WastePlan Blog

8 insights into waste management data

Written by Bertie Lourens | May 23, 2019 8:00:00 AM

Thomas Redman once said, “Where there is data smoke, there is business fire.” In today’s world of business, data is everything. As companies strive to keep ahead, in constant pursuit of their innovative mojo, data insight will increasingly help inform better business decisions. Here are 8 essential attributes that you should expect from your waste management data:

1. Accurate and reliable

Your data needs to give you a realistic, inerrant overview and insight into your company’s waste management practices. Only then can you understand what’s needed to set strategies and optimise best practice behaviour.

2. Readily accessible

Your data should be accessible on demand and readily available at all times. You should have a digital platform that offers easy access to all relevant data insights, along with an approachable waste management partner, who can help steer direction and inform decisions.

3. Up-to-date

Accuracy is also time-bound; and so information needs to offer the most current snapshot of your business landscape. Data is only relevant if it reflects the ‘here and now’ reality of your organisation.

4. Diverse in presentation

Data insights should not have to come with a dictionary; they should be easily read and comprehensible across the board. This means that they should be interesting to look at - enriched with graphs and charts that substantiate its findings.

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5. Comprehensive

You should be able to find exactly what you’re looking for - immediately - when you access your company’s data. For example, how much waste have you produced in general as an organisation? Per site? What kinds of waste are you producing? What is the central point of generation? Data should be captured on a broad spectrum so that you can interrogate down to the most specific of categories.

6. Contextual

You need more than raw data; you need to understand the industry at large, and how your company performs relative to it. It’s no good getting cold feedback that lacks any interpretive context. You need relevant statistics and insight into market trends so that you can make sense of where you are and where you want to be.

7. Customisable

Every company has a unique set of needs that drives and informs its direction. Your data should be designed to suit your particular package. Information needs to be amenable and flexible by design, custom built and tailored to move your business forward.

8. Importable

And lastly, streamlining your data is a necessity. You should be able to easily import your information into your reporting system, if needed.

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