THE DIGITALIZATION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN IN 2022
The awareness of the need to digitalize the Supply Chain is not a new phenomenon. However, the Covid-19 crisis acted as an electroshock in this regard, as it shook the supply chain of companies (shortages, inflation, transport difficulties, change in demand, lockdowns, etc…).
Thus, a study by CSMCP (The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals) showed that 93% of the Supply Chain actors are engaged in a process of digitalization of their Supply Chain. So, what are the benefits of digitalizing a company’s Supply Chain and what are the difficulties encountered?
The digitalization of the Supply Chain offers many advantages to companies. The first is to bring supply and demand closer together, mainly by improving companies’ internal and external communication with suppliers and customers.
The new technologies also make it possible to better organize the supply chain and to measure performance indices in a relevant way, with a view to optimization. Overall, ICTs (information and communication technologies) make it possible to concentrate the work of a company’s staff on high value-added operations.
However, there are several factors that hinder this digitalization. The first is the lack of staff: while the world is facing many shortages of spare parts, companies are also short of qualified staff. Companies need to attract profiles capable of making this transition, and sometimes suffer from a lack of skills in digital tools. This lack of expertise affects 53% of companies involved in a process of digitalization of the Supply Chain (+12% in one year).
The willingness to digitize the Supply Chain also comes up against the fear of new technologies and the reluctance of the Supply Chain players to change their habits. One third of companies are concerned by this mistrust of ICTs. This sometimes results in a feeling of disconnection between the decision-makers and the operators, who do not always measure the interest of technologies that are imposed on them.
Hence, although companies seem to have become aware of the need to modernize their supplies in line with the logic of their century, much remains to be done in this area.
