Evaluating Emerging Supply Chain Technologies to Optimize Your Business

Supply chain technologies have become necessary for business leaders to make difficult decisions faster in today’s complex and volatile environment. The methodology required to evaluate these tools will help identify the fit into their specific organization’s needs and contribute to its overall goals and objectives.

Current State & Looking Ahead:

Although 72% of supply chain organizations view technology as a competitive advantage source, only 47% leverage SCM software across all their functional departments. There is a gap between what leaders know they need and what they implement. Furthermore, only 42% of supply chain organizations have adopted agile methodologies, which allows for projects to be broken up into smaller increments, allowing the quicker realization of failures, successes, and reallocation of efforts. Gartner Research predicts that by 2024, more than 50% of supply chain organizations will invest in software supporting advanced analytical capabilities. By 2025, more than 50% of supply chain organizations will have a technology leadership role reporting directly to the Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Snapshot & Analysis of Current Tech Stack: 

Businesses today need to start with a deep dive analysis into their current technical architecture to identify which software makes the most sense. Companies need to determine how much of their supply chain is currently managed by their existing tech stack and where the gaps exist that need to create the unification across their entire workflow. They then need to evaluate tools that fill those needs to optimize their current structure. Processes may need to change, but if the tools meet a company’s goals and help them realize those goals faster, it is easier to adapt to change.

Company Goals & Objectives: 

Companies need to evaluate solutions and understand what analytical tools and processes align with the business’ overarching goals and objectives. Disruptive events in 2020, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have increased the need for organizations to find tools that help them make data-backed decisions quicker. Depending on each company’s goals, tools can help create more efficient processes. For example, companies may have an overall goal of increased speed to market, diversification of vendor sources as a form of risk management, or a more in-depth analytical view across the entire supply chain to help make more informed decisions. These goals need to align with the solution they choose for their organization properly. Those particular goals need to be expressed early on in the evaluation process to the potential software vendors. By doing this, leadership will clearly visualize the fit and impact to their company.

End to End Visibility: 

Most companies have siloed systems across specific phases within product development, logistics, transportation, warehousing, or fulfillment. But a very small percentage of those companies have an end-to-end solution that can provide analytics for decision-making. The interest in this type of solution is growing, but very few companies have implemented it. A solution should overlay across the entire supply chain and allow the company to continue using systems and processes with which they are comfortable. It should also fill the white space in their workflows and allow leadership and stakeholders to create transparency, efficiency, and increased functionality across the entire organization.

Learn why companies across industries leverage the GRID as an emerging SCM software tool.