One of the biggest gaps in supply chain efficiency is the adoption of modern, digital technologies, a new IDC White Paper by OpenText says.
The study suggests, companies more progressed in their business-to-business (B2B) digital transformation journey are leading the way and outperforming those less progressed in revenue, profit, customer satisfaction, and responsiveness rate.
B2B Integration improving overall performance
“With the current levels of supply chain complexity, global reach and partner/supplier diversity, it has become clear that the ‘old’ ways of doing things do not work in today’s modern supply chain,” IDC said.
The study demonstrates the resiliency of digital transformation in the supply chain, with over 78% of respondents reporting that B2B integration has improved the overall performance of their supply chains[1]
“B2B integration represents the backbone of a digital-first, resilient supply chain and should be a top priority for those companies that remain encumbered by manual paper-based processes.” said Simon Ellis, Program Vice President at IDC[2].
B2B integration is necessary for a resilient supply chain
OpenText say although supply chain resiliency is critical in today’s disruptive environment, companies have often found it difficult to detail the business case fully, justify return on investment, and build the necessary internal capabilities.
“In fact, while 71% of organisations have increased investments within their supply chain, only 6% of respondents reported being at the highest level of digital supply chain resiliency maturity[3], indicating that there is still significant progress to be made and value to be realised by utilising modern processes and digital technologies,” IDC said.
Supply chain integration as a competitive advantage
Advanced supply chain integration capabilities can help support more efficient and effective current approaches as well as new models that translate directly to business performance. When asked about the level of improvement of their supply chain by automating a range of different kinds of collaboration documents, 80% of survey respondents cite levels of improvement, including the cost of handling and sharing information, staffing efficiencies, and improvements in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)[4]. B2B integration capabilities and processing align with top business priorities of reducing operational and logistical costs, faster time to market, improving data quality/accuracy and progressing visibility.
AI and advanced analytics – essential for B2B integration
The study also highlighted the significant role of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics in the maturity of B2B integration. 44% of companies reported that they are currently using Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) to generate more predictive insights from across their supply chain operations. On the other hand, 17% of respondents reported that they only use basic analytics[5]. Whether B2B information sharing specifically or supply chains more broadly, the ability to leverage all available data is rapidly becoming imperative and a source of competitive disadvantage for companies that fall behind, IDC say.
