Data Drives “Holistic” Decision-Making in the Supply Chain, Says New Research Done by Deloitte

As COVID-19 exposed, supply chains require unprecedented efficiency and agility in order to react to quickly changing network conditions.

As a result, shipping organizations are now starting to embrace a shift to digitalize their largely physical world, realizing that the future movement of goods could very well depend on it.

Today, Deloitte released its newest report in the future of the movement of good series, “Holistic Decision-Making: Creating tomorrow’s more intelligent movement of goods network.”

The latest POV provides insights into how shipping organizations are undertaking a journey to digitalize the physical world and power more intelligent movement of goods networks through cognitive technologies.

In the initial article of Deloitte’s three part series, “Connected communities: Creating a competitive supply chain advantage,” Deloitte outlined success factors that can drive the movement of goods to meet the increased demands of tomorrow.

Key findings from Deloitte’s report on holistic decision making include:

• Data is king. Connected analytics are helping manage the flow of goods, from improving medical supply chains to aiding in intelligent fleet management. In fact, most executives (80%) reported seeing the value of data-driven holistic decision-making capabilities, and say they are investing or planning to invest.
• The growing digital divide. Half (50%) of large, integrated players are digitalizing the value chain and looking to new data sources for insights. However, only 13% of smaller sized players are doing so.
• Next-gen adoption has a way to go. While AI and machine learning are among key enablers that help optimize critical supply chain functions, only 40% are actively using it, signifying that adoption of these cognitive technologies is still in the early stages.
• Data complexity requires new solutions. As data sets grow in complexity, Deloitte found companies are seeking alternative data management solutions. More than one third (38%) are focusing on cloud and security solutions to prepare for the added cyber risks.

As noted in SCMR late last year, Deloitte researchers found that not only are this year’s consumers spending more time at home, they’re shopping from home as well.

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