The Digital Supply Chain Challenge

CHAPTER 1 SEPARATING HYPE FROM REALITY Hearing and thinking about supply chain digitalization (SCD) can be intimidating at first. There are so many technologies, so many buzzwords and so few concrete examples to help solidify possibilities that it is hard to know where to start. The landscape is still embryonic and in flux, with a crowded and growing ecosystem of vendors, often with proprietary operating protocols. Consultants each come with their own frameworks and terminologies that, rather than providing clarity, further confuse what is meant by SCD, what it can offer and where to start. A look at the 2019 Gartner Supply Chain Strategy Hype Cycle, 1 which represents the maturity, adoption and social application of specific technologies, points to how SCD has come to dominate the conversation about supply chain innovation: • Seven supply chain enablers or capabilities are considered to be on the rise . All but one are within the scope of SCD. They are natural language generation, SCaaSA (supply chain as a service architecture), supply chain virtualization, artificial intelligence, data literacy and digital security. The lone outsider is circular economy. • Six supply chain enablers or capabilities are at the peak of the Hype Cycle, four of them squarely within supply chain digitalization: blockchain, robotics/ automation, social learning platforms and digital supply chain services. The other two are evergreen topics: customer intimacy and solution-centric supply chains. • Even six of the eleven capabilities sliding into the trough are elements of SCD. For supply chain managers balancing the day-to-day imperatives of service, cost and working capital management, as well as navigating internal stakeholders, it

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