Business Management System
Human Resource Management System, Accounting Management System, Inventory Management System, Building Management System, Warehouse Management System, Fire Management System, Fleet Management System.
There are various management systems available for business owners to manage the multiple aspects of their operations. However, have you ever wondered why we need so many types of system to manage our business? While there are many functions, every one of them is supporting a single business entity.
While we are using different management systems, every company’s function is interrelated and affects each other in one way or another. They are like a spiderweb, entangled with each other yet clearly defined in each role & responsibilities to support the company.
The critical question that businesses should ponder is why isn’t there a single platform that manages all the various functions?
We know that we need data from various departments for the management to make a critical decision. Instead of a platform that converges available data to a single location, the departments use management systems specific to their operations. During management meetings, they will consolidate data from each department and bring them together for decision making. When we look at automation and digitising data from each department, the process of consolidating them together is still typically manual.
While this works for a decision that is not time-critical, it doesn’t support decisions that need to be made in realtime. Delay in these decision making could result in potential revenue lost or having a more severe outcome. Instead of having a system for individual departments, can we have a Business Management System (BizMS) that provides different modules that cater to each department’s specific needs?
This concept surfaced as we recently worked out a concept proposal for the Building Management System (BMS) that’s different from what’s currently available in the market. Firstly, what’s a BMS?
A BMS, otherwise known as a building automation system (BAS), is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that control and monitor the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, and fire & security systems. — from Wikipedia.
If a building can have a management system that pulls everything together, why can’t a business have something similar? The concept of a Business Management System is not something new, and there are many solutions available that can perform this function. Suppose there are no gaps in the current offerings. In that case, businesses will not have any issue managing their data, and they will not be looking for external integration onto their existing management system.
A true BizMS seeks to help a company manage various aspects of the business. It will have a foundation platform that accepts modular integration to support scalability and localisation. It must support data exchanges between the various departments and have a closed-looped feedback system to manage the entire business flow. Most importantly, it will be using multiple, seemingly unrelated data points across various business functions to improve the whole business operation. It aims to bring Applied Data Analytics to a different level, enabling the business to get a tangible outcome from such analytics in a much shorter timeframe.
What does an integrated BizMS look like when it is in use?
- Trigger the warehouse when a particular item in an outlet is fast-moving, and inventory count is low.
- Transfer between outlets instead of getting the product from the warehouse to reduce turnaround time in stocking up.
- Highlight to the management when a specific product across all outlets in a country is fast-moving and across different countries.
- Sending advance forecast to the suppliers on increasing or decreasing the production of any particular product.
- Granular breakdown of logistic cost by including energy cost when a specific item is in the warehouse.
- Comprehensive product movement mapping. When the product shipped out from the supplier, the warehouse received the product, delivered it to the outlet, and finally sold it to the customer.
- Availability of the delivery slot for the customer who required delivery services based on the availability of resources each day. There might be certain days with lesser slot due to the staff taking annual leave or redeployed for other assignments.
- Giving a predictive figure to the management on managing their cash flow, investment, debt ratio, and others depending on the management’s need.
- Accounting for all visitors and staff within a facility shall there be a need to conduct an evacuation. Automate the generation of attendance list using a web form to enable each leader to account for their people. Host to be accountable for their visitor.
I have listed above just some of the many possibilities of what a fully integrated BizMS can do. All these on a single platform and available to the management on a single mobile app. The availability of information on a mobile device enables management on the move. There can be many other possibilities when we combine all the data available across all the departments and try to associate them to look for patterns and trend.
BizMS remains a concept as we do not have all the modules that make up the full functioning BizMS. I believed that one could not effectively manage the future of business when looking at data from multiple systems.
Digitalisation will hasten the pace of change, and thus data needs to be available in realtime to keep up with the competition. A winning business will have an integrated management system that can be presenting data effectively in an efficient manner. BizMS is that platform that the company should be looking to develop progressively.
