adoption of digital technology

Supply chain management is an extremely complex process that involves multiple stages, layers and suppliers. While many companies are still using the ‘old way of working,’ including the use of Excel spreadsheets, this manual process is both outdated and time-consuming. If your company is still using spreadsheets to manage your supply chain process, it’s time to consider investing in digital technology.

The harsh reality is that if your company wants to secure the goods it needs in today’s highly competitive market while keeping costs under control, you must be able to make supply chain decisions quickly and efficiently. This step requires analytical data, real-time reports and accurate forecasting. The type of data that can’t be sourced from manual spreadsheets alone.

However, digital technology, such as AI, can provide the data and insights you need to identify market trends and more accurately predict the company’s future needs. Having the right technology in place can give your company the competitive edge it needs to build a strong supplier network and agile and resilient supply chain processes.

Supply chain technology, such as demand forecasting, inventory management and warehouse management, is helping companies save time and money, while improving efficiency. For example, Sargento was able to reduce freight costs while enhancing visibility within its processes by trading in its manual processes for transportation management technology.

acquisition of digital talent

Your company cannot effectively integrate digital technology into its supply chain processes without also acquiring the necessary digital skills and competencies. Additionally, companies need employees who can analyse this data and turn it into valuable supply chain insight. This type of advanced data analysis is so important that 75% of employers plan to increase its use over the upcoming years. And for good reasons. Studies show that successful companies are more than 2.5 times more likely to have advanced data analysis capabilities in place.

Unfortunately, studies show that businesses are significantly lacking in this area. In fact, according to a recent study, only 1% of businesses felt that they have the necessary level of in-house digital skills to move the company forward.

Considering the extremely low number of prepared companies, there’s a high likelihood that your company needs to take steps to acquire the digital skills necessary to implement advanced supply chain technology. This step can be accomplished by building a robust hiring strategy and investing in employee training on topics, such as business analytics, supply chain planning technology, 3D printing and blockchain.

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