Supply Chain Digital Maturity: A Practical Assessment

As digital platforms disrupt industries and revolutionize others, the changes are far-reaching. The supply chain has been reimagined at every link, from how companies communicate within, how they interact with one another, and how goods are moved and which strategies are used to do so. When all of these things are taken into account, you can begin to assess the digital maturity of your supply chain and make changes as needed in order to stay competitive. In this blog post, we'll explore how to assess the digital maturity of your supply chain and the steps you can take to stay competitive.

With the impact of past global crises, e-commerce is up across industries, and with that increased volume comes increased expectations for speed, quality, and level of service. For supply chains to compete in this increasingly digital era, you'll need:

• Real-time connectivity
• Reactivity
• Flexibility
• Greater end-to-end visibility
• Data-driven anticipation of demands

You need to assess the digital maturity of your supply chain regularly

Your business may have adopted technology to increase functional capabilities and boost communication in certain areas, but keeping up with the latest innovations can prove difficult if you’re not sure where to start. Most businesses struggle when it comes to the agility required to adapt to new types of technology. Traditional integration software is a significant investment, can have long update cycles, can be a pain to implement, and can cause temporary shutdowns while being installed. This means many businesses are overly cautious when it comes to replacing legacy software or making the digital upgrades that are actually necessary to keep them current and competitive, and will ultimately increase efficiency and lower costs.

As the industry continues to move forward, and supply chain technologies continue to advance, it has become more and more difficult for outdated technologies to keep up with the increased volumes and growing shopper expectations driven by major e-commerce retailers. Supply chain digitalization has ultimately created an entirely new business model—one where visibility, connectivity in real-time, and data-driven anticipation are the baseline expectations for your operations.

Making the transition

Making the transition doesn’t have to happen all at once, but there are a variety of solutions available that can ease the process. Working with a third-party logistics partner can be a huge advantage. 3PL companies tend to stay abreast of the latest and most innovative supply chain technologies and can help you to assess where the gaps in your business's digital maturity lie. A 3PL will be able to loop your company into the visibility and real-time connectivity your company needs to stay future-forward.

As retailers make the transition from viewing the store as the center of their business to viewing the customer as the center, they are making changes that increase their ability to meet customer needs where they are. This requires supply chain visibility, and using digital information gathered to turn insights into action.

Manual processes, still used by many shippers, can cost valuable time and money. In fact, while a company that still relies on phone calls, emails, faxes, and Excel spreadsheets to track containers can take several days to identify a product location, companies that utilize real-time tracking technology are able to locate a product at any given time nearly instantly. The process of tracking is not new, but just by adding a digital tracking device and monitoring system into the mix the change in efficiency and volume of information available is transformative.

Increase your end-to-end visibility

The more you view your entire supply chain as an extension of your business, the more competitive you become in the modern market.

Digital maturity is all about connectivity and integration, from within the four walls of your business and extending outward into the relationships and web of your entire supply chain. In a world of complex, global, and highly distributed supply chains, success depends on:

• An entire network of technologies
• Strong communication capabilities
• Improved visibility across partners
• A single platform for all data

Improving visibility and communication technologies is the key to a mature and successful supply chain, and bringing all of the data available onto a single platform is the shortest route to get there. At this level, you are able to network with suppliers and trading partners and collaborate more clearly and cleanly within your supply chain.

With true end-to-end supply chain visibility, you gain:

• Opportunities to constantly streamline and improve
• Ability to react quickly to any issues that arise
• Easier collaboration with partners
• More readily visible demand patterns
• Better demand planning
• Access to greater volumes of data

With the greatest degree of digital maturity comes the best functionality and the ability to turn insights into actions that save money, increase sales volume, and make better decisions across the board.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, if you want your business to perform at peak capability, assessing the digital maturity of your supply chain is an important factor in determining where you stand. Furthermore, partnering with a 3PL or 4PL that has technology solutions that streamline this process is a quick route to implementing the changes that you may need to accelerate your supply chain’s digital maturity and move your business forward faster.