Businesses around the world and across all industries remain in a growth mindset despite many of the setbacks in recent months. These growth-focused businesses are planning to use technology to reach their objectives — and there’s a new report that indicates supply chain excellence is one of the best places to start for companies that want to scale.
Read about the importance of supply chain excellence in the first note below in this week’s edition of the Cargologik newsletter. Continue reading for more of the latest from around the supply chain and logistics space, and get in touch with us if you’d like to explore how a single-source-of-truth supply chain orchestration platform could benefit your business.
Supply Chain Excellence: The Secret to Growth
A recently conducted Industry Week White Paper poll indicates that 75% of midsize businesses are looking to expand, and 90% are using technology to accelerate that growth. A new Forbes article highlights these findings, noting that “supply chain excellence” is a huge component in firms achieving their growth targets.
In today’s world, rife with disruptions and general volatility, mastering the supply chain is a fast path to creating a competitive advantage. In pursuit of supply chain resilience, organizations are exploring alternative sourcing strategies, optimizing inventory processes, and improving visibility and collaboration with partners. At Cargologik, we sum many of these supply chain-related initiatives into the category of “orchestration,” where technology plays a key role.
Making Trade-Offs in Today’s Complex Supply Chain
Supply Chain Management Review recently wrote about the need to make complex trade-offs to create a high-performing supply chain. The article shares a portion of a Bain & Company report, noting that the “traditional formula that governed supply chain decisions no longer suffices” and that modern priorities include reducing “costs, optimizing inventory, improving service and quality, and driving growth.”
So, where do the trade-offs come in? Surveys indicate that, in today’s world, some firms are OK with increasing flexibility, resilience, speed, and sustainability at the expense of reducing costs, improving customer service, and achieving higher levels of quality.
The Executive Role Impacted By the Red Sea
Global Finance connects the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea, where Houthi rebels continue to fire missiles at cargo ships, to the work of CFOs in organizations worldwide. Supply chain disruptions concentrated in specific areas can have global implications if they persist.
We’re certainly seeing that with the Red Sea, where the ongoing disruption is leading to price increases that are trickling down all the way to consumers. CFOs play a significant role in how to handle this crisis financially, deciding what costs can be absorbed by organizations and what costs must be passed on to customers.
Finding Opportunities Within Supply Chain Disruptions
Opportunities can emerge from any crisis, and Talking Logistics recently wrote about seizing business opportunities amid today’s supply chain challenges. Drought conditions around the Panama Canal, coupled with the missile attacks in the Red Sea, have led to severe delays, higher costs, and unpredictable shipping timelines. The opportunity presented during this challenging time is that of building greater resilience and agility in operations. Resilience and agility in operations help create efficiency and better customer experiences.
A Look at the Latest Disruptions Worldwide
The Panama Canal and the Red Sea capture the bulk of disruption-related supply chain headlines today. But there are other disruptions occurring on a regular basis that can have an impact on BCOs and the carriers and LSPs that serve them. For example, Denmark was forced to close a busy shipping lane due to a malfunctioning missile launcher on one of its navy’s ships. An earthquake in Taiwan also posed a supply chain threat by disrupting the production of tech components like display panels and semiconductors.
The global supply chain will never be disruption-free. Forward-thinking BCOs and LSPs are starting to lean on technology that empowers supply chain orchestration in an effort to stay ahead of the curve as disruptions happen.
Finding the Right Supply Chain Technology
Technology is undoubtedly an important part of the conversation around mastering the supply chain and growing your business. But a fragmented network of disparate technologies that don’t communicate with one another can hinder your progress. At Cargologik, we offer a supply chain orchestration platform that handles everything from visibility to document management for BCOs and LSPs that want a single-source-of-truth solution.
Ready to upgrade your supply chain technology? Contact us to learn more about achieving supply chain orchestration through Cargologik.
