Maine Pointe
Turning Data into Dollars across Procurement, Logistics and Operations

In an interview with CIO Review, Steve Ottley, EVP, Analysis and Nathanael Powrie, Director, Data Analytics, Maine Pointe talk about how the company is helping CEOs and senior executives visualize and realize the power of data to create an optimized demand-driven digital supply chain for competitive advantage.

According to the Maine Pointe team, “The opportunity to harness the power of data analytics to drive cash, cost, and growth remains largely unexploited, especially in the supply chain.”

An Untapped Opportunity

Steve Ottley: “Achieving the great promise of Industry 4.0 and the industrial internet of things (IIoT) requires changes to current methods of production, processing, and manufacturing. What we are seeing is that, at best, companies have captured just a third of the potential value. With many executives struggling to extract value and drive differentiation through data analytics and IIoT, it is imperative for companies to cultivate a team with an abundance of unique expertise, cultured analytic techniques, and data richness.”

The shift to operational data analytics

Nathanael Powrie: “Over the past five years, investment in analytics has been predominately focused on the front-end of the business to enhance the customer experience. However, leading research indicates that given the level of technology innovation, the emphasis is shifting to the advancement of the demand-driven digital supply chain back-end. Harnessing the power of ever-growing enterprise data using advanced predictive analytics is giving companies proactive ways to manage extreme market volatility and global competition.”

Measurable results

Nathanael Powrie: “Decision-makers in a data-driven organization, are able to make more accurate predictions and this can have a significant impact on EBITDA, cash flow, and growth. We worked with a $50Bn energy company where executives were struggling to optimize remote site service operations across three divisions. Deploying advanced data analytics capabilities, in collaboration with operations and logistics expertise, we were able to help save $45M on a sustainable basis. Another example is a specialty chemicals company that wanted to make use of advanced forecasting models to become a smarter buyer and improve margins.

The opportunity to harness the power of data analytics to drive cash, cost and growth remain largely unexploited, especially in the supply chain. Maine Pointe acts as the pragmatic bridge between big data, supply chain and customer experience corporate initiatives to drive measurable value

Our predictive analytics model allowed the supply chain and sales organizations to look at current, targeted pricing indices and use that information to predict raw material price fluctuations to buy and sell more competitively.”

A key enabler to driving and tracking measurable transformation and change

Steve Ottley: “Senior executives are universally interested in meaningful tools to help communicate where and how opportunities can be realized in their business to achieve high performance and competitive advantage. Grounded in data analytics, Maine Pointe’s Total Value Optimization™ (TVO) approach illustrates how companies that adapt quickly and optimize value will survive and thrive, while those that don’t are likely to face a steady decline in market share, profitability, and market presence. Data analytics is a key foundation in helping companies transform their supply chain and compete on value. It provides the bedrock of actionable insights that help companies identify, track, measure and report on demand patterns and operational improvements to improve EBITDA, cash and enable growth.”

Nathanael Powrie: “Many organizations lack timely, accurate and consistent data. At the same time, it’s become apparent that executives who have attained insight into existing and emerging opportunities are achieving competitive advantage. Put simply, if you are not harnessing the power of data analytics, you can’t make fact-based decisions about your business or ever achieve a collaborative end-to-end supply chain.”