What is the Role of Business Intelligence in Supply Chain Management?

Supply chain management is crucial in the emerging world economy and markets.

With many job openings every year, the supply chain and logistics fields have become a highly employable industry.

However, with the digital transformation of almost all industries, businesses can no longer afford to take guesses regarding their inventory management and distribution. 

They need to start incorporating data analysis into their processes to stay competitive. This is where business intelligence comes in. 

This article will discuss business intelligence and its role in supply chain operations and management. You will also learn why supply chain management is such a great career choice and how to land high-paying job opportunities within this growing industry. 

What is business intelligence (BI)?

Business intelligence is a technology-driven process for attaining and analysing data to get actionable insights into markets’ current and future states. 

It analyses consumer data, looks at patterns, and discovers possible trends businesses can use to their advantage. 

With the help of these insights, business leaders and managers can make better decisions that will result in higher revenue and better operational efficiency. As a result, these businesses gain a competitive advantage that allows them to stay at the forefront of their industries and markets. 

Learn more about business intelligence and its top careers. 

Benefits of BI in the supply chain

There are several benefits BI brings to the supply chain. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Key decision-makers can monitor internal inefficiencies using BI, providing them with the metric-driven knowledge they need to solve these issues.

• Scorecards and dashboards (both BI tools) use a variety of available metrics to provide reports on the performance of the business. This aids in tracking the company’s development, such as whether or not quarterly targets are met and forecasting future outcomes based on past performance data.

• Since the supply chain comprises many departments, there’s often a lack of visibility, with a lot of data dispersed among the departments. BI gathers all the data on a single platform to avoid any confusion. 

• Businesses can go through the process from shipping raw materials to delivering their finished products and strategically improve each step if they have particular and detailed data from every production stage.

What is the role of BI in supply chain management?

Now that you know what benefits BI offers in the supply chain, you need to understand its role and how it is used in the supply chain departments. 

As mentioned earlier, the supply chain consists of several elements (or departments) that act like the gears of a machine to keep it running. 

This includes logistics, operations management, IT, and more. Thus, if one of these elements fails, the supply chain stops working. BI can help coordinate all aspects so the supply chain can run more efficiently.

Below are the roles that BI plays in the supply chain. 

Demand and inventory management 

With ever-changing customer behaviour and market fluctuations, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to forecast demand. This makes it challenging for them to meet needs and increase their profits. 

BI can help organisations by forecasting insights, ensuring they perform better inventory management and preventing them from over or under-stocking. 

The fact is, every piece of inventory a company stocks costs them money. Too much inventory can result in access fees and tie-up funds that could have been allocated to different business areas. Contrarily, insufficient inventory can lead to lost sales and angry customers. 

Furthermore, BI can also help businesses predict patterns and trends through data. This means they gain insights into what customers are most interested in. Thus, they can make better decisions regarding what they offer, sell more, and reach higher levels of customer satisfaction. 

Discover how the supply chain affects consumer spending and satisfaction. 

Communication and distribution management

Distribution involves the packaging, inventory, management, and logistics of products. Communicating the movement of products can be difficult, with many “links” involved. 

This is why businesses have started implementing BI to track and monitor the standing of their orders to improve efficiency. 

BI also helps to monitor expenses, such as the cost of fuel and identifies missed opportunities companies can utilise to grow their profits. 

Why should you consider studying supply chain management? 

Supply chain management (SCM) is an excellent career choice for people looking to enter a fast-paced, lucrative industry. Here are some main reasons you may consider studying supply chain management. 

High-paying

One of the biggest advantages of the supply chain industry is its high pay. This is especially true for supply chain managers. You can earn anywhere from R28,000–R65,000 per month, depending on where you live. 

Job growth

Supply chain and logistics are rapidly expanding fields. They have continued to show significant growth — locally and internationally. New positions are constantly opening up, giving you several career opportunities. 

Advancement opportunities

Since businesses worldwide require supply chain professionals and managers, this opens doors for you to work overseas. You may even be able to relocate and take your family with you. 

Furthermore, the supply chain’s various departments offer several levels of management — meaning you could advance to more senior positions that pay even more. 

International travel

Even if you decide to work locally, many supply chain management positions require you to travel internationally. This allows you to do sightseeing and explore other countries. 

Many internship opportunities

Another excellent benefit of studying supply chain management is that the logistics and supply chain industries offer numerous internship opportunities.

This makes it relatively easy for you to get a job — even while studying. REGENT Business School offers distance learning and rich distance learning opportunities that allow you to intern while studying. 

Develop additional skills

You have the option to develop additional skills, such as business intelligence, while you are studying your supply chain management course. You can consider several BI short courses, such as Introduction to Data Analysis. This will help you create a far better resume to stand out from other candidates. 

Study supply chain management with REGENT

Now that you know why supply chain management is an excellent career choice and how learning BI to supplement your abilities is a great way to stand out as a more desirable candidate, you can look at your study options.

REGENT offers a BCOM in Supply Chain Management that will teach you all the core abilities you need to thrive in the supply chain industry. Combined with the Introduction to Data Analysis short course, you can land even higher-paying positions.