Digital Technologies for Supply Chain Agility

Companies nowadays place a premium on supply chain management and information sharing. As a result, companies strive to attain supply chain agility to preserve a competitive advantage in a turbulent business climate. The ability of a company’s supply chain to detect and respond to market change in a timely manner is known as agility. At both an operational and structural level, supply chain agility appears to be a basic competency of supply chain management. Operational agility is the capacity of a supply chain to adjust quickly to changing conditions and customer demands. This article discusses how digital technologies such as Cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and Internet of Things capabilities can help to alter the supply chain to be more agile.

Cloud Computing Technologies

When assessing the benefits of cloud computing, many businesses still think about cost savings. True, cloud computing saves money for businesses. A company can profit from the economies of scale of thousands of customers while laying off a highly customized solution and the costly maintenance it requires in favor of nimble, best-in-class prebuilt components managed by a service provider by hosting apps in the public cloud. However, cost savings are only the start.

Cloud computing helps with speed, agility, size, and visibility. Companies who use cloud computing get the capacity to rapidly scale up or down the amount of computing resources they require, as well as reducing the time and cost of developing and deploying new applications. For faster and more informed decision-making, the capacity to interface with a new set of players and visibility across operations and the full value chain is essential. In addition, using cloud computing is a tremendous enabler of innovation. This technology provides the foundation for affordable, unlimited access to cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that would otherwise be beyond of a company’s reach, with the major cloud providers investing billions of dollars in new services every year. Finally, when it comes to the supply chain, cloud computing plays a critical role in accountability and sustainability. Cloud computing and efficient data computing enable organizations adopt innovative technologies more quickly, reducing the supply chain’s environmental imprint and enhancing resource efficiency while also increasing regulatory compliance and risk reduction.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

AI and ML have progressed to the point where open-source methods are now readily available. Big Data has grown to be big and is now used to feed AI and machine learning algorithms to extract value. Cloud computing currently offers nearly limitless data storage and processing power. Innovative SAAS platforms are bringing technology to most enterprises in an integrated, on-demand, and cost-effective manner. Process automation, probabilistic planning, and cognitive automation at scale for large multinational businesses are becoming a reality. This lays a new platform on which AI may enhance and automate knowledge workers while also increasing supply chain agility.