Digital Procurement Ecosystem Creation in 8 Minutes!

I was in Paris last week, touring around as people do in Paris, and visited Fondation Louis Vuitton. What does that have to do with a Digital Procurement ecosystem?

If you’ve never been before and are a fan of art, architecture, and culture, I can highly recommend adding it to any future itineraries.

The museum’s collections are magnificent, and the building itself is a true masterpiece. Beyond the artwork, Fondation Louis Vuitton offers an experience to tour the multiple levels of decks that interweave themselves between the inside and the outside of the building’s structure.

On one of the decks sits a piece of artwork named “Where the Slaves Live”. It is a living organism, composed of inorganic and organic materials, forming a ‘living sculpture’ that is a small scale ecosystem- an ever-changing work of art.

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Supply Chain’s Moment of Truth Poll Results!

Time will prove that the global Coronavirus pandemic has marked a major inflection point across the entire history of Supply Chain Management. Largely unknown and not understood before the pandemic, Supply Chain’s visibility and importance has seen an unprecedented level of exposure during the pandemic.

Everyone now understands that when Supply Chains fail, much of what enables our personal and professional lives also stops. The fragility of Supply Chains experienced during the pandemic demands improvements in the robustness and resilience of this core function.

It has created a Moment of Truth for Supply Chain. Will companies revert back to their old ways of doing things after the pandemic or will they make the improvements needed for the future?

We conducted our Supply Chain’s Moment of Truth Poll to find out.

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Digital Opportunity for 3PL Logistics Operations!

Third-party logistics (or 3PL) providers, are standing on the brink of breakout growth given the digital opportunity. The shipper ecosystem is burgeoning with more delivery orders, more inventory to be managed, more deliveries and more services than ever before.

The global 3PL market, valued at $728.6B USD back in 2018, is expected to reach $1.5 BILLION by 2025. While 3PL providers want to adapt to this new market opportunity, their existing logistics operations often have a hard time keeping pace with these growing demands.

In this increasingly challenging environment, technology has become an integral part of expanding and maintaining competitive logistics services.

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The Competitive Edge: How IoT Solutions are Redefining Supply Chain Management!

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, supply chain management has become more critical than ever before. With consumers demanding faster delivery times, higher product quality, and greater transparency, companies are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge.

Enter the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, which are revolutionizing the way supply chains operate. In this blog, we will explore how IoT solutions, along with digital transformation services is transforming supply chain management and why it’s essential for businesses to embrace this technology to stay ahead in the market.

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Effective Sales Contract Lifecycle Management Best Practices!

Supply chain management and contract lifecycle management are key ingredients to business success. The journey from idea to end product to shipment and delivery is exciting, yes, but rather complicated — fueled with many moving parts.

How well a company manages its supply chain processes can directly impact its bottom line. In a 2021 Statista survey, over half of businesses surveyed found the supply chain disruptions to be extremely challenging, with faster response time as the most difficult hurdle to conquer.

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What is 5G? And What Does it Mean for Supply Chain? (Infographic)

There was a time not that long ago when there were no cell phones or smart phones. Now they are literally billions of smartphones and cell phones. This doesn’t even include the number of desktops, laptops, tablets, and all other internet enabled electronic devices.

The latest technology that will be driving this massive infrastructure is 5G. Much as with all of the technologies before it the latest generation of technology will lead to profound advances in capabilities.

This will invariably impact the Supply Chain of the future.

What is 5G technology? And how exactly will it impact Supply Chain?

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Digital Procurement!

Navigating the complexity of the global supply chain as a procurement professional can sometimes feel like taking a walk through the Amazon without a compass, or entering into outer space without an oxygen tank, especially when considering digital procurement.

It’s important that procurement teams take into account the new risk reality and challenges that face them, their organizations and their value chains. As the world around us continues to put the pedal to the metal within the digitalization of business solutions, procurement can’t decide to slow down for every speed bump.

At the same time, it’s never smart to punch the gas if you haven’t packed a spare tire. You never know when you might run into something sharp along the way.

Finding the perfect balance between preparation and action can be tricky.

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Stand Out Digital Supply Chain Strategies!

Unchaining Change Leadership

The digital economy is bringing a paradigm shift in the business models and Digital Supply Chain strategies across the world, thus blurring the industry boundaries. No matter the niche, the customer today expects both products and services to be delivered real quick and tailored to unique requirements.

Effective digital supply chain strategies can help organizations stand out from the crowd. It is then that companies can make themselves faster, granular, flexible and accurate.

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The Digital Supply Chain Journey : Step 1 – The Vision!

The Digital Supply Chain is the future. The end to end electronic connectivity of all elements of the Supply Chain, as enabled by an extensive array of exciting new technologies, will define all progression over the next few decades. But how does this Digital Supply Chain journey begin?

Simply, this journey begins with a vision. A vision of the objectives, of the end state, and even a vision that is fuzzy but is emboldened by a certainty that digitalization in any and all of its forms is the right direction.

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Connecting the Dots: IoT Hardware as a Game Changer in Supply Chain!

The world around us is changing rapidly, and our beloved field of supply chain management has become very dependent on innovation. Whatever trend is announced in technology, such as 3D printers, drones, artificial intelligence, augmented information, or data analysis, reality professionals immediately look for its application in procurement, transportation, and inventory management.

All these technologies make it possible to bring the product closer to the buyer, which significantly affects its value and sometimes cost. Today, we’ll discuss the role of IoT hardware in supply chains.

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The Hard Economics of Justifying a Digital Supply Chain Transformation!

There have been countless times throughout my career where I was either a recommender or approver of significant IT projects. And, I must say, I have always experienced a prevailing attitude among senior management that these transformations are black holes and money pits, including a Digital Supply Chain transformation.

I believe many (if not most) companies still feel this way. Why? There is a litany of cautionary tales: From Hershey’s widely reported $100 million failed ERP implementation in 2015 to our own personal stories.

I’ve seen businesses engage consulting firms only to give up about six months in after slow progress and skyrocketing costs; I’ve witnessed first-hand how a $15 million project ballooned to $40 million before it was even finished. 

Let’s talk about why this happens and what can be done about it.

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4 Ways Blockchain is Revolutionizing Supply Chain!

Have you ever wondered where your favorite shirt, pillow, shoes, or snack came from? All of these products follow a supply chain and are tracked down along every step of it. From the raw materials’ origin and production of items to delivery and distribution—the entire process is no joke! Thankfully, blockchain is revolutionizing Supply Chain and can help make Supply Chains operations seamless and more efficient.

Most people encounter this term after searching for “What is Bitcoin (BTC)?” on the web, and that’s because blockchain is the powerful mind behind BTC. But aside from being the brain behind today’s dominant crypto, blockchain also has its fair share of developments in various fields, including the supply chain.

Before we dive deeper into that, let’s first define what it is.

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Our 2019 Top 10 List! (Part 2)

As we come to the end of our 3rd year here at Supply Chain Game Changer it is time to publish our semi-annual 2019 Top 10 List.

First we want to thank our readers. Our audience and reach continues to expand with Supply Changer now being ranked as one of the Top 20 Supply Chain blogs in the world and one of the Top 15 Procurement blogs in the world. Both are record achievements for us.

Second we want to thank our guest contributors. With dozens of writers and articles we continue to fulfill our vision of sharing expertise and experience from all over the world.

We thank you for your ongoing support and ask you to continue to spread the word about Supply Chain Game Changer. There is truly something of value for everyone no matter what challenge you are facing each and every day.

Here we present our Top 10 list for the second half of 2019. Enjoy!

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The Future of the Digital Supply Chain! (Podcast)

The Digital Supply Chain is the future!

Enabled by a vast array of enabling digital technologies, such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous vehicles, Augmented Reality, Robotics, Control Towers, 3D Printing, and many more, Supply Chain will become more electronically connected than ever before.

This digital transformation will have wide ranging implications for industries, business processes, the structure of work, and the skills that Supply Chain professionals will need.

In this podcast Bicara Supply Chain interviews Mike Mortson to talk about the Future of the Digital Supply Chain.

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How Smart CEOs Leverage Supply Chain!

Being a CEO is tough enough, let alone how difficult it is if you don’t have all of the skills and knowledge needed.. Many CEOs have a background in Finance or Sales and Marketing or Engineering, or are just entrepreneurs. But few have in-depth experience in Supply Chain, let alone understand how to leverage Supply Chain.

The truth is that the overwhelming, but often misunderstood and underrated, impact of Supply Chain’s importance to the success of an organization is missed and unknown to many CEOS.

Only truly smart CEOs get it. They get the importance of Supply Chain and understand that they will succeed or fail depending on how they do, or do not, leverage Supply Chain.

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