If you think of your supply chain ecosystem as an orchestra – your trading partners as a large group of musicians who come together to deliver products, then as a supply chain leader you are the conductor of this orchestra.
The supply chain is a complex ecosystem, and the chief supply chain officer (CSCO) is at the helm of it: staring at the big picture, reimagining the supply chain, and setting it in motion.
Today, that involves unchaining from inefficient processes, undoing expensive but inefficient legacy systems, signing up on transformational technologies, having a finger on the pulse of the trends in workforce, and most of all, having a plan B.
Develop an end-to-end ecosystem – A high-performance supply chain’s foundation is people collaborating and communicating effectively. It requires treating all trading partners of your supply chain as part of an ecosystem. Mainly: how data and information are exchanged between trading partners to run daily supply chain operations?
Interoperability – Interoperability is the ability of computer systems or software to seamlessly exchange information with each other, internally and externally. The first requirement of a supply chain ecosystem is for all the partners in it to be able to easily and safely exchange information through a single network to run daily operations.
In research conducted by a Fortune 500 IT services company of 900 supply chain executives, 44% cited incompatible legacy systems as the reason for their function’s inability to drive value for the organization.
Invest in a single digital ecosystem – The future of supply chain management starts with digitization such that your entire supply chain ecosystem is mapped, and all your partners are onboarded on a single digital network. All trading partners can flawlessly collaborate with each other and all your data is organized in one place.
There are no gaps in digitization: you won’t have to resort to phone calls and emails, not even in case of disruptions or crisis.
Leverage real time data: Empower your team with near real-time data about the status and location of your shipment. Since your supply chain is mapped and all the trading partners are onboarded onto a single digital network, you and all authorized partners will receive immediate notification (since data sharing is automated) of every event like a pickup or drop-off of a shipment.
Enabling AI – AI is certainly the most talked about technology in supply chain industry right now. But AI is only as good as the data we feed into it. Do you have the digital capabilities to enable AI?
When it takes a week to collect data from different interfaces, downloading it from different spreadsheets, cleaning it up and then preparing everything in a single format to feed into an AI engine, the process is cumbersome, and the results are dated.
What is needed is automated operation and a single source of truth: real-time data (time stamped and tamper proof) in a single format being fed into an AI engine. Such that AI constantly iterates on live-data and the results are useful.
Resilience – Unchain from shocks
We are living in times when disruptions are the norm and not an exception anymore. Supply chain disruptions triggered by geopolitical conflicts, wars, trade restrictions, cyberattacks, and cargo theft are here to stay. Risk management and impact minimization is possible with control and flexibility.
Reroute shipments of products – Seamlessly reroute your shipments with just one transaction to keep everyone informed. You can confidently inform all partners concerned of a change in schedule with just one transaction on Vinturas’ Interoperable Network (VIN) solution.
Swiftly navigate geopolitical tensions and natural disasters – Identify and collaborate with new trading partners and confidently inform the existing ones of the developments with one transaction on the network.
Protect movement of goods in case of cyberattack – Work with private blockchain technology to take advantage of a resilient supply chain. When a partner’s system or your own is under attack, logistics operations of the rest of the supply chain ecosystem can continue because all data is still available and protected on the network.
Agility – Unchain from reactive strategies
Reactive capabilities are a must to navigate the present but proactive capabilities will ensure you aren’t constantly in firefighting mode.
Leverage AI – Use AI to predict risk, forecast demand and supply, and create risk mitigation strategies for different scenarios.
Adapt to changing workforce trends – New working models, skill and labor shortage, the need to cross-train your teams, and entire new job roles are emerging. Accounting for these changes will build organizational flexibility and influence your trading partners.
Conclusion
As the future-normal of the supply chain emerges, people (your team and trading partners throughout your supply chain ecosystem) and transformational technology need to work together to traverse this landscape.
As the conductor of your supply chain orchestra, you are being looked at to deliver an interpretation of this new landscape to your entire supply chain ecosystem. Orchestrating flawless deliveries that hit all the right notes for your customers.