From coffee to batteries to phones to Christmas goodies- the last few months have given a good glimpse of how prices go over the roof and how supermarkets suffer shortages when there are bumps and snags in supply chains.
A global shipping crisis is expected to delay goods traffic and spur inflation well into 2023. A United Nations report highlighted recently how high freight rates were threatening the global recovery – and how all this can boost global import prices by 11 percent and consumer prices by 1.5 percent between now and 2023. And while supply chain disruptions entangle many producers and intermediaries, companies are still trying to find their feet in managing them well.
As per a McKinsey survey of senior supply-chain executives across many industries and regions, just under half of the companies understand the location of their tier-one suppliers and the key risks those suppliers face. Moreover, only 2 percent can make the same claim about suppliers in the third tier and beyond. Imagine the severity of these blind spots in today’s world – when critical supply shortages tend to happen in these deeper supply-chain tiers.
So is there no way out of this walk in the dark where you keep bumping into walls and chairs with sharp edges? What if you could see?
Let’s rephrase that a bit.
Big Data solutions- to your rescue
What would happen if you could reduce the time it takes to mitigate disruptions?
What would transpire if the time taken for you to react to any sudden problems is shrunk from many days to a few hours?
What would it be like to be ready in a one-step-ahead way to cater to instant demand spikes?
What would it feel to be faster than the best-footed competitor?
When you start managing your business data with digital levers and connecting all your supply chain stakeholders, you start witnessing compelling leaps in how business outcomes are generated. When you start using the direction of Big Data, you begin to walk with a big torch in the darkroom that scared you earlier. All this is possible and easy to deploy with extensive Big Data services in inventory management. Like:
- Sharp supply chain visibility solutions that cover all products and entities across the supply chain
- Actionable intelligence, derived from Big Data services, for dealing with deadlocks and abrupt issues in a smart and positive way
- Up-to-the-millisecond inventory information – drilled through sharp Big Data solutions – that makes you agile enough to deal with the flux of business
- Clear insights and the acumen to identify deadstock
- Real-time recommendations (arrived through Big Data solutions) that fit the decision context and help
- Advanced analytics power in Big Data services that arms your organization and its adjacent entities with proactive strengths
- A cohesive grip on the inward and outward movement of inventory with ahead-of-the-curve tools, with Big Data solutions and application
- Injection of strong deterrents for managing unauthorized distribution, leaks, and diversions – thanks to the simplicity of instant alerts, verification, and validation of origin
- Empowerment of stakeholders with sustainable alternatives and reduction of carbon footprint
Big Data consulting- for robust and dent-proof supply chains
However, all this will start to translate into tangible impact only if you use Big Data solutions that allow you to integrate everything with mainstream tech-stack in a low-touch and straightforward way.
Big Data advantage is not a choice anymore but an imperative because every smart person in the business has begun that change. Interestingly, in the McKinsey survey, 93 percent of respondents intended to make their supply chains far more flexible, agile, and resilient when the crisis began. And twelve months later, in the second quarter of 2021, when the survey was repeated with a similarly-diverse group of supply-chain leaders, it was noted that 59 percent of companies had adopted new supply-chain risk management practices over the past 12 months. However, a small minority (4 percent) set up a new risk-management function from scratch. Also, compared to organizations that reported problems, successful companies were 2.5 times more likely to report pre-existing advanced-analytics capabilities.
Over 50 percent of respondents seem to have implemented additional analytics approaches during the past 12 months in every industry. Look at commodities, wherein 75 percent of companies are increasing their use, with the remaining 25 percent saying they plan to do so in the future. It is not surprising that this inclination to use Big Data faster, better and smarter will only gather force as we go ahead.
Start modernizing your business with the power of AI-based data exchange platforms. Get rid of old, stale, and outdated approaches to managing data. Start transforming the planning, sourcing, demand sensing, inventory optimization, warehouse and logistics analytics, etc., by applying Big Data consulting and Big Data solutions in a brilliant way. It’s time to tap real data. It’s time to interconnect and leverage data in real-time – with some brilliant and spot-on Big Data solutions.
When you have your eyes and ears to the ground in a reliable, pervasive, and profound way – you can become confident and in control of all events- the ones you expect and those that hit you out of the blue. You will still ride through storms, but you will be in the driving seat and able to see far ahead into the fog. That’s a competitive and strong position to be in.
for more information on how you can harness the power of Big Data in your inventory management operation, talk to our experts today.
