The supply chain expo MODEX 2022 held last month included a keynote presentation highlighting the 2022 MHI Annual Industry Report “Evolution to Revolution: Building the Supply Chains of Tomorrow.” A critical report finding is the prediction that technology investments are expected to widely increase in response to supply chain disruptions.
The report includes this statistic:
“Two-thirds of respondents expect their companies to spend more than $1 million on supply chain technologies over the next two years. Some of the more popular technologies among survey respondents were cloud computing, sensors and automatic identification, predictive and prescriptive analytics, and the industrial internet of things.”
In a recent article in Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine, QAD Precision President Corey Rhodes recommends that supply chain leaders develop a proactive strategy that includes flexible technology to face the supply chain challenges manufacturers are facing today and will undoubtedly face in the future. He then proposes three critical questions chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) should be asking.
What Technological Infrastructure Should Be in Place to Manage My Global Trade and Logistics Processes?
Supply chain leaders need digital solutions to store and manage the enormous amount of supply chain data coming in from suppliers and customers. They face the choice between on-premise servers/solutions – which require extensive IT resources, capital expenditures and floor space, plus the means to mitigate potential security risks – and cloud solutions. The popularity of cloud options has steadily grown because of their flexibility, scalability, lower maintenance and IT management requirements, and lower overall costs. This is because they often deliver improved performance and increased visibility across the organization.
A major reason for the growing adoption of cloud solutions is the data security they deliver, especially in light of growing cybercrime. Implementing cloud solutions can enable businesses to:
- Leverage protection against human errors that can lead to data breaches
- Deliver up-to-date functionality that keeps pace with current cybersecurity steps
- Improve disaster recovery and restart
What Factors are Hurting Our Ability to Respond to Market Dynamics and Grow Our Business Over Time?
Manufacturers know the market forces well – customer behavior responds to whims and new products, customer service and satisfaction is a growing focus, the pandemic has contributed to the explosion of digital commerce, not just in retail but across a wide variety of industries, and expectations for shipping and delivery speeds are tightening. They need the tools to be flexible and agile enough to respond to market fluctuations.
Cloud solutions give supply chain leaders the systems and framework to respond to supply chain and customer disruptions, from shifting suppliers, finding the best logistics providers to dealing with cross-border and international shipments.
Why Change Now?
Trade and logistics operations benefit extensively from digital technologies, enhancing both long-term goals and short-term objectives, especially when growth is one of those objectives. The cloud delivers speed, throughput, security and carrier onboarding but more than that, the cloud streamlines operations by opening up visibility to data and intelligence.
This sharing of data breaks down silos across departments. It offers collaboration, for example, so that the logistics team, the compliance team, the customer service reps and the accounting department are all viewing the same real-time information about orders, shipments, carriers, invoices and more. Cloud-based solutions deliver trade and logistics efficiencies, such as the means to:
- Connect the trade department with procurement to highlight cost saving opportunities, such as free trade agreements, or admissibility flags that could cause customs hold-ups and delayed deliveries
- Automate carrier invoice validation and identification of discrepancies, such as a premium service level you did not receive
Perhaps more importantly, digital technology allows you to connect with all supply chain partners — suppliers, customers, carriers, distributors, and government agencies — sharing real-time information across the value chain.
Rhodes concludes that manufacturers cannot meet tomorrow’s challenges using yesterday’s technology. So, what can be done? Learn more about how QAD Precision global trade and transportation execution solutions give supply chain leaders the tools necessary to respond to today’s supply chain challenges.
