Curiosity killed the cat, it is said, and the way some organizations operate, you'd think it had become a truism. At Spendata, we run across this phenomenon more frequently than one would imagine. Some examples:

• A private equity firm that doesn't care about multi-million dollar mistakes in the spend cubes it provides to its portfolio companies.
• A public university procurement department that's not interested in eliminating significant higher-price (bypass) spending with non-GPO vendors.
• A procure-to-pay company that chooses not to help its customers leverage the data it collects — data which would allow customers to avoid higher-cost vendors and maximize catalog usage.

What's driving this "head in the sand" behavior? Is it the fear of embarrassment? Private equity staff don't want to admit to providing bad data. The university procurement department might prefer to avoid questions raised by missed savings opportunities. The procure-to-pay company could worry that the data might show that it is not actually providing all the benefits it's claiming to provide.

At the end of the day, though, curiosity wins over embarrassment. Whether it’s new management with fresh questions, a consulting firm brought in for advice, or an internal data initiative, at some point someone (or some AI) will be curious about the data, and the resulting analysis will produce uncomfortable results that drive change.

It's better to be a driver of change than a bystander, and curiosity is the secret sauce.

Consider these simple questions:

• Is there item level detail and pricing for what you are buying?
  • If your internal systems aren't capturing detailed data, or it's awkward to retrieve it, suppliers can easily provide it.
• Are there contracts in place with all your recurring suppliers? Chances are, there are suppliers with whom you do substantial recurring business without any contract (even a simple "x% off", available from almost any supplier with a simple phone call). If you do have a contract,
  • How much eligible spend is bypassing the contract? We find substantial bypass spending in almost every organization.
  • Are you getting the contracted price? We see overcharges all the time, even when contracts are locked down and purchases are made from catalogs.
• Are you paying multiple prices for the same item? We find that most organizations are, and don't know it. A price variance analysis by item will find immediate savings.
• Do you understand your total exposure to suppliers? Consider that you may be doing business with them both directly and indirectly (through distributors), and your discount levels could be much higher than those you are currently receiving.

There are lots of reasons for data apathy, not the least of which has been a (historical) lack of recognition awarded to people who "find gold" in data – particularly in areas that are embarrassing to management or that upset the status quo.

That situation is changing, and changing fast.

Data heroes are the new business champions. There is always more to be learned about data, more savings to be found, and more efficiency to be had. There is money literally walking out the door every minute, and being curious — asking embarrassing questions — is exactly the right thing to be doing.

Useful data analysis can be done quickly and easily, and it doesn't require an IT expert. There's no reason to wait for some intangible deliverable like a new ERP system or data warehouse. Let us show you how fast you can go from raw data to insight – on your own data, while you watch, on your own machine (we'll Teams or Zoom in remotely).

At Spendata, we empower data analysts at companies and consultancies of every size. We have helped many different companies with many different types of data find immediate value.