Supply chain automation is the new

black

Supply chain automation is the new blackXero broke the hurdle for many businesses – that’s the hurdle of switching to the cloud.

That’s according to Josh Ambler, director at consultancy firm Altshift, which assists businesses with moving their systems into the cloud.

“Once they started using Xero, they were far more open to using other products like it,” Josh says.

Most businesses Josh deals with already have one or two cloud-based systems in their business.

But very few have rolled out cloud software across their entire supply chain, even though most are interested in doing that, he says.

Josh says 90 per cent of his businesses use Xero.

That wasn’t always the case though – it flipped about 12–18 months ago. “We had 10 per cent before.”

Josh’s comments reinforce the findings of a recent report by GT Nexus and Capgemini Consulting.

Published this month, the report is based on a survey of 337 retail and manufacturing executives from more than 20 countries – mostly North America and Europe.

The majority (75 per cent) of executives who responded say digital transformation of the supply chain is "important" or "very important".

But a third (33 per cent) say they are "dissatisfied" with progress so far, and almost half (48 per cent) admit to sticking with traditional methods -- such as phone, fax and email -- to interact with supply chain partners.

Survey respondents identify the biggest technology enablers of digital supply chain transformation & supply chain automation as: supply chain visibility platforms/tools (94 per cent); big data analytics (90 per cent); simulation tools (81 per cent); and the cloud (80 per cent).

More automation expected by 2021• Just one-sixth (15 per cent) of respondents say extended supply chain data is currently accessible to their organisation, but more than half

(54 per cent) expect it to be accessible within five years.

• About one-fifth (23 per cent) of respondents say extended supply chain data is used for decision-making. But roughly two-thirds (68 per cent) expect it to influence decisions within five years.

• Almost all (95 per cent) respondents expect more processes with suppliers to be automated in five years.

• The vast majority (94 per cent) expect to receive more real-time status updates from across the entire supply chain in five years.

The findings show that for most retail and manufacturing business, rolling out cloud software throughout the entire supply chain is on the cards in the near future.

Cin7 founder Danny Ing says this is exactly where Cin7 is heading. “As a company, in terms of what we [Cin7] want to do, [it’s] extreme integration and extreme automation. We're aiming to automate 80 per cent of your business processes and make the other 20 per cent as painless as possible."