The digital supply chain has now become the new normal, with technology supporting every step in logistics, from sourcing to delivery. Although cloud-based technology has been around for two decades now, supply chain organizations are still quite hesitant to make the traditional-to-tech switch. However, they need to start the migration given the ease of tracking a product through its entire life cycle through cloud computing. Moreover, It is the only solution where the disrupted supply chain ecosystem can be completely automated with minimal use of resources.
Imagine a seamlessly automated system to manage all of the supply chains through a single platform, while easily tracking inventory inflow and outflow. Cloud-based Technology (CBT) empowers the supply chain by providing this much-desired strategic approach for inventory deployment. Geoanalytics has eased the monitoring of the delivery networks and allowed quick prioritizing of the slow-moving shipments, remotely, from any location.
CBT has streamlined good visibility, agility, and resilience across the supply chain. It has adjusted well to the needs and changes in supply and demand, in real-time.
While traditional methods are more transactional and do not offer real-time accuracy, CBT helps companies enter the era of Supply Chain 4.0. The pros of CBT have helped in future-proofing the major elements of supply chains by overhauling integration, operations, purchasing, and distribution. Its influence can be measured through the benefits it has delivered after being integrated into supply chain management:
- Agility of operations
CBT has allowed faster deployment of linear supply chain management solutions, which has created a faster return on investment. There are no more lags in IT project line-ups. With cloud hosting, processes can work seamlessly across the world, sans glitches that would otherwise lead to delays in shipments. It is the only way to keep up with the constantly changing requirements of the customer.
- Cost-effectiveness and efficacy
CBT has added a wider range of features and pricing benefits for its users in supply chain management. Companies can now cut costs and expand their customer base with the support of the cloud. A full-scale data storage is now a dream to maintain as the cloud offers solutions to disperse the expenses across various users in small or large corporations. Moreover, it generates market opportunities for everyone regardless of the organization’s size.
- Single source of truth
The real-time SaaS-based (Software as a Service) solutions, that can be accessed and easily shared throughout the network, have established quicker connectivity that takes the obsolete supply chain and converts it into an efficient supply chain network. The single-point origin allows easy transparency and traceability in any supply chain. Supply chains have become more dynamic, safe, and interactive to create end-to-end, in-sync functionality.
- Scalability and flexibility
With the cloud, bottlenecks in a supply chain can be easily predicted. The supply network can be scaled to reach different suppliers and partners as and when the requirement arises. This has created flexibility with the usage-based model, network, and capacity which can adapt to the market as per its demands and conditions. This has resulted in maximum efficiency of the process through the integration of proper technology. Configuration of all the channels involves a lesser number of processes for organizations and hence supply chain can focus on individualized products and services.
- The Future of Business
Supply chain organizations have successfully managed and upgraded their own supply chain processes over the years. By adopting CBT, owners can now access supply chain data from anywhere, anytime. Businesses of all sizes can leverage this technology to reap benefits and upgrade to a revamped cloud management system.
CBT has forged faster planning and execution capabilities (supported by advanced analytics and in-memory computing), resulting in a faster turnaround and the use of minimal resources.
Equipped with a host of pros, there is no reason why logistics players should be skeptical about transitioning from traditional methods to cloud computing.
As 4.5PL solutions providers, H&S offers its complete infrastructure of top-notch IT support to its clients. With a hybrid system that combines the best of what both 3PL and 4PL have to offer. Our expertise in Supply Chain Management comes from the team’s 100+ years of accumulated experience in this practice.We believe that improvement in supply chain management can only be created by amalgamating the business processes and advanced technological methods like cloud-based technology to make our operations more advanced and aligned with the volatility of the market.