Following on from the blog “Driving Fundamental change in Supply Chain Effectiveness” where I discussed the second of the six key segments in supply chain effectiveness, Vendor Selection & Engagement, I am now going to share my experience on the third of the six segments.
Automated System Integration
Together with my BSc in Information Technology and my practical experience, gained over a lifetime in business management roles, I have learned that advances in automated data sharing and analysis in real-time is the new and emerging solution to significantly transform how different supply chain systems bring creativity and velocity to sound business decision making.
Collaboration again is key; sharing of confidential information in such a competitive landscape is frowned upon but without clear and transparent disclosure of patterns and trends I suggest that effective decision-making is significantly undermined. Supply chain reaction to either turn-on or turn-off critical equipment supply is at the heart of business success.
Real-time visibility to demand fluctuation, utilizing smart intelligent systems to generate operational messages that are easily understood and receive management approval for implementation, are not at all common-place. Yes, many individual systems implemented as stand alone solutions have been used to varying degrees of success but the benefits of an integrated solution across many of these systems removes significant “time to intelligence”, removes data errors driven off manual intervention and enables that critical accurate decision making.
Yes, it is easy to write that aspiration, it is somewhat more challenging to achieve implementation but with a collaborative approach and with trust supported by legal controls I suggest the benefits greatly outweigh the risks and should be advanced where possible.