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Supply chain digitization involves, in the first place, converting data into formats that can be used across processes, enterprises, and supply chains, eliminating the error prone manual processes of reentering and translating data. Data standardization has the potential to transform supply chain operations by providing vertical connectivity within individual supply chain components and horizontal connectivity across different silos, enabling integrated business planning and end-to-end visibility. Digitization also promotes data-based decision making processes, so that managers don’t have to rely as much on their intuition and experience. The next step beyond standardizing data is to automate decision making and to drive insights from the data, moving beyond data and towards intelligence, and using information to anticipate supply chain problems and solutions.
A major challenge facing organizations pursuing supply chain digitization is that the effort requires partners to move forward simultaneously. Some organizations are still reluctant to share data, even with partners, thinking they might compromise proprietary information or a competitive advantage. But the refusal to share information outside the organization can hamper supply chain optimization — and the benefits of sharing information with supply chain partners often outweighs the risks of giving up some data privacy. Ultimately, supply chain digitization seeks to increase transparency and minimize the fog of supply chain intelligence, and that requires consolidating, aggregating, and conflating disparate sources of data into a more cohesive and manageable body of intelligence that all supply chain partners can use.
Digitized supply chains are already seeing benefits in the form of improving their ability to respond to disruptions. Other benefits include greater responsiveness and resilience and better customer service and loyalty. The continued application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to supply chain digitization efforts will ultimately enable the holy grail of the autonomous supply chain. How? Read on to find out.
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