Technology integration into SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The pandemic has disrupted the supply chain management process across industries, and the situation is only expected to worsen. The pandemic-induced shift in buyers’ and sellers’ preferences towards digital methods has driven growth in supply chain-related technologies. A number of companies are reported to be modifying their supply chain capabilities to maintain operations amid this crisis and ensure growth.
• Key participants are now focusing on integrating smart solutions with supply chain management to optimise the process and gain a competitive advantage. These smart solutions have a wide range of applicability across supply chain processes – from planning supply chain projects to delivering the product.
• Smart supply chain solutions are based on emerging technologies, including AI, cloud, blockchain, and IoT, which are often explored through technology research services. Implementing these solutions in supply chain processes yields several benefits, including cost efficiencies and the ability to manage governance and compliance, avoid delay, and prevent fraudulent activity.

Key Takeaways

• Cloud adoption in supply chain management helps optimise the process by integrating data from various sources and analysing it to identify risks and opportunities, enhancing collaboration among related parties via connected systems and improving inventory management.
• IoT collects data from several devices, including internal company sensors and connected products with end users, to provide supply chain managers with an understanding of consumer requirements and expectations.
• AI has gained significant popularity for making the entire supply chain management process simpler and more accurate. It reduces the staff requirement, critical for companies wanting to reduce costs and errors.
• Blockchain technology adoption is evolving in supply chain management. It helps gain end-to-end visibility and decentralised information and achieve accuracy in processes, reducing the need for invoice auditing programmes.

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