Big Data: Embracing Digital Procurement Strategy

Recently we have been discussing the need for a Digital Procurement Strategy - a strategy which sets out how to gain the optimum benefit from cloud, mobile and social. I hope you have found the series of interest - this is the last of the five sections.

If organisations are to seize that opportunity they also need to recognise the risk of being overwhelmed by data, yes, enormous amounts of data. Peter Smith recently highlighted this as the problem with information overload. Big Data analytics provide the solution.

An information deficit is removed by Digital Procurement Strategy but in its place comes information overload and clutter. Clutter which needs to be captured, curated, stored, retrievable, searchable, shared, analysed, and visualised. We have already discussed the potential benefits gained through conversations and listening within a global supply market stakeholder community. Digital means the conversations are linked and taking place simultaneously - a cacophony of amplified noise.

But conversations are only part of the digital equation, integration with the eProcurement systems is the other ingredient - that's a phenomenal amount of intelligence. Digital Procurement Strategy needs to make sense of that, it's almost like some GCHQ listener syphoning off what is important to procurement decision making and responding proactively.

Big Data analytics provide the means for making sense out of the clutter and we have previously discussed the excellent example of MBS' work on this with BMW supply chain. Digital Procurement Strategy is the means for strategically harnessing the opportunity and setting out how and the outcomes to be achieved.