The D Word...

Saturday was my 62nd birthday. When I look in the mirror, I question, "What happened to my younger self?" Aging is better than the alternatives, but I think we all agree that it is tough.

Today, I have 110,000 followers on Linkedin. I am humbled by the support. Over 3100 sent me birthday well wishes. My inbox was flooded with goodwill. It was very heartening. Thanks!

Despite all of my grammatical errors and mistakes, my LinkedIn following continues to grow; and due to social networks, my birthday is not the same. My old boss from 18 years ago always writes me a heart-felt message while old friends send me personal notes. 

So, as I blow-out my candles, I have a birthday wish for my readers. As an avid history of history, I have learned that we as human beings make the same mistakes over-and-over again. Let me tell you a story, and then I will share my wish.

My Story

Last week, I attended a large technology conference in a massive, impersonal hotel. Each day, I walked to cover the event--over 12,000 steps. As I sat down in the opening key note session and kicked-off my shoes, the CEO said, "We live in a world of extreme memory, connectivity and automation." I shook my head, and agreed "Yes," I waited for more. In his next sentence, he said, "Let's welcome the digital world." I listened intently to hear how the company defined digital. Yet, there was no definition. Like many conventions that I attend, it was all about digital, but there was no definition or substance to the speech. Instead, it was a cutsie marketing message delivered by a well-intended CEO. I say, "ENOUGH!" Can we avoid the D World (digital world) if we cannot walk the talk that spins from the stage?

I remember 2000-2003 when we were in love with the "e-word" (ecommerce). During this time, we plastered "e" on marketing literature and powerpoints seemingly everywhere. Cool people spoke the language of e. Today, people are trying to be cool by speaking the language of d. (Digital transformation.)

I define digital as machine to machine automation and machine to human insights to drive action. It is about redefining the atoms and electrons of the supply chain. It is about social listening and a new sense of purpose. Technology is an enabler. However, for me, it is about more than cloud-based software solutions, new platforms for analytics, 3-D printing and robotics.  I believe that it is about the confluence of multiple technologies to define new business processes. I think that it is about the redefinition of value and the fueling of new era of social good. Start-ups like Uber (a platform for ride sharing), 3-D printing of human organs to avoid the ineffective process of organ donations,  and Amyris (bioengineering of yeast to produce custom molecules) are challenging process definitions.  The list could go on and on... I will be sad if we try to use new technologies to automate yesterday's processes. I am disheartened when we paste the "D Word" all over today's technology presentations.

My Take

No doubt about it, sharks are in the water. Venture capitalists are filling up my voice mail box. With the current consolidation in the market, the venture capitalists are coming back to the market. My field supply chain is not sexy. For years, it evolved slowly primarily driven by engineers and operations professionals. Today, it is gaining attention. We are experiencing a disruption. When the venture capitalists call me, this is what I say.

• Cognitive Learning Is Here. It is Real. It is time for IBM's Watson to do more than play chess. Competition is heating up. In the last month, four companies have launched cognitive learning platforms. Cognitive learning enables us to answer the questions that we do not know to ask. 
• Multi-Tenant Architectures Are Evolving. In the last decade, we chased the dream of the tightly integrated supply chain tightly coupled to an ERP backbone. Today, leaders are focusing on the building and defining of multi-tenant architectures with many-to-many architectures. This will fuel value in networks. 
• New forms of Analytics Offer Great Promise.  One of the barriers of today's supply chain leader is getting to data. Unstructured data (Sentiment Mining) enables listening while Hadoop and open source code offers great promise. We are slowly defining architectures for streaming data, and supply chain sensing.

My Request.

So what is my birthday request? It is simple. Please be open to new outcomes to be defined through the use of innovative technologies. I believe supply chain builds economies and improves the planet. Please don't stunt the potential by plastering the "D Word" in marketing materials or limiting the rate of process innovation by automating old processes using better memory and connectivity. Question the status quo. Push for more. 

What do you think? Thanks again for the birthday wishes. I wish each of you a healthy and happy year as well. 

 About the Author:

Lora Cecere is the Founder of Supply Chain Insights. She is trying to redefine the industry analyst model to make it friendlier and more useful for supply chain leaders. Lora has written the books Supply Chain Metrics That Matter and Bricks Matter, and is currently working on her third book, Leadership Matters. She also actively blogs on her Supply Chain Insights website, at the Supply Chain Shaman blog, and for Forbes. When not writing or running her company, Lora is training for a triathlon, taking classes for her DBA degree in research, knitting and quilting for her new granddaughter, and doing tendu(s) and Dégagé(s) at the ballet barre. Lora thinks that we are never too old to learn or to push for excellence.