There’s no shortage of supply chain guidance on the internet as stakeholders deal with a steady stream of disruptions. What’s the common theme across almost all of this guidance? Visibility. Other factors, like operational efficiency, are important, but there’s near unanimous agreement that BCOs, LSPs, and others will be completely lost in the modern supply chain landscape without establishing visibility.
We’ve pulled out a selection of articles and their takes on visibility in this week’s Cargologik newsletter. Continue reading to learn more about visibility in the supply chain and what it can do for your organization. Get in touch with us to learn more about Cargologik’s platform, which provides visibility and a range of other features (like document management).
Balancing the Modern Supply Chain Equation
Bain & Company recently wrote about how CEOs today can balance the modern supply chain equation. Predictably, the piece mentions the importance of visibility, specifically that CEOs need “more visibility into the whole chain.” The piece explains that visibility is more achievable now than ever thanks to “better data, digital tools, and relationships with suppliers and partners.”
With visibility in place, CEOs enjoy a range of benefits, including early insight into emerging risks and disruptions, the ability to adapt to customer needs, better sustainability outcomes, and informed decision-making in general.
Fragmented supply chains and supply chain technology can undermine the ability to pipe visibility information and data where it needs to go. This article by Bain & Company notes that it’s essential to feed “data into advanced software models and artificial intelligence technologies” to reap the total rewards of having visibility in place. This is more difficult to do in fragmented supply chains.
Effective Supply Chain Management Requires Adaptability
The Bain & Company article (linked above) mentioned adaptability, which also was a key theme in a recent article from Food Engineering Mag. The article is written specifically for food and beverage retailers, but the key messages are applicable across a range of industries. The bottom line: Adaptability is non-negotiable in an age when supply chain disruptions are the norm. Solutions for adaptability outlined in the article include:
- Diverse sourcing and logistics strategies
- Digital supply chain solutions (like real-time tracking)
- Strong relationships with suppliers and logistics partners
The article goes big on the concept of multi-enterprise supply chain platforms that “allow companies to swiftly respond to these challenges,” like weather disruptions, geopolitical issues, etc. At Cargologik, we couldn’t agree more. There’s an urgent need for organizations across the global supply chain to adopt single-source-of-truth platforms that empower adaptability.
The Global Supply Chain Turns Political
Expect the global supply chain to become more of a political and national security issue in the coming months and years, according to S&P Global. It’s now widely accepted that supply chain policies can accelerate economic growth, and local policy implementation is essential to global geopolitics.
As this shift occurs, it’s possible that BCOs, LSPs, and others across the supply chain will face a growing list of regulations to comply with. Visibility, again, is vital in tracking supply chain activities so that organizations can ensure compliance with regulations.
The 4 Pillars of Supply Chain Resiliency
Maritime shipping giant Maersk recently wrote about building supply chain resilience, specifically calling out the results that supply chain resilience can deliver, including:
- The ability to avoid and manage disruptions
- Strong partner collaboration and improved customer services
- Cost optimization across all levels to support profitability
- Faster and cheaper recoveries driven by flexibility and responsiveness
Maersk also listed out four pillars of supply chain resiliency — with visibility in the lead spot. It’s difficult to find any expert article on how to improve supply chain management without running into a mention of visibility.
Your Supply Chain To-Do List for 2024
Reinforcing this week’s visibility theme, Supply Chain Brain published a supply chain to-do list for 2024. In addition to resiliency, the embrace of artificial intelligence, and sustainability compliance, the list includes visibility as a key to creating better connectivity.
Don’t let 2025 begin with visibility remaining on your to-do list. We’re seeing that almost every expert in the supply chain space recommends visibility as essential to success in 2024 and beyond.
Get Started With Cargologik for Orchestration and Visibility
At Cargologik, our supply chain orchestration platform delivers the supply chain visibility your organization needs, plus a host of other key features. Experts are recommending supply chain visibility, and stakeholders are scrambling to get it in place. If you wait until the next big disruption, it will be too late to have the level of visibility needed to help your organization navigate through the event.
If you’re ready for better supply chain orchestration and visibility, get started with Cargologik now.
