Optimize Logistics with Business Intelligence in Supply Chain
Supply chain management is essential for a manufacturing business to thrive in volatile market conditions. Here, we’ll discuss the role of business intelligence in supply chain and why you should adopt BI solutions to streamline your enterprise. The supply chain is a crucial part of manufacturing, retail, and eCommerce businesses. It involves various steps, processes, and parties. It is an interconnected journey from sourcing raw materials to delivering the final products to customers. While most industries have some form of supply chain, it is prominent in manufacturing, industrial, automotive, and consumer goods etc. The changing market conditions and global scenarios have made enterprises invest in new tools and technologies to manage their supply chains effectively. Digital transformation and Industry 4.0 have put supply chain analytics at the forefront. According to IDC, 55% of G2000 OEMs will redesign their supply chains using AI by 2026. As per a report by Research Nester, the supply chain analytics market was $9.8 billion in 2024 and is predicted to reach $86.5 billion by 2037 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18.5%. Business intelligence tools like Power BI and Tableau play a vital role in supply chain management and analytics. Many MSMEs and large enterprises are partnering with BI companies to streamline their supply chains and increase sustainability. In this blog, we’ll read in detail about the role, benefits, challenges, and tools used for business intelligence in the supply chain. What is Business Intelligence in Supply Chain Management? Business intelligence is a tech process where you collect, store, analyze, and interpret large amounts of data to derive meaningful insights and use them to make day-to-day decisions. BI can be implemented in any department and industry. It is instrumental in the supply chain for a variety of reasons. By implementing business intelligence in the supply chain, an enterprise can use data-driven insights for strategic and tactical planning in the short-term, mid-term, and long-term. Let’s take a look at this quick guide to supply chain analytics for dummies. Data Collection and Integration Data is the most vital asset of an enterprise. In today’s world, you should know how to manage your business data and use it to unlock your true potential. Business intelligence is about converting raw data into analytical insights and user-friendly reports. By using tools like Microsoft Power BI in the supply chain, you can collect data from numerous internal and external sources and use it for analytics. The collected data is stored in a central repository like a data warehouse or a data lake. It is integrated with BI tools to share the generated reports with employees. Data Analysis and Actionable Insights Advanced business intelligence tools are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to provide meaningful insights through predictive analytics for supply chain management. You can run different types of analytics (descriptive, predictive, prescriptive, cognitive, etc.) to get a clear picture of your business and ways to improve overall efficiency. For example, with predictive analytics insights, an enterprise can predict the future demand for a product and adjust production capacity, distribution, and sales to ensure the products are easily available in the market when the demand increases. Data Visualization Data visualization is the process of converting insights into graphical and easy-to-understand reports using interactive dashboards. These dashboards are customized for different metrics (KPIs) based on your requirements. The business intelligence company will set up the necessary connections and design visually appealing and useful dashboards for the departments in your enterprise. Employees can use the drag-and-drop features to generate reports instantly and make decisions based on data-driven insights. The visualizations can also be used to create presentations, etc. Real-Time Monitoring Business intelligence in the supply chain is also useful for real-time monitoring of various activities, tasks, and processes that ensure the production cycle and distribution are continuous. For real-time insights, the BI tools are connected to IoT (Internet of Things) devices, which collect data from equipment and workers and share it across the network. This allows factory managers and supervisors to stay alert about the sudden changes on the floor and make quick decisions to prevent accidents, reduce risk, or handle breakdowns. It is also useful to make alternative transportation and distribution arrangements to deliver the products to the sellers/ customers at the right time. Collaboration Business intelligence tools are not limited to deriving insights. These can also be used for collaboration and communication. For example, different parties of the supply chain – vendors, enterprise, logistics providers, warehouse managers, distributors, marketing teams, retailers, etc., can access the dashboards to use the insights for planning their stages of the process, send messages and updates to others, and coordinate easily with them. Instead of using independent data silos in each department (which usually have outdated information), they can rely on the central repository to access the latest data. It prevents confusion and streamlines the processes. Customer Satisfaction Supply chain analytics and modeling is also about end users, aka, customers. After all, the products have to reach them on time, offer good quality, and create an enriching experience. Business intelligence can use supply chain and customer data to find ways to improve customer satisfaction with your enterprise. For example, the insights may show that customers want the products to reach them quickly. You can use the reports to identify where delays occur and find a solution to resolve the issue. Similarly, you can change your vendors and work with environment-friendly suppliers to create a more sustainable supply chain. Greater Transparency With business intelligence, you can increase the visibility and transparency of your supply chain. That’s because the analytics provide a real-time and holistic view of the supply chain and its various components. You can get an overview as well as in-depth insights about each stage. At every given point in time, employees can track where the product is and what the subsequent stages are. This information can also be shared with customers. Apart from actively addressing issues and increasing performance, manufacturers can use business
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