All supply chains depend on data. What separates successful businesses from those that struggle is more than just the depth and quality of that data, however. More than ever, it’s data accessibility that sets industry leaders apart from their competitors.
Nowhere is this more true than with B2B integration processes. While electronic data interchange (better known as EDI) is increasingly central to supply chain success, the data exchanged by supply chain partners via EDI is often something of a black box when handled in-house. With relevant teams, such as Purchasing, unable to access data directly, bottlenecks quickly develop, undermining the benefits of automated B2B communication.
As future-thinking businesses are starting to recognise, however, issues like this aren’t difficult to eliminate. With customer and partner expectations continuing to rise, more and more businesses are prioritising B2B data accessibility in order to streamline operations and improve decision-making. According to a recent KPMG poll, 87% of supply chain executives now see increasing data accessibility as “critically important”, with 61% identifying it as “top priority”.
What we found
In line with KPMG’s findings, we also found in our recent survey that respondents were very confident in the ability for improved data accessibility and visibility to boost supply chain success, with 77% believing that it could have a substantial impact, and 100% believing it could boost success at least a fair amount.
Despite this universal recognition, however, it seems many businesses still have a long way to go to reach the desired level of data transparency. When asked to grade their company’s current data accessibility/visibility, only 56% of the B2B integration professionals we asked answered “good” or “very good”, with a worryingly high 44% responding “bad” or “very bad”.
What can you do?
If data accessibility is an issue in your business, enlisting the help of an experienced external provider may well be the answer. Rather than integrating new functionalities or managing a complete system migration project yourself, by opting for an external solution, you will benefit from faster migration times and tried and tested processes.
Questions to ask yourself
- Do all relevant teams have acceptable data accessibility currently?
- How easy is it for individuals to find data within your existing solution?
- Does your current B2B integration solution offer real-time visibility of message statuses?
- How important is it for your business to be able to make accurate predictions?
Want to see what else we found?
This article is based on a section from our recent report on The Future of B2B Integration, in which we share survey results as well as predictions concerning the most significant B2B integration trends. To download your free copy now, simply visit the report download page and enter your details!
