OCR Bottom Line: Preparing for Data Challenges in Supply Chain

By Nick McKinney, Director, Analytics, OC Reilly, Inc.

(Jan. 10, 2022)—In a recent survey of business executives, 59 percent ranked data quality or data availability as their greatest challenge, yet 29 percent of that same group reported a lack of skills in this area as a similarly daunting challenge.

The world is not waiting for those numbers to align, however. The pace of change in intelligent cloud-based supply chain has no intention of slowing down or accommodating those who can’t keep up. It requires ownership of the issue among leaders and a strategic vision guiding organizations to follow a structured, disciplined approach – despite there not being an “off-the-shelf” solution to fit every situation.

To get started, healthcare organizations should follow these basic principles to protect their assets and extract the maximum value from each:

  • Define an overall data a cloud strategy, mission statement, and listing of desired future-state outcomes.
  • Identify key challenges within the existing supply chain and generate ideas on the data required to increase employee efficiency, leverage technology by reducing manual work-arounds, and streamline processes.
  • Work with the business units and IT to create a shared roadmap identifying core capabilities required to unlock value in the cloud over a specific time period.
  • Engage partners with resources related to relevant industry and technological knowledge, to provide guidance while avoiding common pitfalls and risks.

Cloud-based computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning all promise to continue scaling up. Preparing now and developing a workable strategy to harness those expanding capabilities related to healthcare supply chain operations can place the power of data in leaders’ hands – instead of data controlling how leaders must react.

Expert supply chain advisors can offer an objective view on how best to evaluate a healthcare organization’s current data management configuration, and how to develop a strategy to streamline operations and maximize value.

© 2021 OC Reilly, Inc.
Source: “From Ones and Zeroes to Supply Chain Heroes,” Logistics Management, June 2021.