While reading Cuts from the Center, which records a recent CPO Agenda Executive debate held during this past winter, I couldn’t help but notice Nikki Bell’s comment on how she gets frustrated when we make excuses about how we can’t have the right data, or about people protecting data. I have to agree. This is what kills Supply Management initiatives that could save the organization Millions (and in some cases, Billions) of dollars.

And it’s ridiculous. Everyone in the organization needs to know that organizational data IS organizational data and that anyone who has access to organizational data has access to ALL organizational data. And Senior Executives, starting with the CEO, have to mandate this. No exceptions. If information is sensitive, then it should be “scrubbed”, “sanitized”, or “anonymized”, and the data then made available for analysis and mining. Without complete data, you cannot do a proper spend analysis project, and without a proper spend analysis, you will not find the true savings opportunities. And if you want to recover overpayments and avoid unnecessary spending, you need to do a proper spend analysis and uncover the true savings opportunities.

Your data is your data. So mandate it’s use. Remember, if you want performance, you have to make it so.