Stop Creating Dashboards and Start Creating Action

At 1898 & Co., we advocate moving beyond dashboard-centric or other siloed, single-use implementations. Dashboards typically inform decision points within a narrow context, providing only short-term value. They may solve a tactical problem but fall short of providing comprehensive solutions that drive operational action across an organization. Real value is not in visualizing data alone, but in translating that data into actionable processes that deliver sustainable outcomes and align with broader business goals. At the end of the day, the aim is to advance strategic priorities, whether those relate to efficiency, safety or profitability.

Begin Thinking Differently

Building dashboards and related data infrastructure can be time-consuming and expensive, especially when they are only designed to address one-off, acute issues. These dashboards often have short life spans because they serve limited roles, solving isolated problems. Worse, they often require manual interventions to maintain relevance, which increases costs over time. Without a broader perspective, utilities can be left with a collection of discrete dashboards that don’t communicate with each other, creating data silos rather than integrated systems.

Operationalizing business data requires a more holistic approach, one that considers the actual problem to be solved, how people interact with the key software systems and how modern analytics can reimagine existing workflows. Solutions must be designed to align with business goals and objectives, delivering real business value by streamlining processes, increasing efficiency or introducing new capabilities. A properly operationalized solution integrates into daily operations and is continuously adaptable. It also represents an investment which provides long-term value — unlike a dashboard, that can become obsolete without broader integration.

Operational Action

Consider, for example, the need of electric utilities to predict which transformers are likely to fail within a specific time frame, such as 6 to 12 months. The immediate goal might be to develop a predictive model that draws on data like transformer age, load history and weather patterns. However, if this model is not integrated into broader operations, it only serves as a short-term solution. The key question should be: What is the business value this model aims to deliver?

In the example above, for instance, instead of simply tracking transformers at risk of failure, we might begin with the broader business goals pertaining to an organization’s revenue, efficiency or planned capital investments. This, in turn, might be rendered into a specific tactical goal, such as reducing transformer failures by 8% within the next year. This shift in perspective helps align the model with broader objectives like system reliability and cost reduction. Operational action might involve using the model’s predictions to develop a replacement strategy, such as replacing older transformers before they fail or reallocating resources based on areas of highest risk. By embedding predictive models into workflows, utilities can create comprehensive solutions that reduce downtime, optimize resources and improve overall performance, while aligning with strategic priorities like reductions in operations expense.

Operational action goes beyond informative data and models. It drives decisions and enables action across the organization to drive down costs. This approach eliminates siloed thinking and develops solutions in a sustainable, adaptable and scalable manner.

Think Beyond the Ask

Solving operational challenges requires more than deploying a single solution in a vacuum or relying on a particular technology. Three key questions must be considered at the outset:

1. What is the real business problem we are solving?
2. What is the operational path for implementation of the solution and how do we properly implement and maintain the solution over time?
3. How do we tie metrics to business goals so they align with broader objectives and measure the success of the solution?

Thinking in these terms — consistently viewing both problems and solutions through the lens of operational action as they arise — will inevitably lead to economies of scale, making the associated use cases identified quicker and less expensive to implement, while reducing the number of data and process siloes in the process.

The 1898 & Co. Approach: Delivering End-to-End Solutions

At 1898 & Co., we don’t stop at providing insights or tools. We believe in developing end-to-end solutions that integrate people, processes and technology to drive operational action. By focusing on the entire business process and aligning solutions with strategic goals, we help clients do more than just react to problems. Instead, they are positioned to proactively address them and advance their business in the process. In short, we engineer solutions not just for today’s challenges, but for the emerging opportunities of tomorrow.