You can do it through Analytics, considered one of Procurement’s most significant resources and disruptive forces. Recent surveys stated that most Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) regard Analytics as the technology field with the most disruptive force on the Procurement business in coming years.
A collective myth is that Analytics in Procurement is only related to spend analysis; however, Analytics is currently associated with all kinds of activities, from Category Management and Procure-to-Pay processes to Strategic Sourcing.
Procurement Analytics is the practice of gathering and analysing Procurement data for company understanding and effective decision-making. For example, historic Procurement applies analysis details to move forward analytics to forecast and budget future outcomes.
Procurement analysis usually implicates gathering data from several source systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs), and categorising data. Data can be categorised into average or use-case-specific classifications. After categorisations, the data is displayed in a visualisation dashboard or inside business intelligence tools.
The usual target of most Procurement Analytics solutions is to be a ‘single source of truth’ where Procurement staff can afford knowledgeable decisions with data they can rely on. If the data is unreliable, you may run into a “bad data in, bad data out” situation, where costly mistakes are made based on unreliable analysis.
The necessity for Procurement Analytics has improved from businesses’ wish to get a combined view of Procurement spend. Procurement Analytics has advanced throughout the project to integrate specified solutions, dashboards, and automation software.
Procurement Analytics is about gathering, refining, and enhancing large amounts of data from different systems to increase business value. In Procurement Analytics, value happens from more well-timed, exact, and actionable business insights and the power to quantify Procurement’s support to the result.
Procurement Analytics facilitate operative and data-driven decision-making. Procurement companies can employ Analytics to depict, forecast or increase business performance. Automating recurrent duties in Procurement gives more time and emphasis to strategic decision-making and relationship management.
Categories of Procurement Analytics
Procurement Analytics emerged from the necessity to comprehend past performance and conduct forthcoming decision-making. It includes:
- Descriptive Analytics – Procurement data is evaluated to explain what has taken place in the past.
- Diagnostic Analytics – Procurement data is explained to comprehend why something has occurred in the past.
- Predictive Analytics – Trends and patterns in data are used to predict coming Procurement performance.
- Prescriptive Analytics – Predictive prototypes centred on Procurement data support decision-making.
Procurement Analytic solutions
Some Procurement businesses maintain their Excel-based reporting; others might use their self-built or configured business intelligence solutions.
The functionality and service models of spend analysis solutions have advanced to encounter the expanding needs of Procurement businesses dealing with digital transformation, focused on modifying automated and prescriptive decision-making. If the Procurement leadership has a clear mandate to drive data-driven change, then the company will significantly benefit from the deployment of digital Procurement Analytics transformation.
Value of Procurement Analytics in different functions:
Category Management – Procurement Analytics gives category managers authority, allowing them to identify segments and prioritise suppliers, sourcing potential, tackle supply risk opportunities, manage sustainability performance, save options, better supplier relationships and make possible innovation.
In Risk Management – Analytics can pinpoint and diminish risk within the SC and Procurement and untangle the complicated relationship among supply, risk, price, CSR and environment initiatives whilst spotting opportunities for mitigation.
Data inform the best business strategies. In Strategic Sourcing – Analytics make more accessible the identification of the best times and areas to lead sourcing procedures and requests for proposals. It can identify which suppliers to involve in sourcing projects and offer productive data into suppliers’ quality and risk perceptions.
In Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility – Ever more, companies appreciate the value of Analytics in assessing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability and correlated risk within the SC and Procurement. It can expose Procurement’s impact on decisions on social and environmental issues and pinpoint opportunities for more sustainable possibilities.
In Contract Management – Analytics grant value across contract life span management. It can warn when contracts must be renegotiated and provide information for supplier’s mediations. Moreover, Analytics can pinpoint unusual spending to help agreements and develop contract coverage.
The source-to-pay (S2P) process is the sourcing and Procurement process of locating, negotiating with, and hiring suppliers for their products or services.
In the transactional part of Procurement – With Analytics, you can establish purchase order sequences and get better payment items, assess payment accuracy, discover refund opportunities, detect incorrect payments and diminish fraud.
In Performance Measurement – Procurement analytics is typically used to recognise savings achieved, clearly significant for Profit and Loss (P&L) reported for Finance.
Conclusions: Procurement Analytics is not only for Procurement teams, but the whole organisation. You will get the best business outcomes from supplier relationships and partnerships when managing these external resources with the same relevance and precaution as in-house performances. Hence, all other tasks, from Marketing to Finance, can benefit from Procurement Analytics insights.
How can Procurement Analytics help your business?
Dave Food
M: +44 7775 861863
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