Turn Data into Value - Focus on these Layers

Digital procurement / AI in procurement is a buzzword right now, especially for teams in the middle of transformation.

One thing that keeps coming up: the output from your tech stack is only as good as the data going into it.

A lot of times, I've seen our team takes reports to stakeholders and the first reaction is, “These numbers don’t look right.” That’s usually a data foundation issue, not a 'tool' issue. My team then spends months fixing and reconciling data just to make insights usable.

That data cleanup, including how information flows into and out of the data lake needs to be part of the solution from day one. If users don’t adopt the tools, there’s no value. And when people don’t like the product, teams end up resourcing manual cleanup and analysis anyway, which makes the return on those tools pretty much moot.

When ERP data (structured and unstructured) is connected through the right point solutions, insights finally make sense.

The pictorial here captures this idea pretty simply - worth a look. I also added my view of what I've seen in the market as it relates to a procurement digital transformation roadmap.