In a volatile world, marked by health, geopolitical, energy and climate crises, companies
seek to better predict in order to guarantee the good performance of their operations, improve
their resilience and thus ensure their sustainability. Among the activities most affected by
companies is the management of the supply chain, or supply chain: the various breaks on the
shelves will have had the merit of making the general public aware of its highly strategic
aspect.

To do this, many companies are looking to digitize processes to allow better tracking of
orders, deliveries and stocks. It can also help to reduce errors and delays and thus generate
savings for the company. In addition, digitalization can facilitate collaboration with suppliers
and business partners, which can improve the quality and reliability of supply, and ultimately
ensure that end consumers do not experience any disruption.
Finally, digitalization can lead to a better understanding of customer needs and
preferences, which can improve customer satisfaction and business profitability.
Thus, a “digitalization race” has begun and, in this race, the largest companies, endowed
with the best financial, human and technological resources, seem at first glance to be the best
placed.

Top 3 challenges
First of all, the lack of integration of supply chain actors appears to be the most
important challenge. Global tracking of the various entities that make up the supply chain,
from supplier’s supplier to customer’s customer, can bring various benefits: a unified and
comprehensive view of inventory across the entire supply chain, integration of purchase by
end customers to improve the offer of products and services to customers, or even to
personalize it, etc.

Conversely, the lack of integration of supply chain actors can prevent better adoption
of digital tools. Indeed, this pre-existing difficulty in sharing information can make
digitalization useless in the eyes of decision-makers.

Then, the lack of organization to implement this new digital tool takes second place.
The adoption of new digital tools is a complex process. In addition, it is often necessary to
adopt several tools simultaneously. For example, there is no point in affixing smart sensors to
products if there are no means of communicating with these sensors!
It will therefore be necessary to install a wifi, Bluetooth or even radio frequency
network… And there is no point in setting up communication networks with intelligent sensors
if there are no data storage tools such as a cloud. As a result, employees and managers,
turned upside down in their daily lives, can resist the use of new technologies. It then
becomes necessary to consider organizational management as essential in the digital
transformation process.

Finally, in third position is the lack of knowledge, training and skills. Under-qualified
employees are indeed considered a major obstacle to the digitalization of supply chains. With
the importance of “data” management, companies need a specific and more qualified
workforce than in the past.
However, some companies admit that they do not have the necessary expertise and
the situation of “talent shortage” in supply chain management only worsens the situation.
Thus, improving the skills of employees, not only through recruitment but also through
continuous training, is essential to realize the full potential of the digitalization of the supply
chain.
Source: The Conversation, Published: January 16, 2023