Building strong supply chains: Predictions from Accenture

Vivek Luthra, Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting, Supply Chain & Operations and Industry X, Growth Markets at Accenture, shares his insights on supply chains of the future.

1.      The accelerating pace of digital transformation has placed greater strategic emphasis on the adoption of emerging technology

Accenture’s research has revealed that 64% of supply chain executives believe the pace of digital transformation for their organisation is accelerating, and 81% agreeing they are facing technological changes at unprecedented speed and scale.

As a result of the rapid digital transformation, businesses will be prioritising the idea of learning from the future, by increasing their investments in data, AI and digital twin technologies to prepare for risks and give them greater confidence. In fact, 50% of supply chain organisations are expected to invest in applications that support artificial intelligence and advanced analytics capabilities by 2024.

2.      Real-time visibility: The key to better management of the end-to-end supply chain

While cold chain shipping has always presented a challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for visibility at every node along the chain.

COVID-19 caused significant disruption and delays across the supply chain, and customers often had little visibility on the status of their orders and shipments, leading to frustration.

As we head into the major shopping seasons across the region, supply chain visibility is key to improving a company’s overall customer experience, preventing issues related to stock shortages and order backlogs. However, supply chain leaders must be able to identify the right technology partner.

3.      Putting people first: Building the future supply chain workforce

Seismic shifts are rocking the supply chain industry and its workforce. With increasing digitisation and automation, new skills will be needed, but only 27% of supply chain leaders agree that their function has all the talent needed to meet current supply chain performance requirements.

Supply chain roles are set to evolve from a focus on executing manual tasks to one of monitoring, interpreting, and guiding the work of intelligent machines

Businesses have to prepare their supply chain workforce by helping them develop new skills at scale, using AI and analytics, while also engaging and involving employees in initiatives from the start.