Bridging the Decision Abyss

Picture this common procurement issue: Five procurement teams within the same company are independently sourcing an identical part from the same supplier. None of the teams are aware of the others’ plans, and they all end up securing the part for vastly different prices because of a lack of data visibility and communication. The result? A significant price disconnect that could potentially cost the company thousands, if not millions, more dollars than it should. If this scenario sounds familiar, you’ve likely fallen victim to the “decision abyss” — the disconnect between engineering and product design, supply chain planning and procurement within organizations that hinders quick, informed decision-making and visibility.

However, you’re not alone when it comes to data visibility issues across organizations. Data can be difficult to manage and utilize — the decision abyss is a common problem. A full 99% of companies Talend surveyed recognize that data are crucial for success, but 97% face challenges in using data effectively, and a third aren’t even using data to make decisions. The reasons companies struggle leveraging data to drive informed decision-making vary — some point to poor-quality data, whereas others acknowledge a reliance on manual processes.

While many industries have undergone a significant digital transformation to improve workflows and lower costs, that is not the case for most supply chain and procurement professionals, who are left to the mercy of disconnected software tools, utilizing spreadsheets to try and form actionable insights from complicated and disjointed data. Too many companies fall into the decision abyss when it comes to their supply chain, especially their sourcing and procurement functions. 

Understanding the Decision Abyss 

Understanding the decision abyss necessitates recognizing that procurement, supply chain, and product teams are meant to work together seamlessly across the organization and share information to reach their common organizational goals. However, the reality is often far from this ideal, with 64% of supply chain professionals still relying on Excel for direct sourcing management and only 35% of companies using AI in their business.

The challenges of using spreadsheets like Excel to manage direct sourcing are two-fold. First, the lack of a common language among separate functions requires data to be contextualized for universal understanding — a benefit Excel lacks. Second, using fragmented spreadsheets creates organizational siloes, blocking the smooth flow of information among teams. Teams tasked with a common goal, like reducing cost or ensuring supply continuity, must have the ability to share and leverage all their data to make a unified and intelligent decision.

Navigating Today’s Pressures with Yesterday’s Tools

Following global supply chain disruptions from 2021 onward, companies have turned more attention to supply chain issues plaguing bottom lines. While supply chains currently appear more stable than they have in recent times, they are still fragile and constantly at risk as geopolitical tensions escalate at a pace that outstrips the capabilities of traditional spreadsheets and manual processes. For instance, increasing U.S.–China tensions are compelling companies to rethink and diversify their suppliers elsewhere to remain resilient — a strategic shift that requires access to timely data for quick decision-making.

We’re also seeing shifts in lead times that require real-time insight so teams can quickly adjust their sourcing strategies to mitigate further supply disruption. For example, when the Israel–Hamas war erupted, heads of supply chain and procurement needed to immediately understand which suppliers and parts were impacted across their entire company. In instances like these, where teams within an organization independently use separate spreadsheets without effective communication or information sharing, it is impossible to gain this visibility and be able to act proactively to find alternate suppliers and parts when needed.

How to Bridge the Decision Abyss

Supply chain and procurement leaders can solve fragmentation problems and related issues by leveraging advanced technologies such as AI automation, data aggregation, and contextualization.

If organizations establish comprehensive data visibility across internal operations and the broader data ecosystem with AI software, contextualized data can provide timely, actionable insights and bridge the decision abyss. By unifying and utilizing data across relevant teams, companies get a single source of truth for decision-making, plus advanced visibility into how parts and materials can be tied to finished goods, with a better, more accurate match on what can be produced with what should be produced.  

When equipped with these advanced capabilities, procurement gains a clear understanding of how each component, including price and inventory fluctuations, can impact an organization’s top and bottom line. Utilizing AI intelligence, sourcing managers can optimize costs during negotiations with suppliers while teams receive real-time alerts about potential risk exposure related to commodity parts and materials before disruptions unfold. This invaluable information empowers engineering and product teams to evaluate supplier health and model how key components affect the cost structure of a product at the early stages of the design process.

A 2021 Kearney study showed that leading companies with strong procurement partnerships across the organization generated nearly two times more total shareholder return, contributing 200 basis points more to the core corporate profitability measure EBITDA from third-party spend and rebounding three times stronger post-COVID-19.

Generally, AI tools lead to substantial enhancements in operational efficiencies. Once freed from the hassles of spreadsheet management and manual, time-consuming workflows, procurement teams can focus on more strategic tasks.

The Barriers to Bridging the Decision Abyss

A common obstacle to bridging the decision abyss is the inability to start, or “organizational inertia,” which is driven by the fear of the unknown journey, its duration, and the potential challenges along the way. Leadership’s reluctance to initiate change is deeply ingrained because sourcing and procurement teams have traditionally followed common processes for decades.

According to McKinsey research, 61% of manufacturing executives report decreased costs, and 53% report increased revenues as a direct result of introducing AI in the supply chain. This shift isn’t just a tech upgrade; it’s an empowering journey allowing teams to boost efficiency and make a more significant strategic impact within the organization.

In the face of the decision abyss, the path forward is clear. It’s a call to action for supply chain and procurement leaders to demand better software tools to usher in an era of enhanced decision intelligence. It’s not too late to start transforming your organization with AI. Failure to act now brings the risk of being trapped in a decision abyss, whereas organizations quick to adopt AI-powered platforms will leap ahead with optimal business outcomes and a competitive advantage.

Keith Hartley is CEO of LevaData.

Senior Pega Engineer (Marketing Decision Solutions)

Senior PEGA Engineer (Marketing decision Solutions)

You build it, you run it. You take responsibility for your software from A to Z, from the very first idea until Go Live and maintenance

Go to Rabobank.nl. These personalized offers have a higher click-through-rate than default ones, which shows that personalization helps customers find the right content.

Within the squad we do omni-channel communication and the data we collect we use for contextual and relevant next best decisions for the interaction. The squad works directly with business and marketers on a wide range of projects. We use the latest technologies, including PEGA Marketing as the AI-brain behind the personalization.

You and your job

As a DevOps engineer, you bring a positive, can-do mindset to your work and are passionate about IT. You are a motivated and hands-on individual with a genuine interest in PEGA marketing/decisioning solutions. You will be a member of an agile DevOps squad responsible for delivering end-to-end customer features for personal digital marketing.

Your involvement in the development life cycle is comprehensive, from refining user stories to monitoring in production environment. Working collaboratively is crucial in your role, as you will work closely within and across squads to ensure the quality of the features delivered.

Facts & figures

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include developing and advancing the application, ensuring scalability and future-proofing to accommodate changing business and technological needs.

You and your talent

This is what we offer you

You and the job application process

Applying In 5 steps

Thanks for applying! We consider all the CVs and covering letters that we receive. After the closing date, you will hear from us as soon as possible.

Usually you'll be meeting with your (potential) team leader and an immediate (future) colleague. We are keen to get a sense of whether you are a good fit for the position and our team. And you probably have a lot of questions too.

If you are a good match for us and we're a good match for you, then you'll receive a good offer by email. Some positions require you to undergo further exam first.

Senior PEGA Engineer (Marketing decision Solutions)

Contracttype Full time

Location Utrecht (NL)

Workplace Hybrid

Reference number JR_00084246

Expertise IT

Meld Misbruik

Mum ‘held at gunpoint’ is forced to make agonising decision to ‘switch off’ half her daughter’s brain

A MUM made the decision to "switch off" half of her 12-year-old daughter's brain after feeling like she was being held at gunpoint.

Little Shania Taylor was diagnosed with Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) and the only cure was a hemispherectomy - a radical surgical procedure where the diseased half of the brain is completely disconnected.

10

10

RE is a nervous system disorder characterised by inflammation on one side of the brain.

It is incredibly rare - affecting just two out of every 10 million people.

Tilly Taylor, 39, says she felt like she was "at gunpoint" when she opted for Shania to have the operation – and she was told her daughter would never walk again.  

Tragically, the youngster even told her mum that she "wished she had died on the operating table" after the procedure.

But in the years since Shania, now 17, has proved doctors wrong and can walk while assisted with a crutch.

She is also studying for a Health and Social Care diploma - and the teenager is even called a "hero" by her mates at college.

Tilly said: "Because RE is a brain virus that attacks one side of the brain, the only cure for Shania would be to have a hemispherectomy to disconnect half her brain.

"Doctors said it would leave half her body with no physical activities – she was paralysed straight from the operation, and they said she would never walk again.

"It was like being at gunpoint. There was no choice - you just have to do it.

"The most important thing was accepting she’d gone from being fully able to severely disabled at just 12 - it was like an emotional rollercoaster.

"The battle never ends, we still have to accept she has half a brain now and we can’t do what we used to be able to do with her.

"She said she wished she had died on the operating table when she was 12 after the surgery but we’ve come so far from that - now she’s accepted this is for life and we can do this together."

Shania said: "It is difficult at times, when it comes to certain things you can and can't do with physical limitations.

"The biggest impact I had was losing my left peripheral sight.

"I have to get used to the fact I can't see on the left and it still makes me jump when people approach from the left."

Shania first started experiencing symptoms of RE in January 2016, when she had a severe epileptic fit which lasted nearly 20 minutes.  

Within a week of her first seizure, she went from experiencing no fits to having them two to three times a day.

After experiencing 10 seizures in just 24 hours, Shania was put on anti-epilepsy medication but it had no impact on the number of episodes she was experiencing.  

It was feeling like being at gunpoint. There was no choice - you just have to do it.

In April 2017, she was referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital – by which time Shania had begun to lose sensation in the left side of her body and was still experiencing daily fits.  

Following a biopsy in November that year, she was finally diagnosed with RE and, in February 2018, underwent a hemispherectomy.  

Shania spent three months recovering in hospital before the family had to move as their old house was now inaccessible for their daughter.  

She continued to undergo physical therapy and hydrotherapy at the Children’s Trust in Surrey and incredibly has taken huge strides in recovery over recent years.  

Now, the teenager is thriving at college – and Tilly says Shania uses her sharp and sarcastic sense of humour to make light of the situation.  

Shania said: "We always try and find the good in a situation and we always say if we don't laugh we're going to cry so we joke as much as we can.

"When my friends describe me as a hero, it gives me a really fuzzy feeling."

Tilly added: "Because it’s drug resistant epilepsy, no matter how many or what drugs she was on the seizures would still happen.

"When we were referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the virus was now attacking her brain drastically and she was fitting on a daily basis and losing senses in the left side of her body.

"When we were told she had to have surgery, I said to the doctor that whatever I have to do to make her better, I'm going to do it.

"It took her two years to learn how to walk short distances and she still can't walk long distances - she gets very tired very quickly.

"She has no vision on her left, which is probably the hardest part for her.

"She’s at college now studying Health and Social Care; she wants to use her disability as a lesson to show people that giving up isn't an option."

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

What is Rasmussen’s encephalitis?

RASMUSSEN's encephalitis (RE) is a rare, chronic neurological disorder.

It is characterised by inflammation of one half of the brain, drug-resistant epilepsy and progressive neurological and cognitive deterioration.

RE is most common in children aged six or seven, but it can occur in older kids and adults.

Symptoms include:

The exact cause of RE is not known. However, there is increasing evidence of an underlying immune disorder.

There are two main forms of treatment - an anti-convulsive one and one that stops the destruction of brain cells.

Source: NIH and the Encephalitis Society