Digital Supply Chain Transformation: Visualizing the Possibilities

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the January-February 2019 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

January-February 2019

Truth be told, I was not a Boy Scout, or at least not a very good scout and not for very long. But I think there are some lessons for supply chain managers in the Scout motto: Be prepared. When I Wiki’d it this morning, I found the following: Be prepared, which means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.

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Most, if not all, supply chain managers recognize that a digital revolution is overtaking supply chain management. It is fueled by three major trends.

Big Data. Data is being generated up and down the supply chain by transaction-based monitoring and enterprise systems, such as point of sale, RFID and ERP systems, as well as by unstructured data sources, including clickstreams, camera and surveillance footage, imagery, social media postings, blog/wiki entries and forum discussions.

Advances in computing. Enormous advances in computing power and intelligence are automating Big Data processing and analysis. Computing architectures such as cluster computing, Cloud computing and mobile computing have made storage, retrieval, analysis, sharing and distribution of data faster and cheaper.

Advances in robotics. In combination with advances in hardware and software, robotics and robotic process automation are quickly making the automation of manual and transactional processes cheaper and more reliable.

Because of these advances and the hype surrounding them, many supply chain leaders view digitization as a mandate for competition, yet first steps and an overall strategy are unclear. Important questions include:

1. What is the “digital supply chain” in terms of its definition and core elements?
2. What are the main opportunities and challenges?
3. What are the key enabling technologies?
4. Are we already behind? Where do companies really stand compared to the hype?
5. How do we move forward?

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