Telling a Compelling Story with Data

New Podcast Series 

The Institute for Supply Management's Annual Conference is just a few short months away. In anticipation of the year's premier Supply Chain event, Source One is releasing a new podcast series to reflect on the conference's agenda - ISM2019: Trends and Topics

From now through April, the series will bring Source One's spend management team together to offer their insights on the subjects that promise to dominate the conversation in Houston.

The Problem with Procurement's Reports

On the first episode of ISM2019: Trends and Topics, Spend Analysis Lead Brian Seipel joins us to discuss Procurement's imperfect approach to collecting and reporting on data. While the function is increasingly committed to collecting and analyzing data, it's not committed to delivering reports that anyone will actually read. 

All too often, Seipel suggests, a "simple report" is anything but.

"How," he asks, "do we get data analysis so wrong considering we spend so much time working with data?" He suggest it has something to do with the countless tactical tasks associated with it. Mired in the hard work of data management, Procurement can begin to miss the forest for the trees. It loses sight of the purpose its date should serve. 

An Opportunity To Improve

Seipel encourages Procurement to think differently about how it engages with data and presents it. Instead of data for data's sake, they need to consider what the stakeholder is really looking for. 

Before developing a report, the data scientist should ask themselves four questions:

• What challenges do our stakeholders need to solve? 
• What questions does the report answer?
• Why are we taking the time? 
• What value does it add? 

When they aim to answer these questions, Procurement teams become more than tactical data analysts. They become a voice for the data and a strategic ally to their stakeholders. 

Want to hear more of Seipel's insights? Subscribe to the Source One Podcast today. Be sure to check in weekly for more episodes of ISM2019: Trends and Topics every week. 

Will We See You at ISM2019?

This year's ISM conference will take place from April 7-10 in Houston, Texas. Attendees are encouraged to stop by Booth #438 to meet your award-winning team.