How Supply Chain Visibility Increases Value and ROI

Editor’s Note: Steve Shebuski is VP of Digital Strategy, Blue Horseshoe.

When implementing technology- and operational-based improvements, business leaders rely on their supply chain partners to provide clear, incremental value in those implementations.

For years, the industry has felt that the return on investment (ROI) for these improvements was lengthy and unattainable. The value of a highly-visible supply chain, however, is undeniable and necessary for smooth operations. Visibility not only allows a company to connect with their partners and consumers, it also provides a sustainable strategy to build trust, drive improvements, lower risk and react much faster and more effectively should any disruptions occur.

Increased Trust

Much like consumers, companies demand the ability to track deliveries. From the moment an order is placed, we inherently want to know where the order is and when we can expect it to arrive, whether that be on a doorstop or a warehouse dock. A lack of visibility outside of the warehouse translates into a lack of visibility inside of the warehouse, hindering inner-warehouse operations and efficiencies and impacting partner and consumer relationships.

Today’s business no longer happens just within the four walls of a warehouse; it’s a series of interconnected actions and events with trading partners, vendors, carriers, brokers and customers. Automating the digital procure-to-pay logistics cycle gives you the confidence to trust what is happening at the start of the supply chain, with digital verification at every step of the process. If there’s a roadblock, automatically escalating issues to an automated systematic response or to a person allows a company to better manage the exceptions and keep the supply chain moving.

Vendor and trading partner collaboration helps you build a more resilient supply chain that has visibility into partners who are exceeding expectations, as well as those who are lagging. This digital connection improves communication, so you’re up to date on order status and estimated delivery dates while ensuring the seamless arrival of inbound product.

Lowered Risk

In recent months, the supply chain has been challenged with the effects of COVID-19, unprecedented weather conditions and widespread shipping disruptions. While the unpredictable has the ability to shake up the industry, commonplace threats, including labor disputes, raw material shortages and compliance violations, can threaten the integrity of a company’s overall visibility. Risk mitigation is an important operational improvement companies can implement to decrease risk and increase supply chain visibility.

By matching a company’s available resources and capabilities with the opportunities and challenges of the unpredictable, problems and risks can be caught early, eliminating disruption to the flow of production and goods. In implementing a risk mitigation plan, companies are able to easily account for a loss in sales while continuing to maintain their reputation. Proper risk management increases visibility, maintains ROI and allows supply chain partners to react in a timely manner.

Improved Efficiency

To improve supply chain efficiency and increase visibility, warehouse operations must utilize data. Intelligent data analytics help industry leaders manage and measure the inner-workings of warehouses, performance of supply chain partners, as well as accurately measure ROI. With the right tools, data can aid in the success of an entire organization, not just the warehouse itself.

Better data keeps supply chain partners informed, allowing parties to make decisions based on real-time feedback and current conditions. Warehouses, truck drivers and retailers can use data to anticipate and respond to delays and disruptions quickly, increasing overall efficiency and resilience in reducing risk and mishaps. The visibility data provides not only improves company-wide ROI, but overall operations as well.

While supply chain visibility is among the top strategic priorities for companies worldwide, studies show that only 6% of companies have full visibility of their supply chain. With a new era of drastic transformations, supply chain connectivity and visibility has become inherently important in allowing companies to see the value of their investments. By creating successful and profitable warehouse operations enabled by a connected supply chain, industry leaders are able to better understand and leverage their solutions, build trust, lower industry risk and improve overall efficiency in their operations.

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