At DigiKey, we stay ahead of trends and customer demand by constantly monitoring a robust set of internal market indicators. This helps us anticipate trends, strategically position inventory and respond quickly to shifts in demand or lead times. When demand shifts, our ability to quickly reallocate inventory ensures lead time extensions don’t catch our customers off guard. DigiKey’s main goal is to ensure our customers receive the products they need, when they need them, regardless of market conditions.
Data analytics and AI
DigiKey has been on a journey for quite some time around big data, data analysis and AI. We leverage the insights and information at hand and make it actionable. AI has unlocked capabilities companies never would have dreamed of, such as turning unstructured transactional data into insights.
Forecasting is a great example. The age-old process was to look in the rearview mirror: what you sold yesterday, what the trend is, and then build more or less inventory. Now DigiKey can analyze additional rich inputs, including how many times a part has been quoted and how many website visits it has had, allowing us to do a much better job of not just looking at current demand, but forecasting where demand is going. We are also analyzing supplier-provided information, such as web searches within supplier websites, alongside metrics and searches on DigiKey.com.
Our new product introduction (NPI) pipeline and market introduction process are also key industry differentiators for us that are a benefit of strategic intelligence. In the past, some NPIs hit the ground running at 100 miles an hour and quickly ran out of stock. With the intelligence and analytics processes we’ve built, DigiKey can get the quantity right the first time, creating a more natural progression from design start to early production support.
Delivering information customers want
DigiKey has invested heavily in digital enablement for customers and suppliers so both groups can have all the information they need at their fingertips. We are connecting digitally with suppliers so that as soon as they make content available, it feeds into DigiKey’s website directly.
DigiKey is also creating tools and configuring those pieces based on how sourcing professionals want to take advantage of them. That can make the supply chain look very different. Of course, it is all about speed – from the time it takes to receive a component to the end product hitting the market. Customers want to identify products that will differentiate their own products in the marketplace, and they want those on shorter cycles.
Our customers are open with their feedback, and we are listening and responding. Recent changes based on customer insights include adding attributes such as country of origin to the website, enabling price-based search and allowing customers to keep their search parameters so they do not have to re-enter them every time.
Here at DigiKey, digital transformation is manifesting itself in creating greater user utility and functionality for customers, and we are excited to see what’s next.
Dave Doherty, CEO, DigiKey
www.DigiKey.com
