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can use the cockpit to move from the order management
Keys to SUCCESS B2B portal to the CRM tool to chat with a customer, then
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TMS to check order delivery status. A demand planner can
• Define the IT have the most powerful, collaborative planning platform to
Landscape
work with customers, and easily move to the integrated data
• Evolve the management tool to change a planning parameter. Indeed,
Organisation this company has embraced the digital future to such an
extent that it uses crowdsourcing and social media to allow
• Obtain Senior its community to propose solution enhancements and to
Management vote for their favourites.
Sponsorship However, both companies said that tension still exists
between user desire for specialised vendor offerings for their
function and the IT imperatives for managing the complexity
of data, and interfaces and maintenance.

Keys to Success
These examples of adapting business practices reveal some
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possibilities of supply chain digitalisation:
• 'HÀQH WKH ,7 ODQGVFDSH Digitalisation is generating
Rethinking the Role of IT a dizzying array of potential for supply chains. But a
One large, multinational consumer goods company company cannot be a leader everywhere at once. Select,
realised that adopting new vendor digitalisation solutions invest and tolerate complexity in the priorities and live
required rethinking the way the company’s support centre with being a follower elsewhere.
was organised. It wasn’t enough to have expectations and • Evolve the organisation. Siloed thinking will not work,
requirements set by business process owners and solu- since the impact of choices in supply chain digitalisa-
tion delivery, improvement and training provided by an tion slices across different functions and challenges the
IT function. It found that the IT teams lacked the busi- status quo for business process experts, IT and sourcing.
QHVV H[SHUWLVH WR DSSUHFLDWH WKH SRWHQWLDO EHQHÀWV RIIHUHG Multifunctional teams – including the users – are needed
by new vendor solutions, and the business process owners to explore and select the right solutions and manage the
were often too consumed by other responsibilities and complexity.
QRW VXIÀFLHQWO\ H[SRVHG WR VXSSO\ FKDLQ GLJLWDOLVDWLRQ • Obtain senior management sponsorship. Prioritisation
To address this, the company adopted a multifunctional PHDQV GLIÀFXOW FKRLFHV DQG FURVV IXQFWLRQDO FROODERUDWLRQ
approach by appointing a Supply Chain Digitalisation is always a challenge. The full support of senior manage-
Director, to help bring IT and the business process owners ment is vital to bring everyone together around a shared
together to discover the possibility of new innovations, roadmap with the necessary resources to succeed.
and explore their impact on both business practices and IT
management. About the Authors
Another major consumer goods company is also Richard Markoff has worked in supply chain for
embracing the IT management changes brought on by digi- L’Oréal for 22 years, in Canada, the US and France,
talisation. The rapid proliferation of powerful niche tools spanning the entire value chain from manufacturing
has led the company to realise it put too much emphasis to customer collaboration. He is currently a supply
on process automation, and not enough on the user. In chain coach, consultant, researcher and lecturer.
response, the company is not only actively deploying best- Ralf Seifert is Professor of Technology & Opera-
in-breed digital solutions but also building central cockpits tions Management at the College of Management
so that users have the best of both worlds: niche tools of Technology at EPFL. He also serves as
WKDW DOORZ WKHP WR EHQHÀW IURP H[FLWLQJ QHZ ,7 VROXWLRQV Professor of Operations Management at IMD
but with a central portal that allows them to move freely business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where
between tools. For example, a customer care representative he directs the Digital Supply Chain Management programme.

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