Building an adaptive digital supply chain for effective transformation can create value for not only your organization, but also ecosystem partners and stakeholders. With an adaptive supply chain, the end consumer continues to get the benefits of the supply chain without feeling the pain of change.

Establishing a roadmap for supply chain digital transformation is not without challenges, some of which evolve over time. However, an adaptive supply chain means an organization can reconfigure across partners and geographies.

Supply chains today need a holistic insight into operations to help improve efficiency for end-user product delivery and to address critical inefficiencies.

Challenges to building out a supply chain digital transformation roadmap

According to Sadagopan Singam, EVP, Global Head of SaaS and Commercial Applications, Digital Business Services at HCLTech there are three challenges to building an adaptive supply chain, but these challenges can also present opportunities.

The first challenge starts with the recasting of the global supply chain around the world. For the past two decades, China was at the core, but today Singam estimates that 90 percent of organizations have gone beyond that to a China Plus One model and roughly 40 percent of organizations have gone beyond that to China Plus N model — which means number of countries outside China plus China. These changes can affect how a roadmap is structured.

The second challenge comes from the COVID-19 pandemic creating a new level of expectations from the consumers in terms of responsiveness before sales, during sales and after sales. This has resulted in a new bar of efficiency through which customers want to benefit from the supply chain. Therefore, the fundamental elements and measures of performance and expectations on the supply chain have changed.

Lastly, the number of regulations and number of corporate and global expectations are surging. Many organizations want to integrate the supply chain initiatives as part of their ESG initiatives.

Protecting data when implementing a supply chain strategy

When it comes to protecting data and ensuring digital ecosystems are secure, regulations are important to keep in mind when building out a roadmap.

“If you go to North America, we’re seeing things trend where vertical after vertical or industry sector after industry sector are having more specific types of regulations to adhere to,” says Singam. “Along with the regulation comes the definition of how data needs to be leveraged.”

There is a heavy dependence on leveraging common or compatible platforms and, as a result, there is a data consistency that is set up across the supply chain that requires defined standards. Establishing defined standards can present a challenge, but it is essential to data security.

Additionally, when it comes to specialized data, companies should go above and beyond the basic regulatory expectations. What helps companies with data security can be the leveraging of hyperscalers such as Google Cloud or AWS to have the highest standards of security built into whatever they do.

Creating value for your organization

According to Singam, the supply chain allows organizations to reject the configuration on a dynamic basis across partners, customers and geographies.

“In the past, nine out of 10 times a product under $25 would have been made in China. Today, when you look at the volume share, it is less than 10 percent,” says Singam. “So, this dramatic change without actually making the consumer feel the effect of the supply chain changing is where the adaptive supply chain comes into picture.”

Changing sources, the process, the technology, the composition of the material, the way service levels are defined and changing the way the transportation changes all means that the end consumer continues to get the benefit without feeling the pain of change and organizational needs.

HCLTech can work in multiple areas helping organizations to either enhance the effectiveness of their supply chain or in setting up their supply chain. Reimagining and reconfiguring a supply chain is the first area where HCLTech can closely work with enterprises.

The second area where HCLTech can help customers is adopting the right type of technology.

“Today, there are a multitude of options in terms of how to create or how to lay out your supply chain and how do we create that visibility across the supply chain, the level of latency that can be maintained and the level of traceability that has to be established to make sure the supply chain is compliant with regulatory requirements across the board around the world,” says Singam.

Another area where HCLTech can help organizations is organizational change management. An organization like HCLTech can provide an independent perspective so that the organization and key stakeholders can effortlessly align to the overall vision of a supply chain that serves multiple configurations.

Additionally, HCLTech’s Supply Chain Models (SCM) helps clients achieve greater collaboration among stakeholders and redefine the supply chain pathway to boost service levels across diverse verticals. Supply chains require a holistic insight into operations to help improve efficiency for end-user product delivery. Through holistic insight and the power of synergy, HCLTech’s SCM solutions will continue to help clients achieve greater collaboration among stakeholders.