Supply chain management has been a major part of business for quite some time, and technology has played a major part in how it works. Whether it’s people buying or selling goods on the Internet or internally managing their resources, the supply chain is an integral part of any successful business that manufactures or sells products. Let’s look at some of the ways that supply chain management influences businesses–even companies that don’t make or sell products, but still rely on products.
Technology has allowed the supply chain to develop in interesting ways, providing companies with more ways to control it when issues like conflict and world health concerns impact acquisition and flow of goods. Let’s look at some of the common tools that might affect supply chain management.
The cloud gives businesses so much versatility and flexibility that you’d be hard-pressed to find any business that doesn’t use it in some way. Unfortunately, there aren’t many businesses that find a natural way to implement the cloud for supply chain management. The issue at hand is a perceived lack of security, but the reality is that with the right practices and precautions, the cloud can be an effective tool for supply chain management.
The cloud provides access to more advanced tools that can be used on any connected network, which is huge for supply chain management. There are other benefits to consider as well, including the following:
When coupled with cloud computing tools, the IoT makes for a great addition to any supply chain management platform. Through sensors that can report movement of resources, you can glean much from your systems and the flow of goods. Here are other ways you can use the IoT for your supply chain:
The development of AI has also been discussed as an opportunity to make change in the supply chain. Applications that integrate with AI have other ways of streamlining the shipping process outside of the standard ship-then-report model. Here are some of the processes involved:
How would you implement supply chain management technology into your infrastructure? Are you interested in giving it a shot? Horne & Benik can advise you each step of the way. Learn more by calling us at (603) 499-4400.
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