Page 53 - Finanancial Management_Feb_Apr23

Five experts discuss how
digitalisation can address

supply chain disruptions
that can hit reputation and
revenues.

By Andrew Kenney

lobal supply chains have been
under pressure from trade disputes,
cyberattacks, and commodity price
fluctuations since before 2020.
G Pandemic lockdowns exacerbated
problems, throwing gaps in supply chain
management into sharp relief.
A 2021 Economic Intelligence Unit survey of
around 400 senior supply chain and procurement
executives in the US and Europe found that
businesses suffered reputational damage and that
supply chain disruptions also cost them an average
of 6% to 10% of annual revenues in 2020 and the
two years before.
In 2020, the top priority to address supply chain
issues was better analytics and information
management, according to management
consultancy The Hackett Group. That includes
digital tools to analyse and visualise data, and tools
to analyse demand patterns, optimise sourcing and
production, and measure warehouse and logistics
performance.
“There was a lot of human glue: throwing
resources at problems that could have been
automated or assisted [by technology],” said Brian
Higgins, leader of KPMG’s supply chain and
operations business in the US.
Three years after the start of the pandemic,
inflationary pressures, more frequent and severe
natural disasters, and the Russia-Ukraine war have
“amplified the need for modernisation and
addressing the tech deficit”, Higgins said. “The
reality is,” he added, “there’s been such a pent-up
demand for these supply chain transformations.”
Today’s emerging supply chain technologies
range from automation that combines artificial
intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process
automation (RPA) to the internet of things (IoT) in

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