Microsoft is one company working towards such goals. It reported back at the end of last year on the first stage of a long-term project to put digital technologies to work in the management of the supply chains and production lines that produce hardware ranging from its Surface tablet to Xbox, its gaming console.
The IT giant’s aim has been to use business intelligence tools to generate much greater quantities of insight into how its supply chain is feeding production and shipping, so that risks can be addressed, along with under-performing areas. Even at the early stages of the process, with more automation and analytics tools still to be deployed, Microsoft reports significant time and cost savings.
SAP, meanwhile, has also been a major investor in this area, both in its own right and for clients, building tools such as the Asset Intelligence network to enhance collaboration and provide far greater supply chain visibility than ever before.
Data drives collaboration
The common theme in these endeavours is data. Without a constant feed of information from and about members of the supply chain ecosystem, it’s not possible to secure the level of visibility required, whether of individual suppliers or the ecosystem as a whole.By contrast, VendorMach has developed a platform which enables organisations to leverage suppliers’ own data, as well as external information, which will put them in a much stronger position; with greater insights into suppliers’ creditworthiness, credibility and resilience.
This will ensure they are in a position to make decisions based on real-time monitoring.
Moreover, automating in this way will reduce the need for time-consuming and expensive manual interventions, freeing up resources for work that adds value. This is an opportunity for organisations to build much more collaborative relationships with their suppliers, which in turn offers the promise of increased resilience and reliability for all.
This sort of work may attract fewer column inches, but it should be at the heart of work that seeks to digitise the supply chain. Without greater visibility of your suppliers, maintained in real time, it will not be possible to build a robust network capable of leveraging the benefits of further investments in new technologies and automation.
——————————-
Chaney Ojinnaka is the MD and Founder of VendorMach, a network driven platform, which uses artificial intelligence to solve the inefficiencies in the supply chain. VendorMach is currently offering limited company shares on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs.