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Roger Gossett

Director, Global Logistics
Applied Materials

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Day 3: Influencing Top Line Activities

Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

09:15 Interactive Session: Big Data & Business Analytics—What Does It Mean For Procurement?

Many people are grabbing onto the terminology of “big data”. For Procurement, we need to get into the mix and figure out what it really means. The “big data” terminology seems big and nebulous; so many companies are considering a shift to a discussion on “Business Analytics.” This interactive session will bring two prominent Procurement executives together to get you thinking about making data-driven procurement decisions to better analyze your spend and save money.

You will be asked to provide ideas on the following challenges:

What really is “big data” in a Procurement context (that enables are sourcing managers to make better sourcing decisions)?
Three phases of Business Analytics – Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive.
- Descriptive –It is utilizing a “Spend Analytics” tools that typically sits over an ERP platform to analyze your spend and to direct your resources to the areas of highest spend (with the theory that you save money where money is spent).
- Predictive – Almost always used by big companies who spend a lot of money on items that are driven by underlying commodity markets or where they are directly buying commodities.
- Challenge: “Where else should we be using business analytics to make better sourcing decisions?”
- Prescriptive – This takes the “Predictive” area to the next level, and starts to get more forward looking to anticipate and seek data / information that allows us to optimize, simulate and/or create decision models that allow our Sourcing Managers to “look over the horizon” and to create business solutions that are truly a competitive advantage.
- Challenge: Where are we using business analytics in the “Prescriptive” context?