There is a tremendous amount of energy and focus placed on organizations to select and implement great reporting and analytics tools to help plan and analyze their trading relationship data. The need to select a great reporting and analytics platform for information analysis is paramount to managing a superior business. It is, in fact, no longer a differentiator but a requirement to stay competitive.
So much energy is often placed on the reporting side that the process of gathering information from the field, establishing rock solid processes for keeping the information clean and pertinent and then integrating it into the reporting system
sometimes takes a back seat to “tool” selection. It is as though many organizations select their reporting tools for
trade promotion management with very little emphasis on the importance of actually collecting the data and avoiding spilling data.
Tight controls/processes yield the best data
You want to be successful at planning your
trade spending activities? If so, you had better be collecting pertinent information about your trading relationship's historical activities (in other words, “plan on renewing or rejecting the relationship in subsequent contract using real data). If your partner or your own internal team is not collecting 100% of your contract trading data from the marketplace, then you have data spillage! Let it continue and you will be making trading partner relationships without understanding the full view of the information.
Do not forget to properly sew up the patient!
Analytics are critical, but great reporting and analytics tools without the processes, software and controls in place to contain your data for analysis is like a doctor failing to properly sew up the patient properly and then wondering why the vital signs are not improving. Contain the data and then look for your analytics tools to help you answer the information questions.