Medtronic transforms business with a “one best way” strategy and unified data system on Microsoft Power BI, fostering a data-driven culture

Healthcare technology company Medtronic revolutionized its approach to data and analytics by adopting a “one best way” strategy with the creation of a Global Operations and Supply Chain (GO&SC) analytics and insights team. The organization had been hindered by thousands of disparate dashboards, but in 2021, Medtronic saw the opportunity to develop a reliable, actionable, and unified data ecosystem. Using Microsoft Power BI, a data visualization solution, the team created a global analytics ecosystem, named INSIGHTS, connecting employees worldwide and streamlining decision-making processes.

Unifying thousands of dashboards into a single-source-of-truth data ecosystem

Medtronic employs more than 95,000 people who provide individuals with specialized medical solutions. To create the best products for its customers, Medtronic gathers vast amounts of data for research, and its many teams often operate independently. “Historically, Medtronic has been a decentralized organization,” says Greg Smith, Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain at Medtronic. “We had the vision to bring together global operations and our supply chain to drive an efficient and effective organization.” 

This vision required Medtronic to innovate. Working from 70,000 data and analytics dashboards created by staff in different locations and functions, employees found it challenging to find the most accurate version of the data. The company wanted to unify these dashboards. “We don’t need competing data sets,” says Smith. “We wanted to take the power of our analytics and bring them together so we can make the right decisions. We wanted one version of the truth.”

Seeking an actionable solution for more than 45,000 employees

In 2021, the Medtronic supply chain team restructured its data and analytics by centralizing into a core team with distinctively operating autonomous squads. This model helped Medtronic remain agile and customer-centric so that it could rapidly adapt to meet specific business needs. By 2022, this model expanded to encompass operations as well, with squads within the central GO&SC framework now supporting all aspects of the supply chain, including supply management, global manufacturing, facilities, and strategy.

Simultaneously, the company embraced the “one best way” philosophy, leading it to standardize the look and feel of its analytics dashboards and tools. “‘One best way’ is about more than aligning our tools and processes,” says Luciano Miranda, Vice President of Analytics and Insights for Global Operations and Supply Chain at Medtronic. “It’s about bringing together diverse minds to work in harmony and innovate in ways we couldn’t have individually.” This standardization established a recognizable brand identity for Medtronic’s analytics ecosystem and enhanced user navigation and consistency. 

Medtronic wanted its data and analytics ecosystem to be flexible so that the more than 45,000 GO&SC and operating unit employees who worked with the analytics could use them to make informed business decisions for customers or along the supply chain. “A key objective was to generate actionable insights,” says Raj Harapanahalli, Vice President of Operating Unit Strategy, Healthcare IT, and Product Innovation at Medtronic. “Any dashboard should help business leaders take specific actions and make decisions, which means these dashboards should be flexible enough to adapt to changing business needs.” Medtronic relied on Microsoft expertise for support in designing and deploying a solution.

Creating a centralized analytics ecosystem on Power BI and driving 30 times more views 

In 2022, Medtronic deployed a centralized analytics ecosystem on Power BI so that every employee could see the same accurate version of the data and use actionable insights to create solutions. “For example, we noticed that both back orders and inventory would increase at the beginning of each quarter,” says John Barrett, Vice President of Finance Operations and Supply Chain at Medtronic. “Using the data on our new dashboard, we diagnosed the issue. Instead of different teams coming up with theories, we went deep to figure out the problem and solve it.” 

The company then decided to create unified branding for its solution, called INSIGHTS, to ensure that everyone was seeing the same analytics. “If we don’t brand this, anyone can create an analytic and we won’t know where it comes from or if it’s accurate,” says Miranda, one of the lead designers of INSIGHTS. 

The deployment of the INSIGHTS ecosystem on Power BI helped Medtronic to unify standards and tailor approaches, ensuring comprehensive, user-friendly, and efficient data management and analytics across the company. “Within months, the entire company, from executives to entry-level employees, could use data and analytics on INSIGHTS to make faster decisions and improve operations,” says Marc Williams, Vice President of Global Operations Scheduling at Medtronic. In addition, Medtronic worked to make data more visible to its employees. “Power BI has helped with the visualization of the data,” says Barrett. “It has been phenomenal at giving everyone the opportunity to manipulate the analytics without manipulating the data.” 

Ultimately, Medtronic’s transformation has added users and increased views by 30 times. “When we started this journey in 2021, there were about 15,000 clicks from a few hundred users per quarter,” says Miranda. “By 2023, there were about 500,000 clicks from 4,100 active users.”

Automating 240,000 hours of work with Microsoft Power Automate 

To further increase efficiency, Medtronic connected INSIGHTS, backed by Power BI and Winshuttle, with Microsoft Power Automate to automate 240,000 hours of work. This automation streamlined processes, such as data quality checks, so that Medtronic employees could work faster to create meaningful solutions, especially along the supply chain, where many tasks are repetitive. “We wanted to move employees from firefighters to problem solvers,” says Smith. “Good data allows our associates to be engaged, enabled, and empowered.”

Using actionable data to create better solutions for customers

In the future, Medtronic plans to continue digitizing its manufacturing, supply chain, and other operations with solutions such as Microsoft Power Virtual Agents, a conversational bot creation platform. 

With easier access to data and an innovative approach to analytics through Microsoft Power Platform, Medtronic is creating solutions faster to better support its customers around the world. “We get more instantaneous data, which provides more instantaneous insights, which drives more instantaneous decisions,” says Smith. “And with that, we give better service, better quality, and a better cost structure for our customers.”