Mitigate Supply Chain Disruption with Supplier Mastering

In today’s volatile business environment, supply chains are often under attack. From recent disruptions caused by the global pandemic and the war in Ukraine to worldwide shortages of parts and labor, supply chains are facing disruptions every day. Add to the mix of external forces the myriad of disparate, siloed systems and departments and incomplete, incorrect data, and the supply chain challenges continue to mount. Collaboration between supply chain, finance, and procurement is key to staying ahead of disruptions. But too often, these departments fail to collaborate, exposing their organizations to undue risk. And that makes supply chain management a CEO-level concern.

Savvy organizations, however, realize that to overcome their challenges, they must address both business-related and data-related issues. And they’re doing so through data mastering and enrichment.

Bridging the Digital and Departmental Divide

One of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is the proliferation of systems and data. Data is growing at an unprecedented rate, as are the number of systems that store it. But much of the data is dirty, incomplete, or out-of-date. And when your data is dirty, so too are the insights you gather from it.

That’s why organizations struggle to answer simple questions such as “who are my top suppliers” and “which supplier is my largest based on spend.” Without a 360-degree view of data across systems and departments, these questions are difficult, if not impossible, to answer. And when the data varies across supply chain, finance, and procurement systems, it’s even harder  to know which analytics to trust.

Tamr’s data product template for Supplier Mastering helps organizations address this challenge by integrating data across systems and silos, providing the clean, curated, accurate data needed to make informed supply chain decisions. It connects internal and external data together, forming a comprehensive, 360-degree view of all your suppliers and your activities with them.

Using machine learning, Tamr Supplier Mastering intelligently integrates your data, allowing you to reconcile disparate sources and reduce variability. It also allows you to keep humans in the loop with a simple workflow to provide valuable feedback, ensuring that the results are of the highest quality while keeping manual intervention at a minimum.

As well, Tamr Supplier Mastering allows you to enrich your internal data with external sources so that it is complete and accurate for analytics. For example, firmographic data from Dun & Bradstreet can enrich your current supplier data so you can better understand your supplier landscape, while validation services can check the data you have against external sources to ensure that your systems have the most up-to-date and accurate version of the data.

Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain

In addition to mitigating real and potential disruptions, organizations are also under pressure to create more sustainable supply chains. New regulations around the world not only encourage organizations to create more sustainable supply chains, but also require compliance with new guidelines.

Unfortunately, for many organizations, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data about their suppliers is often incomplete, leaving supply chain leaders unable to determine which of their suppliers are strong in sustainability and which are not. The good news, however, is that ESG data exists – it’s just external to the organization. But through Tamr Supplier Mastering, organizations can enrich their internal data, increasing its quality and making it more complete.

Tamr Supplier Mastering harnesses the power of external data sources by enabling organizations to enrich their internal data with sustainability data from firms such as EcoVadis. That way, you can feel confident that your analytics always reflect the most accurate, up-to-date information about your suppliers and their sustainability commitments so you can make informed choices on the best partners for your business.

Stay Ahead of Future Disruption

While supply chain disruptions will never totally go away, having holistic, trustworthy insight into your producers, vendors, manufacturers, and transporters can help you anticipate future vulnerabilities and mitigate them before they cause mass disruption.

Learn more about Tamr Supplier Mastering.

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