Let’s face it: running a supply chain operation has always been challenging. With so many moving parts, some things are bound to go wrong and getting the right insights from data is no easy task.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been both a blessing and a curse to global supply chains: on one hand, government restrictions and lack of personnel have caused unprecedented disruptions across the world - 97% of organisations faced some supply chain disruption in 2021. On the other hand, the pandemic served as a catalyst and accelerated the digital transformation that many companies kept putting off.
Customers today expect a digital, more connected experience when interacting with companies. However, it’s not just the customers who are demanding more - employees are, too.
When operating a modern supply chain business, the different stakeholders involved expect to have the tools and means to share data and information among each other. Oftentimes, companies would have multiple systems that they acquired over the years to manage different processes - which results in siloed data and hinders the ability to get valuable data and insights at the right time.
Today, the new measure of success is no longer volume sold and margins made - it is customer success. Companies must leverage relevant data to get a holistic view of the customer, and work backwards from it through the different parts of the ecosystem.
In addition, companies understand that if they want to compete in the global marketplace, they have to become easier to do business with. Salesforce allows businesses to give their customers visibility into the supply chain and to integrate inventory systems, instead of making a phone call to place orders. It also allows the partner ecosystem to share the right data, all while staying compliant with government regulations such as GDPR.
In order to truly transform your business and run a lean and agile operation, you have to unlock, analyse and act upon all the data that lives across all different systems, and unleash its power to deliver truly connected experiences to all of your stakeholders.
Want to learn more about how Salesforce is digitising supply chains across the globe? Join our Senior Vice President of Customer Advisory, Craig Walker, as he shares his extensive knowledge and expertise as a former CIO at Shell with our customers at a recent virtual event: The Future of Supply Chain