LACK OF SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION HINDERS REVENUE CAPTURE

Since the pandemic hit, “supply chain” has become more of a mainstream topic than ever before. However, much of the conversation has been around securing supplies of pharmaceuticals or key minerals, or about greening up supply chains through lower carbon footprints.??

Indeed, these very topics are what’s on the table for when the United States and members of the European Union Trade & Technology Council meet in Pittsburgh next week.?

But the economic impact of underperforming supply chains goes well beyond such “national security” subjects. It severely impacts individual businesses and the ecosystems they’re a part of.??Which means manufacturers, logistics & transportation companies, wholesale distributors, retailers, etc. – businesses of all stripes – are facing major challenges that impact their revenue, profitability, and business relationships across the board.??And it’s important for business leaders to understand the root causes in order to fix it.?

In my view, it is the lack of supply chain agility and visibility due to poor integrations that’s causing severe economic impact to organizations because they are not able to effectively transform themselves digitally in a world in which eCommerce and the increasingly popular direct-to-consumer (D2C) business model call for better execution.??Improvement at the fundamental level of integration tech is essential -- for not just survival but also to achieve profitable growth.

That said, the single most important “high impact” initiative that executives can undertake now in today’s eCommerce-driven economy is to launch an ecosystem integration initiative to make their supply chain execution processes and systems dynamic, flexible, and resilient.??In this RT Insights article, I lay out three ways in which improved integration can deliver long-term ROI for today’s businesses, by avoiding lost revenue and establishing a technology foundation that will last well into the post-pandemic future.?

As always, I welcome your comments.?