Organizing and Managing Data Analytics Teams for Procurement
Many companies are forming data analytics teams to put data to work. To enhance procurement practices, chief procurement officers (CPOs) must work effectively with data analytics teams, from hiring and training to managing and utilizing team members. This chapter presents the findings of a study on how CPOs use data analytics teams to support the procurement process. Surveys and interviews indicate companies are exhibiting different levels of maturity in using data analytics, but both the goal of CPOs (i.e., improving performance to support the business strategy) and the way to interact with data analytics teams for achieving that goal are common across companies. However, as data become more reliably available and technologies become more intelligently embedded, the best practices of organizing and managing data analytics teams for procurement will need to be constantly updated.