A Supply Chain Analytics Leader’s First 100 Days
Carly, a supply chain analytics leader, is about to start a new job at a large U.S.-based manufacturing company. She will be responsible for her new company’s supply chain analytics strategy, and there are high expectations around the power of analytics to support supply chain digitalization. The first 100 days on the job are crucial to ensuring continuous success.
This all-too-brief transition period should be spent making connections, formulating a course of action and communicating a personal management style. Proper preparation, assessment, planning, acting, measuring and above all, communicating, can greatly enhance your chances of success.
Gartner breaks down the supply chain analytics leader’s objectives into a 100-day roadmap encompassing six phases, with the communication phase relevant throughout every step.
Prepare
Actions for the Prepare phase begin before the start of your role. They are critical to understanding the overall business priorities and the supply chain strategy and vision.
Learn about the company and its industry. Meet with your manager to set expectations for you and your team. Define what supply chain analytics means to your organization. Get to know the key players, both internal and external. Compile examples of supply chain analytics success stories to engage and inspire your new colleagues.
Assess
Use the Assess phase to get an accurate understanding of the state of analytics in your supply chain, including the types of analytics used, quality of available data, skills of core and extended teams, and the technologies utilized by the company.
Determine what key initiatives analytics can support and outline additional data sources that will be required to fortify such initiatives. Work with the IT group to understand data governance. Define the obstacles that exist in the supply chain today.
Plan
The Plan phase is where the output from the Prepare and Assess phases evolve into a blueprint for action. Develop an interim roadmap for the first 12 to 18 months that defines two or three key projects to focus on during the next two months. Seek endorsement for the plan from your manager and key stakeholders.
Act
During the Act phase, it’s time to begin to deliver on your initial promises and provide tangible results. Proceed with staffing and organizational changes to finalize the core and extended team structure. This is a good time to set budgets for the two or three initial projects.
Measure
In the Measure phase, define a metrics and key performance indicator (KPI) framework to measure the benefits of analytics initiatives. Clearly communicate and get agreement on critical success factors.
Additionally, define and communicate the team’s strategy and build a framework for measuring team progress.
Noha Tohamy, distinguished vice president analyst, Gartner authored this article, which can also be found here.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends.
