The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clearer than ever before that resilient companies need agile, resilient supply chains. Indeed, the pandemic has exposed the devastating impact disrupted supply chains can have on businesses and communities around the world.
But the traditional levers supply chain leaders have used to optimize results are insufficient in an uncertain global economic environment. Companies must change the way they manage, lead, and operate their supply chains. Companies need to transform their traditional supply chain to Digital Supply Chain to serve the new customer, increase the revenue, and turn risk into a competitive advantage.
Prior to the pandemic, supply chain leaders had done a good job of optimizing results by managing suppliers, moving manufacturing to low-cost locations, and increasing the efficiency of logistics. But those traditional levers are insufficient in an uncertain global economic environment. Companies must change the way they manage, lead, and operate their supply chain. Companies need to transform their traditional supply chain to Digital Supply Chain to serve the new customer, increase the revenue, and turn risk into a competitive advantage.
But these steps are insufficient in a global dynamic business environment that is being reshaped by Big Data, analytics, emerging technologies, innovative business models, new management challenges, and an increasingly risky operating environment.
To prepare for the post-COVID-19 global economy, companies will need to change the way they manage, lead, and operate their supply chain. By digitizing their supply chains, companies will be more equipped to serve the new customer, increase revenue, and turn risk into a competitive advantage. This Expert Connect series is about learning different dynamic aspects of the digital supply chain in the digital era. The series is comprised of five 15-minute sessions over the course of five weeks. Vivek Ghelani, Research Programs and Analytics Manager at the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI) will lead these sessions.
Instructor
Vivek Ghelani
Manager – Research
Programs & Analytics
Digital Supply Chain
Institute
Series Format
Each Expert Connect will feature a 10-minute instructor presentation followed by a 5-minute Q&A for five weeks, every Thursday at 11 AM ET starting August 19, 2020.
Series Topics and Schedule
Session 1: What is the Digital Supply Chain?
When: August 19 at 11 AM ET
Creating a customer-centric digital supply chain is a mission-critical challenge that requires a new supply chain strategy, new people and skills, and new technologies. In the first session, we will introduce the overview of the digital supply chain and its four management imperatives–Demand, Talent, Technology, and Risk Management–that form the foundation of a successful digital strategy. In successive sessions, we will delve into each of these areas in detail.
Download the presentation Here.
Session 2: DSC Demand Management
When: August 26 at 11 AM ET
A well-executed digital supply chain strategy can go beyond simply reacting to demand plans created by your organization’s sales team. The digital supply chain can become a source of demand stimulation, and react more rapidly to demand signals, all while managing costs. We’ll explore why it is important to generate real-time data to improve demand forecasting, make better decisions, and create new opportunities that stimulate demand and growth.
Download the presentation Here.
Session 3: DSC Talent Planning
When: September 2 at 11 AM ET
Successfully transforming to a digital supply chain requires education, communication, organizational redesign, process redesign, and new personnel. In this module, we focus on talent development and utilization: identifying the skills required and finding the right talent; cross-functional collaboration; creating incentives; and identifying who makes what decisions, and at what level. We’ll also explore how the best firms encourage collaboration and align their digital supply chain with organizational goals.
Session 4: DSC Technology Enablers
When: September 9 at 11 AM ET
Technology can be a game-changer and can be an accelerator in transforming the supply chain. However, strategically using technology, selecting the right solution, prioritizing data sources, deciding how much to spend on data acquisition, then building new information systems to capture and digest all this new data, is a significant undertaking. In this session, we will discuss a few game-changing technologies and discuss guidelines to help prioritize technology investments and data sources.
Session 5: DSC Risk and Competitive Advantage
When: Sept 16 at 11 AM ET
The digital supply chain provides new, more sophisticated ways to manage risk by using technology and data to shift from a reactive to a preventative control of risks. But digital supply chain risk management practices must be updated to better manage business performance and compliance risks. In many cases, technology can help identify and leverage risk. In this final session, we will explore how companies can mitigate risk more effectively, potentially turning risk into a competitive advantage.
Please reach out to Chris Walsh at [email protected] in case of any questions.
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