Supply Chain Management: Popular Trends To Track

The supply chain has come a long way from being merely about raw material from the supplier’s warehouse to the manufacturing facility. It has now evolved into this vast and complex network of a million different factors that, when working in sync, can help take the company’s business to the next level. However, a slip here and a slip there in the supply chain and its seamless management can lead to catastrophic results for any company. There are multiple ways to get a firm grip on supply chain management, and one of the most critically important ones is via the latest trends.

You see, trends offer insights into prevalent technologies as well as the market’s demands. In addition to that, trends also provide a glimpse into the latest tools and technologies that enable businesses’ growth in the industry and the market in general. And suffice it to say that plenty of new supply chain-related trends have emerged in 2020 — the kinds that are expected to impact and shape the industry’s future for years to come. Take supply chain digitization; for example — it has helped companies eliminate silos and boost transparency across the supply chain.

Listed below are some of the other supply chain trends that you must keep an eye out for.

1. Increased adoption of cloud computing: The evolution of technology has brought the world many incredible tools, including cloud computing. And as this technology’s popularity continues to grow across the board, companies are starting to realize its value to the supply chain. Interestingly, it is available in a plethora of formats, including Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), etc. And via these tools, the supply chain has become substantially more agile, scalable, and affordable.
2. Automation: As companies seek to enhance the success of their supply chain-related efforts, they are expected to rely on automation for their efforts increasingly. And this makes absolute sense, especially considering the boat-load of information that companies deal with daily. Automating the flow of this information will allow executives to make smarter, data-driven decisions. And to enable this, digitization of the supply chain will have to occur ahead of automation or at least simultaneously.
3. Outsourcing: More and more businesses are starting to see value in outsourcing their supply chain, at least parts of it, if not the entire process. Provided there are appropriate systems and procedures in place, outsourcing the supply chain indeed delivers financial benefits. But remember, this will require careful planning and strategy development to bear results.

Technologies like artificial intelligence, big data have already established themselves as an integral part of supply chain management. In 2020, the focus has moved on to other aspects, such as the ones listed above. Any company that intends to thrive in such a market must undertake supply chain management software development with these trends in mind.