In its most basic form, digital transformation is about the modernization of the people, processes, and technology that propel a business forward. While some industries have been quick to modernize, large, multi-national shippers are struggling to embrace the digital transformation and catch up to their nimbler competition.
For transportation companies and enterprise supply chain executives, developing and executing a digital transformation process requires the resolve to modernize decades old processes. The entire supply chain, including visibility, will be affected by digital transformation – it’s no longer a question of if, but when. The real question has become will the supply chain lead the digital transformation or will it be stuck playing catch up to the other functional business groups within the enterprise?
Current issues in supply chain visibility
At every point in the supply chain, shippers, suppliers, warehouses, producers, distributors, and customers expect to know exactly where a shipment is. There are disparate technologies and solutions that can provide a level of visibility, however, few extend across the full, soon-to-be-digital supply chain. Real-time tracking, as well as tools to manage and prevent exceptions throughout the supply chain, must be a crucial cog in the digital transformation wheel.
How business leaders can make the transformation
Gartner estimates enterprises will allocate 20% of enterprise digital transformation costs to the supply chain. Separately, Gartner revealed that “visibility or event management applications” is a top three priority for enterprise supply chain executives for 2017.
In order for the digital transformation to be a success, business leaders need a step-wise approach. Transportation and logistics executives must look to cloud-based partners that will help them build a unified, enterprise-grade system stack that shares information openly, provides a 360-degree view of a customer and business processes and uses predictive analytics to make changes in real-time.
Enterprise supply chain teams should consider this visibility journey and honestly assess current state and future state, as well as the logical path forward.
With digitization, the linear supply chain model will transform itself into a supply chain ecosystem, with full transparency, collaboration and communication between all partners. When the digital transformation is complete, all parts of the supply chain will rely on a single, open, flexible, and agile system of record. Now is the time to get started.
Source: EBN
