Digital transformation is proven to drive growth, mitigate risks and optimise costs. In the context of numerous disruptions to the supply chain and driven by various compelling events worldwide, industry leaders are moving to build intelligent supply networks with data-led digital transformation.
“The key to navigating through the disruptions and compelling events is managing, interpreting and collaborating on data across the supply chain,” said Mark Morley, Senior Director, Product Marketing, OpenText Business Network.
With data driving a USD 100 trillion world economy, the priorities, according to Morley are cut out for them.
“Job number one for supply chain leaders is to accelerate their move to the Cloud. Job number two is to improve security across their supply chain network.” Morley was making a presentation at the webinar titled, ‘Data Led Digital Transformation Strategies for an Intelligent Supply Network.’
Leaders confer
The webinar moderated by Vijay Mathew, Director, Advisory Services, Industrial Technologies, Frost & Sullivan was presented by Opentext and Manufacturing Today. Opentext is a cloud-based information management platform that solves digital business challenges for customers.
On the panel were thought leaders that included Amol Nagar, Managing Director & Head of Operations, GE Aviation Multi Modal Facility India & Board Member, GE India Industrial Pvt Ltd; Vinod Khode, Senior Vice President & Group Chief Information Officer, Varroc; Sadagopan Krishnan, Senior Vice President, Ashok Leyland; Thomas Leeson, Senior Industry Marketing Strategist, Manufacturing, Opentext; Vikas Singhal, Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain & Strategic Marketing, Whirlpool Corporation Asia; Vikram Mansukhani, Chief Engineering and Technology Officer, TVS Supply Chain; and Parna Ghosh, Vice President and CIO, UNO MINDA.
“Digital transformation is the key priority for most supply chain leaders but less than half have a defined or planned digital transformation road map,” said Sujatha Vishnuraj, Editor, Manufacturing Today, providing a context to the webinar while welcoming the guests. She noted that many supply chains are yet to reach beyond foundational physical capabilities. Effectively testing, deploying and gaining scale in digital innovation is further away.
The Editor invited Mark Morley to make a short presentation against this backdrop. With extensive experience presenting to the C-Suite behind him, he had all ears.
Data landscape
Morley set the scene for the panel introducing the topics around data, data integration and how insights can be derived from the data as it travels through the extended business ecosystem.
He began by referring to the disruptions and events worldwide that are compelling reasons for business leaders to turn to data-led digital transformation.
It has been an unprecedented time for manufacturing leaders with supply chains struggling to obtain visibility into their operations as their shipment moves across different logistics networks. And it is not just the pandemic disruption. The Suez Canal blockage, the trade wars, the Japanese earthquakes and the exit of the UK from the European Union have all caused their own disruptions. The Colonial Pipeline attack, the Ukraine wars, the social unrest and the energy crisis had their contributions to make.
Disruptions apart, many compelling events have affected the global market, including sustainability mandates, ESG regulations, regional e-invoicing mandates and the need to embrace ISO 2022, among others.
Companies are flooded with data on forecasting, inventories, demands, transactions, financials, ESG and a host of others that they have to aggregate and process. Improvement of IT infrastructure to support the movement and collaboration of information is the task at hand.
“Job number one for supply chain leaders is to accelerate their move to the Cloud. Job number two is to improve security across their supply chain network.”
Morley illustrated some technologies like IoT, Control Tower, Ecosystem Collaboration, AI/ML and Cloud that transform the supply chain operations and let a view into an IDC poll on the most preferred ones. He allowed a peek into some interesting numbers related to technologies, like the worldwide spending guide by IDC that projects AI solutions to command USD 300 billion by 2026.
Data talks
With Morley’s data-driven transformation nicely sketched, it was time for the panellists to dwell on the subject.
“Has anything changed on the ground?”
Mathew began the panel discussion with a provoking question on supply chain resilience post-COVID-19 that drew the panellists into a rigorous discussion exploring where the supply chain industry stood today in building a data-led supply chain.
Leeson was first off the mark. He alluded to analysts like Gartner and industry associations like the Manufacturing Leadership Council and National Association of Manufacturers in the US that construed that digital transformation really accelerated during the pandemic and that it was led by Cloud as it was relatively regional.
“We live in disruptive times. Disruption is now the norm, and it is important for the manufacturers to realise they have to be ready with a robust response to it,” he said.
Mansukhani from TVS also believes that COVID acted as a catalyst for transforming the supply chain from a “muscle-oriented business” to a technology-oriented one. “If you have a great supply chain strategy regarding technology deployment and automation, your supply chain business is heading in the right direction,” said Mansukhani.
For GE’s Nagar, resilience or the ability to bounce back after a disruption is what the pandemic taught. “Resilience is impossible to achieve unless you have digital tools to get the kind of visibility you need. Long-term digitisation is what will get that visibility.”
You may have different ERPs and systems, and you may have acquired business in the acquired ERPs, but they may not be talking to each other seamlessly. Alternatively, you can pick up some of the latest tools available to create full data visualisation analytics and make decision-making faster, said Nagar.
“To make your customer happy, you need to take the right decisions, and to take the right decision, you need to have the right amount of data,” chipped in Khode on why there is this need for data-led decision-making.
According to him, prioritising the area, you need to digitise should be the first step to building a digitisation strategy. For example, whether you need OTIF (On Time In Full) or inventory optimisation or some other. The essential steps include involving the right people, selecting the right tool, setting up the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) metrics and reviewing with plan-do-check cycle. He prefers breaking up the strategy into smaller do-able rather than going for the big-bang transformation all at once.
“It is not just about the digital tools but also the organisational framework. Data starts talking, but we see many failures because of our organisational structures that are very traditional,” said Singhal seeking to broaden the debate to include the entire business processes.
“India is in Amrit Kaal now,” declared Krishnan wishing for a USD 16 trillion economies for India and wanting companies to think long-term in their choice of tools. He identified ESG as the best tool to plan for the long term. Similarly, Ghosh asserted, “India is becoming a large manufacturing hub for the entire world,” and put blockchain as the next disruptor in the automotive industry.
Continuing on diverse aspects of digitisation like POC paralysis, the challenges, the skill gaps, the leadership issues, and the regulatory issues, Mathew was relentless with his searching questions.
The Q&A went beyond the customary and had piercing questions for the panellists before the guests were thanked and the webinar was declared closed.