Every day we read the analysts’ reports regarding how technology is disrupting Supply Chain and Logistics and the competitive advantage that can be realised. The question is…. how do these analyst reports translate into real world organisations – is it possible?
Yes, it’s possible, but is comes with some effort….
Having been at the forefront of innovation and technology across Supply Chain and Logistics for nearly 20 years, I believe success comes from a paradigm shift in the industry to unlock ecosystem collaboration to harness the true value of digital supply chains.
This paradigm shift must also move the discussion away from the technology, and back to the business- albeit with DX the discussion will first ask…. what business are we in? (a topic for my next blog).
Assuming you accept these guiding principles of collaboration there are four key building blocks for any organisation to consider:
- Culture; this industry has always been challenging when it comes to technology led change, and with good reason. We must recognise that it is the human asset for which industry has been built on, and there is a resistance to technology due to fear of job security, and/or lack of technological skills. As digital leaders, it is our responsibility to educate and create trust, and think more innovatively around how we can use technology like IoT and Augmented Reality to harness the vast physical assets in industry, rather than putting the onus on people that don’t want it.
- Foundational Excellence; technology debt is high in this industry which has often been seen as a blocker. In todays’ climate however, it is possible to bring modern technology into the business both rapidly and with excellence due to cloud based TMS and WMS, often ready out of the box. Organisations should be cautious acquiring solutions that require custom development and administration, as this will burden the ability to collaborate easily across the ecosystem, and to rapidly serve value added solutions to customers and partners.
- Maximise Collaboration: True business value is driven from being able to easily integrate with the ecosystem. Selecting platforms that enable modern interoperability and identity management is crucial to the foundations of digital transformation. Getting these foundations in place, albeit they may be integrated back to legacy solutions today, will become the fabric of your digital transformation.
- Customer Led and Strategy Aligned: Digital Transformation must be a business led program. If a digital use case is not aligned to the strategy and does not have customer value…. then don’t do it! This will require more innovative thinking around business cases, which will encourage well designed digital products and services. For example, safety might be argued as an internal benefit, however, having a well communicated, measurable safety tick will promote customer acquisition and stickiness – not withstanding safety comes as a value-added benefit to process automation which has tangible benefits to customers and financials.
Make sure you build the right IT, before you build IT!
Whilst these building blocks for Digital Transformation are being realised, the new transformational services and products can also be recognised in tandem that leverage emerging and prevailing technologies like IoT, AI, Augmented Reality, Block Chain across a connected supply chain – this will be truly transformational.
Trust me, it is possible to achieve what the analysts predict, and in doing so the upside potential can be vast. To embrace this future, the place to start is recognising this paradigm shift as an organisation and ensuring you have a new type of talent in your business to lead the digital business strategy – a strategist, technologist and culturist. It is also important to ensure your digital leader is part of the executive leadership team of the organisation, reporting to your CEO.
Above all, remember we are at a truly amazing time in history and technology is shaping the world. It is what makes us human that will be the most desirable asset in industry.
Lauren Salisbury
Global Mind, Kiwi Heart
#DX #DigitalTransformation #ConnectedLogistics #SmartLogistics