes or services. This will make sure you are equipped to overtake your competitors and innovate rather than fall behind.
One of the best pieces of advice is to consider cloud based QMS software that can be used in the cloud, meaning that you will not need huge on-site servers to store all the data collected and collated.
Monitor Quality Across Entire Sectors
Not only can you now monitor the quality of services and performance against a set standard at several plants that use the same machinery and processes, but big data will now allow you to perform such analysis across the entire sector. The crux is gathering all the available data to be able to analyze it. What would traditionally have required additional hardware to store and analyze big data is now simplified for small and large businesses by the growth and availability of cloud-based services for big data.
Much Faster Customer Service and Support
The internet of things and the ability for machines to communicate directly has seen a significant increase in the speed of communication. Technicians and repair services will be able to communicate and repair machines from afar. This not only means less downtime as technicians no longer must travel out to fix any issues but allows you to optimize staff time and lower logistics costs.
Getting the Right Information to the Right People
While most businesses already use data to understand and optimize their products and services, this generally requires going in search of the data that relates to different areas of production. Big data and the innovation around it mean data can be contextualized and customized for specific users through machine learning. This allows anyone to not only access data in real-time but also learn from past behavior to improve future services.
We have all seen the work of algorithms in our social media and internet usage as it allows for customized searching and user experiences, but being able to extend this intelligence to manufacturing, processing and customer service means more personalized and customized data for any sector.
If you haven’t already been thinking about how big data can improve your quality management, now is the time. Simply surviving in the current economic climate is not enough, big data is your opportunity to thrive and get ahead of the game.