Duncan Grewcock, CEO EV Cargo Technology
The pandemic has now changed the way we all view supply chains. Traditionally a function that buzzed in the background almost unnoticed, supply chains are now constantly in the media spotlight, with disruption affecting people’s daily lives in tangible ways.
Businesses around the world have refocused their attention on solving the seemingly unprecedented challenges caused by supply chain disruptions.
But were these challenges one-time and is the current review of supply chains only temporary? The short answer is no. Experts say the pandemic has amplified the challenges that preceded it, and the current level of rapidly evolving disruption is here to stay.
Some of these challenges include unreliable lead times, scarcity of raw materials, rising transportation costs, labor shortages, and highly fluctuating consumer demand. Supply chain managers have struggled to find solutions to these challenges while trying to manage efficient operations in a landscape where disruption has become the norm, not the exception.
So what solutions are organizations implementing to navigate the new normal? Several industry surveys and reports show that companies are investing heavily in supply chain technology as the answer to the problem, with a focus on increased visibility becoming their top priority. Industry statistics show that not only were significant investments triggered at the start of the pandemic, but there are also sustained investments in supply chain technology planned for years to come.
But what areas of supply chain technology are companies investing in? Supply chain leaders focus on three key areas to future-proof their businesses and gain competitive advantage.
First, they seek to enable flexibility and resilience through end-to-end, real-time supply chain visibility. This is what some call dynamic visibility, which revolves around proactive management of live shipments and the right visibility toolkit to support the best possible decision making throughout the lifecycle. of an expedition.
Second, enterprises are looking to review and reset their networks from a strategic perspective: an exercise now supported by scenario modeling technology. This means taking a step back from the day-to-day to see the big picture and rethink the optimal flow of goods according to their different priority areas. In some industries, for example, digital twins are used to test stress scenarios in a virtual “copy” of their supply chain.
And third, supply chain leaders are leveraging new technologies to achieve their increasingly important sustainability goals. There are a plethora of opportunities where supply chain technology can drive ESG gains, with examples such as ethical sourcing, packaging compliance, or carbon emissions tracking software.
At EV Cargo, we have 30 years of experience developing supply chain management software and are leading the digital transformation through our vision to turn logistics into a technology industry. As part of this journey, we are committed to partnering with our customers to help them navigate the new normal supported by our technology. To realize our vision, we are developing a series of new-to-market supply chain products that will be an integral part of our software offering.
Several key pillars underpin the vision of our new product offering. We believe that for organizations to gain true end-to-end visibility, there is a need to extend supply chain visibility further upstream beyond traditional purchase order management.
This means that sourcing and shipping management processes no longer have to be managed separately in silos, as this leads to a well-known problem in the industry: fragmented visibility across the entire supply chain. Upstream and downstream visibility must be easily accessible and manageable through a transparent platform to provide a single source-to-consumer solution.
At EV Cargo, we are uniquely positioned to fill this gap with the breadth of our existing software offering focused on both upstream and downstream processes and our experience in managing supply chains for the most major global brands.
Another main pillar of our product vision is the continuous evaluation of key dates through data enrichment and intelligence. Traditional supply chain visibility is centered around managing fixed dates that rely on a limited number of data sources. By enriching data with external variable sources and applying intelligent data-driven insights, customers are equipped with the right tools to support optimal decision-making for their business.
EV Cargo’s ambition is to always ensure that we put our customers in control, and we want to go further by providing the next level of data intelligence that will help supply chain leaders develop and maintain a lean, cost-effective and agile supply chain.
As the world continues to navigate the new normal, EV Cargo’s new technology offering will transform our customers’ supply chains, helping them to become flexible, resilient and adaptable to a rapidly changing landscape, no matter what. ‘coming.
This is a sponsored article, written by Duncan Grewcock, CEO of EV Cargo Technology
