In an era defined by disruption, organizations must be able to respond quickly to changing business needs and customer demands. In the past few years alone, a trifecta of events—the pandemic, political turmoil, and natural disasters—have wreaked havoc on the supply and demand equation, challenging organizations to rethink their supply chains so that they might build the visibility and flexibility needed to become more resilient.
A Resilient Supply Chain Built for Competitive Advantage: Report
Supply chains have been thrust into the spotlight recently, and for good reason. Customer expectations have evolved, sustainability is top of mind, and leaders are left navigating economic disruptions with legacy solutions that make it difficult to respond. Amid these challenges is the opportunity to reimagine supply chains to be more agile, connected, and adaptive. Simply put, the status quo is no longer sufficient. In recent years, we’ve seen how fragile existing supply chain networks are; disconnected and disparate systems lead to slow response times and limited visibility to orchestrate and triage disruptions in real time. But it doesn’t have to be this way. According to this new research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 97% of respondents agree that a resilient supply chain positively impacts a company’s bottom line. While it may seem like an overwhelming time to examine existing systems, it’s clear based on the research that strategic leaders are ready to embrace what’s next. This report illustrates where the opportunity lies.
Disruptions Still Plague Supply Chain Operations
These days, customers, investors, and governments are increasing pressure on organizations to demonstrate greater environmental stewardship. By improving strategic sourcing practices, such as repurposing raw materials that might otherwise be scrapped, organizations can reduce waste while meeting the demand for supply chain sustainability. “Anything an organization can do to reduce waste improves sustainability,” says Lisa Anderson, founder of LMA Consulting, a supply chain consultancy based in Claremont, California.
To bridge critical supply chain capability gaps, organizations may want to begin by reimagining their digital infrastructure. Single-purpose solutions can lead to data silos and network issues, preventing supply chain practitioners from making fast and informed decisions as market conditions and customer preferences rapidly evolve.
It’s unsurprising that 82% of survey respondents do not agree that the digital tools their organization uses to manage their supply chain work well and do not need improving, with 67% blatantly disagreeing with this statement. Executives are taking note of these low levels of digital satisfaction; 76% of respondents say their organizations are currently implementing or are in the planning stages of implementing improvements to the digital infrastructure of their supply chain. At the same time, 71% say recent disruptions to the supply chain have caused their organization to rethink the supply chain technology they use. But rethinking supply chain technology and overhauling it are two different things. Replacing legacy systems with modern applications or retrofitting existing solutions with sensors and other advanced capabilities can be time-consuming and costly endeavors.
“Companies are concerned about investing, because some of these technologies and implementations are not necessarily for the faint of heart,” says LMA Consulting’s Anderson. “They’re concerned, but they shouldn’t be. The only way they’ll be successful going forward is to utilize technology.”
As originally posted in Harvard Business Review