This year, global businesses experienced an average of 25% positive impact on their profitability from tech investments. 89% of these companies, leveraging analytics and AI, experienced a 15% percent profit increase in 24 months.

For suppliers, leveraging data improves supply chain efficiency by increasing collaboration, optimizing inventory management, and streamlining logistic operations. The results are an expected $4.6 billion growth by 2030. When that investment was applied to customer analytics, businesses witnessed a 58% increase in customer retention while others experienced a 44% increase in new customers and revenue.

But many businesses are struggling to keep up. 80% of companies contribute this to senior leadership’s aversion to embracing new technology. The reality is they often don’t have the resources to make an investment in new technologies successful. Of global businesses that invest in tech, 53% conduct periodic strategic evaluations to ensure there’s alignment with their long-term goals, often hiring costly consultants to advise them.

How do businesses bridge this gap?

To leverage the benefits of analytics and AI, data is needed. The more structured and cleansed, the better. This involves a tech investment aligned with the business’ strategic direction and customer research.

For suppliers, this can be a challenge. Their customers’ transactional data is captured in multiple formats, from paper and spreadsheets to POS and ERP systems. The transmission rate of the data varies, impacting real-time reporting. The attributes of product data are inconsistent, meaning one distributor has the product code, color, and brand, while another has only the product name.

A starting point is a central hub where data is gathered, cleansed, and aggregated. The data must be accessible to both trading partners, viewed through a lens that makes sense for each business. The solution needs to be simple, allowing a beginner user to interact with analytics features.

Four Stages of Analytics

Knowing where your customers are in these stages helps effectively communicate where they need to be:

1. Descriptive Analytics: Focuses on summarizing historical data to provide a clear picture of what’s happened in the past. Most businesses use descriptive analytics to understand their purchasing trends, rebate patterns, and operational efficiency. By analyzing past performance, they can identify patterns, spot areas of improvement, and start making data-driven decisions.

2. Diagnostic Analytics: Diagnostic analytics goes beyond describing what happened and drills down on the why. It involves identifying the root causes of certain outcomes or trends by exploring relationships between different data variables. A business can investigate factors impacting sales such as regional growth, price changes, or changes in buying patterns. By understanding the underlying causes, they can take corrective actions to address issues or leverage opportunities.

3. Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics uses historical data and statistical algorithms to forecast future outcomes. It helps anticipate market demand, improve inventory management, and forecast sales or rebates. When driven by AI, they effectively plan resources, make informed decisions, and gain market share.

4. Prescriptive Analytics: Prescriptive analytics goes further by suggesting the best course of action based on predictive models and business parameters. The data can be used to establish pricing strategies, build successful rebate programs, and uncover new regions for growth.

Visibility Is Required Across the Supply Chain

Supply Cloud’s OneAnalytics is the epicenter of business intelligence for all supply chain stakeholders, helping empower customers with easy to use, robust data that drives viable business decisions.

By leveraging real-time EDI data flowing through Supply Cloud, suppliers and distributors see each other through a common lens, addressing data integrity challenges while supporting real-time reporting.

OneAnalytics provides trading partners with essential knowledge of their market performance, allows them to understand who their top customers are, and helps them predict end-of-year performance with AI-powered forecasting.

Connect with us and learn how we can make your data journey a success.