• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location & Network Design
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Big Data/IOT
    • Cloud, SaaS & On-Demand Systems
    • EDI Communication (XML/EDI)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SCM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Humanitarian Logistics
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting
    • Sustainability
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Automation & Robotics
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Mobility & Voice
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID & Barcode
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food and Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • BLOG
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Making the Digital Pivot in Supply Chain Management

Making the Digital Pivot in Supply Chain Management

February 6, 2019
Arun Samuga, SCB Contributor

More and more businesses are undergoing a digital transformation of their supply chains. As companies transform along this process, they move from an inside-out focus to an outside-in focus, which allows them to sense, respond and act more effectively to improve the customer experience, bottom-line profits and customer satisfaction. 

Next-generation technologies are built such that data is captured, cleansed, linked, visualized and finally powered with machine learning algorithms, leading to holistic decision-making capabilities with customer centricity. 

Making the digital pivot to an outside-in supply chain requires next-generation thinking. Traditional thinking for supply chain processes involves a linear approach with inside-out processes, focus on efficient organizational silos, use of transactional batch data centered around history, slant towards response and process standardization. Next-generation thinking is based on outside-in processes designed for structured or unstructured data that move at different speeds. Next-generation thinking shifts from traditional response driven-systems to sensing-driven systems with more intelligence. Business processes are modeled through decoupled services that scale on demand.

As part of the digital transformation, companies will connect to their supply chain trading partners using many-to-many networks. Here each partner brings their own data in their own format — whether its unstructured data, real-time data streaming, PDFs, etc. With a digital supply network, data is captured from supply chain trading partners across each transaction, communication and collaboration. Manual processes, such as submitting a purchase order, are automated, with paper or email translated to appropriate formats where the document can be shared with others electronically. All data is rationalized and is correlated across business processes. Once linked, the data is converted to valuable information bringing extended capabilities for visibility. Finally, with rationalized data, active collaboration and constant visibility, companies can identify patterns that can be used to feed machine learning algorithms to create higher-order problem-solving capabilities.

Digital channels that supply information to the network include trading partners, industry hubs, GPS data, risk data providers, weather information, internet of things, blockchain and more. While networks can easily aggregate data from multiple sources, correlate it and offer visibility, it is also important for companies to seek the network effect. Companies need to identify many-to-many interoperable networks that can help them reach their threshold sooner than later. Once this network of trading partners is actively collaborating, there are more avenues for creating value-add services. The digital channels need to be modeled in a way they can be augmented, extended or replaced based on the dynamic nature of customer-centric strategies.

The Outlook

Businesses should strongly consider embarking upon the digital journey by identifying and prioritizing avenues to maximize customer delight. While the path begins with digitization, it is important to not lose sight of the end goal and employees should be motivated to continuously extend automation boundaries. Traditional information silos need to be broken down and new channels need to open up for structure-agnostic data processing. With sufficient data comes the need to clean and rationalize so as to create value through visualization and learning. 

Companies need to complement their enterprise technologies with those provided by many-to-many networks and powerful data platforms. It is imperative for networks to interoperate with other networks so that they can in turn serve their trading partners faster and better in realizing their ultimate goals with attaining digital transformation.

Arun Samuga is chief technology officer for Elemica.

RELATED VIDEOS

Technology Cloud, SaaS & On-Demand Systems Business Strategy Alignment Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting
  • Related Articles

    The Digital Supply Chain: Making the Leap with a Ball and Chain

    The Post-Modern Supply Chain: Connecting the Dots in the Age of Digital Disruption

    Bridge the Digital Gap in Your Supply Chain: How-To Tips for Digital Collaboration with Non-Digital Trading Partners

  • Related Events

    TECH SUPPLY CHAIN CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

    2nd Annual Smart Connected Supply Chain Forum

    Oil & Gas Supply Chain Compliance

Arun Samuga, SCB Contributor

Making the Digital Pivot in Supply Chain Management

More from this author

Get regular updates!
Subscribe to our newsletter

Enjoy curated articles directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • 0123_corporateamericaisgetting

    Corporate America Is Getting Ready to Face Climate Risk

    North America
  • 0125_fightingcorruptioninglobal

    Podcast | Fighting Corruption in Global Supply Chains: A Report Card

    Global Trade Management
  • 0124_oneyearoldamazon

    One Year Old: Amazon Go Has a Lot of Cashierless Imitators

  • 1228_indiascrackdownonamazon

    Asia's Richest Man Wants to Take on Amazon in India. Here’s How.

    Business Strategy Alignment
  • 0205_pier1sinterimceo

    Pier 1's Interim CEO Turned Around Popeyes. Can She Do It Again?

    Business Strategy Alignment

Digital Edition

55746

Subscribe today and receive the latest issue

Start Your Subscription
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Case Study Submission Form
  • The Magazine
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • Resources
    • Newsletters
    • Events Calendar
    • Supplier Directory
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing