Businesses are becoming extremely distributed from partners to suppliers and vendors to customers. It is a national and regional trend, and more often, global. We must reshape our thinking that IT and information security are a need in only one location of a business. This year we’ve had a taste of what happens when supply chains get disrupted. Everything from plywood or soft drinks can be out-of-stock and experiencing supply chain issues.
A wide scale adoption of having an internet of things (IOT) strategy is on the horizon for every company. It is important for companies to make sure any new investment they make will bring a digital element to the company. The new digital element must also complement the existing business strategy. For example, if you’re investing in a new logistics partner, then there should be a useful data feed from that new logistics partner that gives insight into your supply chain. If you are investing in a new e-commerce center or new trucking, then each of these should bring something digital.
Each business can follow the same pattern. Establish a general strategy that provides the company with an information control tower. This control tower will then be able to help analyze any new data feed using typical business intelligence means. This data is then translated to a dashboard for management to make actionable items based of these insights. This could mean keeping more inventory in a timeline now, or it could mean keeping less inventory. The key is to always be a learner. The more insights a company has, the more steps they can take towards being digital. After a couple years of increasing insights and digital elements, the company will start to feel like a very advanced digital supply chain company.
Stay tuned for more on "Trends in Business Technology" coming soon!
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