BY LISA HARRINGTON AND TOBY GOOLEY
BIG DATA
Technology
TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR SUPPLY CHAIN ORGAnizations to gather enormous amounts of information from an expanding
variety of sources. Billions of data points are pouring in from supply chain
network nodes, multiple retail channels, the industrial Internet of Things …
the list goes on and continues to grow. The aim, of course, is to analyze that
information to gain visibility into opportunities for innovation and improvement. But few companies are actually deriving sustainable value from the
supply chain data they are accumulating. Instead, they are struggling with
how to ensure the quality of their data, how to analyze it, and how to make
practical use of what they learn from it.
New research conducted by DCV’s sister publication, CSCMP’s Supply
Chain Quarterly; Arizona State University; Colorado State University;
Competitive Insights LLC, a provider of advanced supply chain analytics
BIG DATA ANALYTICS IN SUPPLY CHAIN:
Tackling the tidal wave
The amount of supply chain data is growing exponentially, and companies
are struggling to make effective use of available information. New research reveals
the strategies they’re adopting to help them harness the power of big data.
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of
a special two-part report on how companies
are using big data in the supply chain. This
month, we’ll look at how satisfied businesses
are with their data, the technologies they’re
using for data analysis, and how far along
they are in their efforts to leverage the data
they collect. Next month, we’ll examine some
of the roadblocks companies encounter when
implementing big data analytics in their
supply chains, the benefits they’ve realized
to date and expect down the road, and their
plans for future investment in the technology.
