Global Big Data Market with Focus on Supply Chain Management 10/14/2013 | Page 11

REPORT DESCRIPTION
Big data can be best defined as the capture, curation, storage, search and analysis of large and
complex data sets which are generally difficult to be processed or handled by traditional data
processing systems. These systems are currently being implemented on a limited scale in many
supply chain companies for varied purposes. Most supply chain companies on an average use
more than two systems for management purposes. Some have two instances of Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) software installed for different parts of the supply chain and logistics
purposes. Different use cases for the systems are order management; demand planning,
warehouse management, price management, production planning, tactical supply planning,
transportation planning, product lifecycle management and Manufacturing Execution Systems
(MES). This is one major reason for the utilization of Big data in companies. Other in-depth
reasons for the need for Big data in SCM have been covered in the report.
Companies for example need to anticipate problems or understand growth through the usage of
advanced analytics. Traditional business analytics can answer the questions that leaders know to
ask. But the questions that are important but companies do not know to ask are more crucial to
build risk mitigation strategies. An important question for example can