Real-Time Business Intelligence: The New Era of Supply Chain Management
If your organisation has a limited view of its supply chain, it can be difficult to understand impacts across your organisation, increasing risk and ultimately affecting revenue and reputation. Today, Business Intelligence (BI) tools are vital to ensure smooth operations.
In our first blog, we looked at the importance of gaining end-to-end visibility of supply chains or workflows, such as complex inter-system transactions, which is critical in today’s demanding business environment. In this blog, we take a deeper dive into current trends in BI tools and their capabilities.
Current Monitoring Methods and Their Limitations
Traditional supply chain monitoring methods often rely on periodic data collection and batch processing. While these methods provide valuable insights, they come with significant limitations:
· Delayed Data: Traditional methods often involve delays in data collection and processing, leading to outdated information.
· Siloed Systems: Data is often stored in disparate systems, making it difficult to get a comprehensive view of the supply chain.
· Manual Interventions: Many processes require manual interventions, which are prone to errors and inefficiencies.
· Limited Predictive Capabilities: Traditional methods lack the ability to predict future disruptions or demand fluctuations accurately.
These limitations can lead to inefficiencies, increased costs, and missed opportunities.
What Should Be Part of a Business Intelligence Platform
A robust BI platform should encompass several key components to address these limitations:
Data Collection and Integration
The ability to gather data from multiple sources such as inventory systems, transportation management systems, and customer relationship management systems. This data should be integrated and transformed into a unified format for analysis.
Data Analysis and Visualisation
Utilising advanced analytics techniques to analyse the integrated data and generate meaningful visualisations, such as dashboards and scorecards. These visualisations provide a comprehensive view of key performance indicators (KPIs) and help stakeholders identify trends and patterns.
Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts
Enabling real-time monitoring of supply chain operations by continuously collecting and analysing data. This allows organisations to identify and address issues promptly, such as inventory shortages or delivery delays. Alerts can be set up to notify stakeholders of critical events or deviations from predefined benchmarks.
Predictive Analytics
Leveraging predictive analytics models to forecast future demand, optimise inventory levels, and anticipate supply chain disruptions. By analysing historical data and external factors, organisations can make proactive decisions to mitigate risks and optimise resource allocation.
Collaboration and Communication
Facilitating collaboration and communication among supply chain stakeholders by providing a centralised platform for data sharing, reporting, and decision-making. This improves visibility and transparency across the supply chain, enabling better coordination and faster response to changing market conditions.
The Solution: Real-Time Business Intelligence
Real-time Business Intelligence (RTBI) transforms supply chain management by providing live data insights, enabling organisations to act instantly. Unlike traditional BI tools that provide retrospective insights, RTBI delivers immediate data, allowing businesses to make faster and more informed decisions.
Why Each Team Benefits from Real-Time Business Intelligence
Operations Teams: Gain real-time visibility into supply chain bottlenecks and system failures, allowing for immediate resolution and improved operational efficiency.
Financial Teams: Benefit from accurate, real-time data on transactions, reducing discrepancies and improving financial reporting and cash flow management.
Security Teams: Can monitor transaction flows in real-time, quickly identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities, thereby enhancing security and compliance.
Why Your Business Needs BI – the business case for Realtime Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence is crucial for organisations looking to stay competitive in today’s data-driven world. By leveraging BI tools, businesses can:
Operational Efficiency: By having a clear view of workflows, organisations can optimise their supply chains, reduce delays, and improve overall efficiency.
Risk Mitigation: Real-time monitoring allows for quick identification and resolution of issues, minimising disruptions.
Competitive Edge: Enhanced reliability and efficiency help organisations maintain a competitive edge in demanding markets.
End-to-End Transparency: Provides complete visibility into supply chain and business processes.
Root Cause Analysis: Quickly pinpoint and address failures or bottlenecks.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlined processes and improved system reliability.
Risk Mitigation: Minimise disruptions in critical supply chain workflows.
Why choose Splunk?
Splunk is a Gartner Leader in Monitoring and Observability. Splunk Business Intelligence stands out as a leading BI tool for several reasons:
Comprehensive Visibility: Splunk provides unparalleled visibility across the entire digital footprint, enabling organisations to detect and address issues before they escalate.
Real-Time Insights: With Splunk, organisations can monitor their supply chains in real-time, ensuring timely and informed decision-making.
Scalability and Flexibility: Splunk’s platform is scalable and flexible, making it suitable for organisations of all sizes and industries.
Advanced Analytics: Splunk leverages advanced analytics and machine learning to provide predictive insights, helping organisations stay ahead of potential disruptions.
Ease of Use: Splunk’s user-friendly interface and powerful visualisation tools make it easy for teams to access and interpret data.
Final Thoughts
Real-time business intelligence is critical for today’s complex supply chain management. By choosing the right BI tool, such as Splunk, organisations can gain comprehensive visibility, improve operational efficiency, and stay ahead of potential disruptions.
Avocado are experts at deploying Splunk and bringing in data from business systems such as SAP, Salesforce, Atlassian, PEGA, etc. Avocado has the expertise and experience to stitch together data from multiple systems to build views in Splunk with a business context.
Start your journey towards enhanced supply chain visibility with Avocado and Splunk’s Supply Chain Visibility Starter Pack today.
Proactively Monitor Your Supply Chain Today with Our Starter Pack
Avocado and Splunk offer a Supply Chain Visibility Starter Pack to solve your network challenges. This starter pack is a complete fixed-price solution delivered in just over four weeks. This means no hidden costs and a quick turnaround time, allowing organisations to start realising the benefits of real-time business intelligence almost immediately. Learn more about this offer and how it can benefit your organisation now.
