The world is becoming more and more data driven.
As you surf the web today, many of the sites that you visit will utilize ad serving technology that will determine, based upon any number of unique data factors about you, the surfer (i.e. where you are physically, where you’ve been virtually, etc.), what ads you will see as you click through the pages. For these sites, data is (sidebar: I know, ‘data are’ is grammatically correct, I just hate how it sounds) a driver of site revenue and the user experience (at least part of it). If you buy a book from Amazon today, you may be shown a list of other books purchased by the buyers of the book you just bought or Amazon may propose a book or media bundle for you to buy. For Amazon, data are also a big driver of site revenue and the buying experience. At Amazon (and many other sites), the site traffic data that are captured and analyzed are immense and robust, detailed and extraordinary. The ‘analytics’ used to decide what information to present to Amazon buyers is clearly powerful and lightning fast; based upon Amazon’s growth and traction, it’s also been very effective.
The enterprise is becoming more and more data driven – data has become a major driver of business strategy and a major driver of performance review. Politics, sports, and media are all becoming more and more data driven – supply management is too.
Yet, we have not reached a point within supply management’s evolution where the average group has enough data (or enough high-quality data) AND an ability to frame and analyze it fast and well enough to drive the majority of key decisions; but we are improving. We have a clearer understanding of the value of the data today than in 2000; the systems that we can now employ are more usable, effective, and powerful than what was available in 2000; and our overall orientation towards quantitative analysis has grown since 2000. Spend data, supplier data, market data, invoice data, process data, performance data… Supply management data will continue to grow in quantity and importance. We will need systems, processes, and capabilities to make sure we’re using the data to make the best decisions. Professionals just getting started in procurement (or any field) would be wise to develop their quantitative/analytical skills – (data) drivers wanted!
