Advanced analytics are increasingly being used in all industries. From consumer behavior data to service delivery data, there is more data available to more functions across organizations than ever before. There’s no question that digital technology is a major disruptor of traditional supply chains. How to leverage technology for transformative change, depends on many factors, including your organization’s data strategy and how aligned the procurement and supply chain strategy is with the reliability strategy.
Designing a Data Strategy for Tangible Outcomes
Data is the new bacon. Everyone has access to it. Everyone loves it. But there’s so much BIG data, that it’s hard to tell what’s useful and what’s just interesting. That’s why it’s crucial to have a data strategy. What data is useful for which functions of the organization, and how can they use that data to guide their steps and benefit the overall organization?
The use of procurement data analytics in dynamic pricing and replenishment is just one way that organizations are using data to guide their supply chain strategy. A purpose-built MRO analytics tool can take any manner of data and use it to help sourcing specialists pinpoint where best to drive efficiencies in supplier consolidation, cost reduction, and productivity improvements. Procurement data analytics essentially helps aggregate data from the various points in the supply chain – storeroom information, purchasing records, industrial Internet of Things’ sensors and feedback, and of course supplier catalogs.
Analyzing these various data points and distilling them down in a holistic way helps connect dots that otherwise may not be connected. In this way, procurement data analytics helps organizations leverage their key MRO data for operational outcomes.
Aligning Supply Chain Strategy to Reliability Strategy
In order to leverage procurement data analytics to drive real change in your MRO supply chain (and throughout the overall organization), it’s important that the other stakeholders that are impacted by the supply chain buy in. The key end-users of the MRO procurement process and the ones who see the most tangible benefit in optimizing the MRO supply chain for Reliability-Centered MRO are the maintenance and engineering organizations.
Procurement data analytics enables the organization to take their own data and use it to see their supply chains more clearly. Being able to show the other stakeholders the story that the supply chain is telling with their own data makes it easier to see the connection between the supply chain and production reliability. If the supply needed to complete turnarounds and scheduled maintenance or emergency service isn’t where it needs to be when it’s needed, uptime and throughput suffer. Procurement data analytics help drive strategic improvements by connecting those dots and enable better visibility into MRO supply chains, giving greater control to future-proof the business.
While procurement data analytics is a powerful tool in providing visibility into the supply chain, it’s only part of the picture in terms of making the case for change in your organization. The company culture is a big determinant. Many organizations have embraced change as technology continues to evolve faster and faster. Any organization with an entrepreneurial spirit will see the story that procurement data analytics reveals and use that to baseline for improvements. However, the story helps plant the seeds of change for those organizations that are slower to adopt new technologies and processes in their supply chain management and reliability strategies.
To learn how SDI’s digitally-enabled and data-driven solutions help clients gain visibility and greater control by connecting the MRO supply chain to their overall enterprise reliability programs or for a demo of ZEUS data analytics, contact us today. And check out this video to see Supreme Power Over Your Data in action.
