Supply Chain Innovation or Chaos

Jim Kittridge once said, “Complexity is the sand that grinds all innovation to a halt.”
Supply Chain Innovation or Chaos
Recently, I was reading an article on the regional growth patterns and subsequent economic and ecological impact in the Texas Hill Country. The article cited a study stating over 160 organizations spanning ten different organizational categories ranging from NGOs, nonprofits, universities, government, and landowner associations all separately working toward a common goal. Yet even though they don’t want to work in silos, they are. This is also causing them to struggle to coordinate and collaborate to achieve impact.
Sound familiar?
Day in and day out we see the same issue in our business organizations: in an ever evolving world, a lot of data being created that resides behind enterprise walls, much of it becoming what is called “dark data.” The volume of data produced by supply chains is often overwhelming and complex. It is this complexity that creates chaos that becomes a barrier to meaningful insight. Without meaningful insight, organizations cannot innovate.
From chaos to insight
If your supply chain data is not integrated it runs the risk of being unhealthy. If it was unhealthy, would you know? What if time-sensitive data is delayed and situations have changed? Delayed data is often the result of deferred visibility into external partner data hidden behind the walls of ERP systems.
The single most critical supply chain intelligence is an integrated view that flows throughout the entire supply chain to drive productivity. We call this “a single version of the truth.”
Uberizing your logistics
In 2015 Deepak Singhal said, “I am in the food business, but sometimes I think I am in the transportation business.” This the reality for most of us which is why we need to simplify the complex by “uberizing logistics.”
Uberization is the following process:
Real-time matching of transportation delivery demand with carrier availability to facilitate efficient bidding and delivery execution.
Enabling carriers to see and bid on transportation order in real-time localized to their pickup and delivery areas.
Tracking of package status from order commitment to home or warehouse delivery including proof of delivery.
Mobile phone GPS coordinates used in real time to find orders and match with carrier demand constrained to carrier availability.
Automated payment and invoicing.
Supply chains are continuously evolving and transforming. You have two choices: complexity and chaos, or insight and innovation.