It’s no secret that supply chain management (SCM) has changed considerably over the last decade. With firms requiring higher levels of supply integration and real-time visibility, there has been a boom in technology like best SCM software supporting solutions to these requirements.
This is where data analytics comes into play. It is becoming more and more important in improving your supply chain management. It helps you make predictions, spot patterns, and take preventative action that would have been impossible before.
Supply chain management is no longer tethered to its traditional form. The advent of the ‘digital supply chain’ is here, seriously overhauling how goods are bought, sold and delivered – with data analytics helping to fuel the change.
Understanding Supply Chain
One of the biggest benefits that businesses can gain from data is understanding their supply chain. For example, you can use data to find new suppliers, check your stability in the market and find out where you might be able to make savings. Moreover, advanced data provides a broad range of information, which can be employed to form decisions strategically. You can also work on the key metrics and derive value from the assets.
Proactiveness
Data analytics turns a business proactive. Many times, financial crises or external factors affect the entire supply chain solutions and processes. Such risks can be diminished through the application of data analytics and quality control.
A proactive supply chain management guides a business through and outlasts market fluctuations while helping achieve cost savings and process efficiencies.
Inventory Optimization
Accurate delivery of product information and tracing it is important in the supply chain cycle. Barcode and RFID technology can be used for tracing and ensuring correct information flow.
The next thing is the increase of distribution cost in case the warehouse location is not set properly. Thus, use of data analytics will help in selecting the warehouses according to customer and vendor location. As a result, a significant drop in the inventory cost occurs.
Spotting Trend
Nowadays, supply chains are spread across various continents and time zones. This has become a big challenge for the end-to-end visibility.
Many times a business suffers losses and fluctuations due to no visibility. This impacts productivity and revenue.
Thanks to the existence of AI enabled and cloud based supply chain management software. They reduce the wastage of products by helping in forecasting demands. In addition, business intelligence empowered with AI and machine learning can analyze trends.
Supply Chain Performance
Ever thought how your supply chain will perform without data analytics? It undoubtedly would be a time consuming process. On the other hand, the supply chain will perform best when data analytics is in use. You can gain an edge over the competitors without any additional burden on your business.
Conclusion
So, how does data analytics transform supply chain management? It gives a supply chain manager control over the chain to increase its efficiency and optimize decisions that drive strategy and cost.
Analyzing information to extrapolate the strengths and weaknesses in an effort to formulate actionable insight is what makes data analytics so valuable.
Without it, supply chain managers would be unable to see around the corner and predict problems that threaten success or even the company’s very existence.
That’s why you should use a powerful GEP supply chain software to simplify your business operations.