If you look in the mirror, what do you see? An exact, real-time copy, which exists only as a reflection.
Similarly, digital supply chains mirror information and processes virtually. And using such data-based models empowers supply chain professionals to optimize supply chain performance. Let’s explore:
1. What is a digital supply chain?
Digital supply chains employ digital technologies to design, manage, and control supply chains, ideally from end-to-end. This includes all the steps needed, from sourcing materials, through to manufacturing and distributing products to customers.
Digital technologies enable companies to more efficiently manage their supply chains, and to regulate production and delivery. By providing data on the source of materials or the progress of a shipment, digital supply chains also make greater visibility possible. Such visibility is important for cost control, but also increasingly significant for transparency requirements.
2. Traditional vs digital supply chains
Traditional supply chains are characterized as a linear process, where the steps follow one another like, well, links in a chain. With digital technologies, on the other hand, information flows in multiple directions, including from customers back to manufacturers. Digital supply chains combine traditional processes with digitization, but go a whole lot farther.
But first, let’s look at the language of digital supply chains. The terms digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation are similar. Usually they are used to differentiate between data, processes, and strategic operating models:
- Digitization: Converting information into digital form. In other words, data.
- Digitalization: business activities around digital technologies. The focus here is on processes.
- Digital Transformation: Developing strategies that include digitization and digitalization. Using digital technologies transforms how businesses operate.
Through supply chain digital transformation, procurement and supply chain professionals can make data-driven analysis and decisions, which in turn, enables them to develop proactive strategies.
3. Managing digital supply chains
Then what is digital supply chain management? It’s managing the entire supply chain, including communication and administration, through digital technologies. Using integrated models and processes that exchange data gathered is sometimes referred to as Supply Chain 4.0.
Supply Chain 4.0 relies on technologies that characterize industry 4.0, including internet of things, big data analysis, automation, and robotics. And, in case you’re wondering, 4.0 refers to four stages in the evolution of manufacturing and industry processes:
- First industrial revolution (development of machines and steam power)
- Second (use of assembly lines and mass production)
- Third (introduction of electronics, IT, and automation)
- Fourth (growth of virtual, interconnected, and “smart” devices and processes)
Similarly, Logistics 4.0 employs digitization of information (by using bar codes on packaging, for example) and digitalization of processes (such as automated sorting and wireless tracking). All of these technologies improve efficiency and optimize processes in supply chains.
4. Risks of digital supply chains
As with all things digital, digital supply chains come with risks. The most prominent are lapses in data security and the risk of cyberattacks. Suppliers who access your system through online platforms for global tenders may unknowingly open the door to cybercriminals. And software becomes outdated, users become careless, or threat actors more aggressive.
Being a leader or early adopter of a new technology can be risky, of course, but it provides a wealth of benefits. Among these are gaining access to data and an innovation mindset. Not adopting new technology is risky, as well. Manual processes are time-consuming, labor intensive, and difficult to scale.
By not digitalizing supply chain processes, businesses miss out on efficiency gains, for example. And speaking of risks, managing supply chain risk efficiently relies on automating processes and systems through a cloud-based solution powered by artificial intelligence.
5. The future of digital supply chain risk management
Through automation and digitalization you can monitor, identify, assess, and mitigate supply chain risk. Digital supply chain risk management reduces time-to-decision and increases business agility. It contributes to better collaboration internally, and with business partners. The future of digital supply chain risk management is here today. Here are a few things a digital solution can do:
- Create a digital twin. By mirroring your supply chain on a world map, it lets you immediately identify all risk objects (suppliers, sub-tiers, transport hubs, your company sites), and dependencies.
- Rely on the power of artificial intelligence. You receive automated alerts in real time, and only data that is relevant to you without the “noise.”
- Gain sub-tier visibility and collaborate with suppliers. Get transparency to detect n-tier threats. Encourage partners to share information and collaborate on a common platform.
Advanced digital capabilities make your risk management more comprehensive:
- Use instantly available risk scores. These enable strategic decisions such as risk management integrated into supplier evaluation, or risk assessment and due diligence prior to supplier onboarding.
- Allows you to combine risk intelligence and assessments. With digital processes, you automate threat collection, and combine automatically populated risk scorecards with supplier risk assessments.
- Employ advanced analytics and mitigation tools. This allows you to analyze risk impact and create plans in advance. Have standardized formats for risk data to make reporting easier and more efficient.
About riskmethods
riskmethods empowers businesses with a solution to identify, assess and mitigate supply chain risk. By using artificial intelligence, we help you automate and accelerate threat detection, enabling you to gain competitive advantage with a well-managed approach to meeting customer demands, protecting reputation and reducing total cost of risk.
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