Prioritize Analytics to Enhance Customer Service

Prioritize Analytics to Enhance Customer Service

Analytics tools not only help distributors become more agile, but in this time of increasingly complex supply chains, they can also alleviate stock-outs — and ease customers’ minds. But don’t forget the key components of building this capability.
mdm jan 6 analytics webcast

With supply chains growing increasingly complex ever since COVID-19 began ravaging the economy earlier this year, it feels as though the world is no longer flat.

One result of the coronavirus crisis: Manufacturer stock-outs have become a norm — especially for certain types of products, including JanSan and safety — meaning B2B customers have been extremely frustrated with their distributor partners.

But analytics tools can help distributors alleviate those frustrations and again become the hero for their customers, according to Taylor Clements, director of implementation services at Enavate. Clements spoke with MDM CEO Tom Gale in a recent MDM Spotlight, “Distribution Analytics Moves Front & Center.”

In this 10-minute video, Gale and Clements discussed the myriad ways that analytics is helping distributors not only cope with the current pandemic but also navigate other business disruptions that could emerge.

“Supply chain interruption such as stock-outs caused by manufacturing issues, delivery problems or planning have become even more commonplace in this time,” Clements said. “And many software systems commonly offer those customers a different product if they order items that are out of stock, or a cheaper product with the same functionalities available. We found the distributors who consider substitutions find improved customer satisfaction, margins and inventory management.”

The Key to Successful Analytics Adoption

Analytics can serve as a foundational capability to build a more agile distribution organization, as MDM outlined in our 2015 book, The Distributor’s Guide to Analytics. The guide is a collection of some of the best practices from thought leaders across every aspect of distribution analytics: inventory management, pricing, profitability, sales and marketing.

“With the explosion in just the past few years of cloud computing, apps and business intelligence tools, distributors really have a much better opportunity today to capture and process that data to really pull out of their ERP system the transactional data, e-commerce and other technology platforms to manage increasingly complex data inputs and extract insights in a much more agile manner,” Gale said during the Spotlight.

But a key, and often overlooked, component of that process is getting the right talent on board. Having the right employees who understand the capabilities — and limitations — of an analytics platform is key to properly using this powerful tool and creating competitive advantage.

“There ultimately is no magic technology or app that’s going to elevate your analytics capability in itself,” Gale said. “It’s really that combination of the technology tools that are right for the unique needs that you have and the talent on your team. That’s going to be a big issue in the next 12 to 24 months as well in terms of the types of analytics capability that individual companies are able to tap into. Because no business becomes a data-driven organization overnight and without leadership driving it. It’s a really about a roadmap, prioritizing the parts of the business analytics that are really going to get you forward as fast as possible and then ultimately the project plan for how you build the talent and the leadership to get there.”

To listen to the MDM Spotlight in its entirety, click here.

Related Posts

Share this article

About the Author
Recommended Reading
Leave a Reply

Leave a Comment

Sign Up for the MDM Update Newsletter

The MDM update newsletter is your best source for news and trends in the wholesale distribution industry.

Get the MDM Update Newsletter

Wholesale distribution news and trends delivered right to your inbox.

Sign-up for our free newsletter and get:

  • Up-to-date news in a quick-to-read format
  • Free access to webcasts, podcasts and live events
  • Exclusive whitepapers, research and reports
  • And more!

2

articles left

Want more Premium content from MDM?

Subscribe today and get:

  • New issues twice each month
  • Unlimited access to mdm.com, including 10+ years of archived data
  • Current trends analysis, market data and economic updates
  • Discounts on select store products and events

Subscribe to continue reading

MDM Premium Subscribers get:

  • Unlimited access to MDM.com
  • 1 year digital subscription, with new issues twice a month
  • Trends analysis, market data and quarterly economic updates
  • Deals on select store products and events

1

article
left

You have one free article remaining

Subscribe to MDM Premium to get unlimited access. Your subscription includes:

  • Two new issues a month
  • Access to 10+ years of archived data on mdm.com
  • Quarterly economic updates, trends analysis and market data
  • Store and event discounts

To continue reading, you must be an MDM Premium subscriber.

Join other distribution executives who use MDM Premium to optimize their business. Our insights and analysis help you enter the right new markets, turbocharge your sales and marketing efforts, identify business partners that help you scale, and stay ahead of your competitors.

Register for full access

By providing your email, you agree to receive announcements from us and our partners for our newsletter, events, surveys, and partner resources per MDM Terms & Conditions. You can withdraw consent at any time.

Learn More about Custom Reports

Request a Market Prospector Demo

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.