Enabling and delivering analytics capabilities

Do you have to be good at numbers to use supply chain analytics tools?

As he explains in the video, Andy Birtwistle (Supply Chain Director, Concentra) believes not. The way in which a new emerging breed of analytics tools enable visualises data into ‘pictures’ enables us to see the full picture and creates a common understanding. In turn it enables us to see what is working well, and not so well, to guide us to take decisions that drive improvement. It is not so much about ‘big data’ but the decisions that the analysed and visualised data enables us to make.

As Andy explains, supply chain analytics can be particularly useful in enabling more holistic business decisions. Concentra’s SupplyVue tool pulls together data from sales and marketing, manufacturing and supply chain into one view. This view can be interrogated from a range of different perspectives and support ‘best for business’, rather than ‘best for function’ decision making. It shows the business where to intervene, to improve processes behaviours and ultimately business performance. It is part of a new breed of analytics solutions that help to ‘reveal’ the current state, ‘diagnose’ areas for improvement, ‘model’ the potential benefit of the improvement and ‘track’ progress.

Such tools are critical to ensuring strategic alignment is maintained across a business. They could also prove to be the missing link in helping us to gain visibility of the end to end supply chain, and move beyond ‘best for business’ to ‘best for supply chain decisions.

If you are interested in hearing more from Andrew on supply chain analytics solutions, please watch Andrew’s full presentation to the WMG Supply Chains in Practice event on YouTube: Enabling and delivering analytics capabilities (21:48)