Supply Chain Visibility

Supply chain visibility software, in essence, is meant to offer insight into the state of your supply chain. However, the degree of cross-functional and ecosystem integration can vary quite a bit.

The goal with a visibility solution is to reduce blindspots, drive efficiencies in supply chain management, and enable informed and collaborative decision-making at every node of the supply chain. This requires a holistic, end-to-end visibility platform that will unify multiple disparate systems, centralize data across the multi-party network, and span all legs and modes of an order journey.

Improving supply chain visibility begins by first auditing your current level of visibility. Are you still using manual processes (like spreadsheets)? Does your visibility span some processes but not others? (planning vs execution, for example) or transportation, but not warehouse operations? You can also separate your digital transformation into the following journey:

• Digitizing - Real-time analytics across multiple siloed systems, parties, and processes.
• Intelligence - Intelligent recommendations for optimized order planning and execution, as well as inventory management. Milestone visibility and alerts to exceptions.
• Active Visibility - Being able to act immediately and flexibly on what you see directly within the application.
• Advanced Intelligence - Machine learning technology for risk management and resiliency.

Visibility into planning typically functions as the planning system of record around requirements, replenishment, demand and order promising. It may also connect with S&OP and integrated business planning or demand sensing. In this sense, it enables teams to better maintain minimum and maximum inventory levels and forecast their ability to serve customers and be capable-to-promise.

The technology also enables collaborative, multi-party, multi-tier, supply chain planning with visibility into inventory (at rest and in motion), order planning, and execution through real-time analytics and event management. Such “actionable visibility” identifies exceptions at any stage in the supply chain for every customer order and makes intelligent recommendations for immediate, optimized, and flexible re-planning for consistent on-time, in-full deliveries.

In today’s increasingly disruptive world, supply chain visibility solutions - when part of an intelligent platform with machine learning capabilities – also offer risk management and resiliency benefits. Machine learning can draw from real-time supply chain data related to inventory, orders, transportation, network partners, and grids, as well as external factors, such as the weather forecast, traffic, and currency rates, to help teams gauge market dynamics and risk levels around order fulfillment, as well as reliably facilitate on time and in full delivery, control costs, and flag high-risk orders for close monitoring, giving sensitive orders the VIP treatment when necessary.

As supply chains become more digital, the level of expectations on the part of both buyers and sellers of products and the logistics nodes in between all of those points have dramatically increased. These heightened expectations are happening in the wake of growing disruption, cost, shortages, and overall supply chain complexity.

 

Stakeholders are realizing that visibility is the critical foundation to resiliency, good customer relationships, and competitive differentiation. A high-performing and cost-effective supply chain that is agile and flexible in response to risk and disruption requires timely insight into internal and external data. That means supply chain visibility that extends beyond discrete functions and logistical concerns (i.e. the location of a shipment, exceptions alerts, compliance). Because, in addition to delivering on-time and in-full (OTIF), businesses must do so profitably. A holistic and unified view of the supply chain helps logistics teams to understand how previously isolated functions and processes affect one another. In this way, they can continuously optimize across silos and for each customer order.