How Digital Transformation Could Revolutionise Your Supply Chain

  • Written by Peter Needle
  • Published on 7 March 2019
  • Blogs

75% of businesses believe that digital transformation of the supply chain is important, according to the results of a global research study conducted by Capgemini Consulting and Infor. 70% of these companies say they have already started a formal digital supply chain transformation effort, however 33% are dissatisfied with their progress in this area so far. 

Businesses are expecting significant changes to the supply chain process over the next five years. 54% expect that the majority of data from the extended supply chain will be accessible to their organisation and 92% believe that organisations will use more data analytics to benchmark and evaluate suppliers’ performance.

Making data more accessible is at the core of creating this transformation and closing the gap between where companies are now and where they expect to be in five years. The four key drivers of this will be supply chain visibility platforms and tools (94%), big data analytics (90%), simulation tools (81%) and the cloud (80%).

Bringing your business into the digital age

However, it’s clear that this is going to be a huge undertaking for many businesses, with 48% of respondents admitting that more traditional methods such as email, phone and fax are still the main ways in which they interact with their supply chain partners. Digital tools are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, and with this they become even more accessible and easy for companies to implement. Astute businesses will readily take advantage of this to bring their systems into the digital age.

Digital supply chain transformation has many expected benefits for businesses including cost reductions across logistics, maintenance and inventory as well as an improvement in customer service. It can also help to dramatically improve an organisation’s agility. Agility gives businesses a strong competitive advantage, allowing them to respond quickly and effectively to unexpected supply chain disruptions and continually changing market conditions. Lessening the impact of these disruptions and minimising risk has become a key priority for many organisations and is one of the major drivers in the need to transform supply networks.

For digital transformation to be truly successful, businesses need to take into account the globalised nature of their networks. Connectivity between partners, cross­company access to data, and the use of network­wide analytics are key. Reliance on outdated and monolithic software, which restricts the accessibility of data, can hold companies back from true digital transformation. Segura integrates with existing ERP and PLM systems to bring them up to date, and with no user licensing model and nothing to install it makes the relevant data accessible to all areas of the company in a quick and cost-effective way.

Supply chain mapping helps to meet the needs of a rapidly changing industry

Segura’s cloud-based software provides deep mapping of the entire supply chain. This gives businesses complete end to end visibility of their networks and easy access to a wealth of data, wherever they are. The data collected can then also quickly be shared with select partners, allowing for effective real-time collaboration between different areas of the company. By moving to the cloud, businesses can operate with increased flexibility and tailor their products and services to meet the rapidly changing demands of the modern supply industry.

Through digital transformation of their supply chain with Segura, businesses can rest assured in the knowledge that they are complying with MSA legislation and also take advantage of the brand protection that this brings with it. With a clear overview of the entire network, they are able to ensure that products are genuine, safe and manufactured in an ethical and compliant way. This also gives retailers a better handle on managing product quality across the extended supply chain. Segura is able to manage multiple approval cycles, supplier certification and audits all within a single supplier portal, making this almost effortless and considerably cutting back on the manual effort required in keeping track of this information. 

Originally Published 09/06/2016

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