While 70% of businesses experienced supply chain disruptions over the last few years, 60% of businesses were unable to engage and collaborate with customers and suppliers in real-time, often rendering those businesses unable to deliver to their customers, according to a recent SYSPRO survey.
“While the investment in internal efficiencies is crucial for any business, customer and supplier engagement should also be a top priority. What we are seeing now is a knock-on effect of supply chain disruptions. It won’t matter how businesses try to up their game internally, if they are unable to communicate effectively with their external ecosystem and respond to shifts in the supply chain, businesses may fall behind,” says Paulo De Matos, chief product officer at SYSPRO.
From BusinessWire:
- 47% of manufacturers and distributors invested in sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) networks, but just 20% of them did the same for data analytics tools.
- Even though 65% of businesses invested in business systems aimed at meeting order requirements and 64% of businesses invested in business systems to manage inventory control, the supply of inventory was not protected. Only 44% of business systems have allowed manufacturers to effectively collaborate with external suppliers and customers.
- 69% of businesses considered a digitalization strategy aimed at enhancing existing business processes with digital technologies. But only 29% of businesses committed to a fully-fledged digital transformation strategy.
- 48% of businesses with roadmaps committed to improving customer service, yet only 23% of businesses included external collaboration which would enable them to talk to the customers as part of their digital strategy.
- 34% of businesses focused on investments to improve internal operations management, quality management and warranty management.
- 33% of businesses were looking at improving sourcing, procurement and inventory management. But only 18% of businesses invested in business systems to improve external collaboration.
- Additionally, 50% of businesses chose not to invest in any systems at all and to rely on current systems to keep the lights on.
“When deep diving into the reasons behind the disconnect between digital strategy vs. digital execution, we found that 71% of businesses outsourced it to external service providers with no real understanding of the core business challenges or everyday reality of what was affecting the business. Businesses now have an opportunity to reset for the future and revisit their digital roadmap with the assistance of trusted advisors and industry experts. Of course, the inclusion of external collaboration solutions will be key,” says De Matos. “Business models as we know them are changing before our eyes. The classic model of company vs company is giving way to supply chain vs supply chain where simply selling a product is no longer good enough to survive in the long term. Manufacturers today should ideally assemble a team of companies to offer the best product and best service at the best price. To do this successfully, the right data insights are imperative.”
