Digital supply chain (DSC) is the talk of the town. Are you curious to know how digitization of the supply chain can revolutionize the logistics industry? Imagine seamlessly tracking and analyzing all the flows in the supply chain, such as money, material, and information in real-time. Digital supply chains make data automation and integration possible by utilizing technologies like IoT, blockchain, AI, etc. How can this revolution impact your business productivity and operational efficiency? Dive in to know more. Before getting into DSC, one must have a clear idea about the basics of supply chain management. Building a product or service, from procuring raw materials to its final delivery to the end user, forms a series of events called a supply chain.
To understand it better, let us compare PowerBI with DSC. Power BI uses siloed data to produce a coherent data model with visually immersive elements such as graphs, dashboards, etc. increasing data visibility, which aids organizations in strategic decision-making. DSCs are similar to PowerBI because they are great at data visualization, and agility is an important factor in both tools. In DSC, the whole supply chain functions as an integrated network, which contrasts with the traditional supply chain.
What is new in digital supply chains?
Traditional supply chains often follow linear workflow. From sourcing materials to delivery, every step in the workflow is interconnected only with the adjacent steps, making it a linear model. In digital supply chains, all the elements, such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and end users, are interconnected, making it a network model. Companies must build data repositories to store and utilize data from various sources to form an interconnected system. Building such a system can be made possible using data warehousing services. Let us see the pros that come in handy with a network model in the upcoming sections.
First things first!
Before embracing supply chain digitization, businesses must ensure a robust data management system because the whole digital system is congested with massive volumes of data. At Mobius, we provide on-demand data aggregation and management services that can revamp the system in specific areas of data extraction, data warehousing, data integration, etc. using our strong foundation in AI.
Benefits of implementing DSC
Increased collaboration
DSC is more collaborative because of its integrative nature. A collaborative environment can increase the chances of building long-term partnerships among the entities. Such partnerships can help avoid costly mistakes by understanding a partner’s pace, specific strategic moves in operations, capabilities, shortcomings, etc. At Mobius, our in-house custom-made bots analyze and compare data efficiently to boost seamless collaboration. In the traditional supply chain, every entity functions disparately, unaware of what is happening with the rest of the entities.
Lack of integration in the system creates demand-supply gaps even though forecasting is done. Forecasting is based on historical data and trends, works only under ideal conditions, and is susceptible to unanticipated risks. After the advent of digitization, changes are easily communicated, reflected, and rectified accordingly, making the system more agile. The interdependent nature of DSC helps to maintain a minimal demand-supply gap.
Increased transparency
Digital supply chains deal with real-time data, which helps businesses identify any uncertainty as soon as possible. Businesses can make strategic decisions instantly based on the accurate high-speed data circulated in the system.
If a supplier faces a delay, this information is immediately available, enabling the business to make strategic decisions on the spot, such as rerouting shipments or finding alternative suppliers, based on accurate data and insights.
Lesser time to market
The digital supply chain system is resilient as well as responsive. DSC uses highly developed AI/ML models to forecast demand, and every changing need at any point in time flows seamlessly throughout the entire network. Hence, companies can manage production smartly, reduce lead time, and ultimately reduce time to market to a great extent.
Risks that tag along
With any advancement comes concerned risks, and digital supply chains are no exception.
Cyber security
The power of the digital supply chain is the enormous amount of data pumped in and circulated in the system. Wherever there is data, there is always a threat to data safety. The holistic data system is prone to cyber-attacks; companies must protect it at any cost. According to a PwC survey, cybercrime is the second most prevalent crime. As a preventive measure, every company must use monitoring tools for early risk identification and mitigate them to ensure utmost safety. Mobius ensures security through various practices such as implementing security awareness training programs, using encryption to safeguard data, using strong passwords, and following multifactor authentication and keeping software and systems up to date with security patches, etc.
Existence of mismatched skillset
Most businesses going through digital transformation face failure because of the skill gap of the employees. Even though an organization has adapted to new technology, most employees need to update their skill sets to meet the prevailing needs. To bridge this gap, companies must take measures like skill-based recruitment and also continuous learning development programs to ensure their employees are well-equipped to cater to the requirements of a digitally transformed ecosystem. Providing constant support and cultivating a growth mindset in an organization’s DNA can help an organization adapt to any kind of digital transformation.
Data management and quality
Digitization requires great-quality data, which depends on AI/ML outputs. Quality data can help businesses get a comprehensive understanding that can make them make strategic decisions. When dealing with large heaps of data, ensuring data quality becomes a hard nut to crack. At Mobius, we make data quality management more accessible by providing tailor-made data profiling services to identify and eliminate fluctuations, contradictions, anomalies, etc.
Future of DSC
Digitization of supply chains is no longer a luxury, it has become a necessity. Moving forward, the integration of AI in digital supply chains can make data collection and analysis much more efficient taking supply chain automation to another level.
Resiliency – a byproduct of digitization
The need for supply chain resiliency is enormous these days, and it has been very well established by everyone with the advent of the global pandemic COVID-19. The supply chain must adapt to uncertainties to survive in this disruption-prone world. Since digital supply chains run on real-time data and tracking, mitigation is efficient. Hence, resiliency comes as a byproduct.
Increases profit margin, not the expenditure
Businesses with efficient digital supply chains record 20% more profit than the ones with weaker ones. DSCs have become invaluable assets to organizations in the era of unexpected changes. McKinsey reports that 60% of a company’s revenue is spent on operational costs. Having an inefficient supply chain adds even more expenses. Investing in the digitization of supply chains has helped businesses increase their profit margins by increasing visibility, minimizing errors, properly utilizing inventory, etc.
Tech companies join the game
Compared to other sectors, technology sectors have integrated AI, blockchain, and IoT in their operations, so they may have the upper hand in applying all these technologies to automate and improve their supply chains. Tech leaders are even more comfortable and confident in making supply chain digital transformation initiatives as they know their vast potential.
Our dependency on technology keeps increasing day by day. However, embracing supply chain digital transformation is not a cakewalk, and digital supply chains are no exception. Organizations adopting digital supply chain management must meet the following points: 1) Agility is the key. 2) Starting with a small, strong foundation and then scaling it up helps. 3) Taking ownership of the change and the commitment that comes with it. Join us as we embrace digital inclusivity with utmost preparedness. To simplify your digital transformation journey, connect with Mobius.
