Technology in supply chains: Transformation still elusive for some companies

Insights from PwC’s 2023 Digital Trends in Supply Chain Survey

Where you go from here

Is your company ready to be smarter in applying technology effectively at different points of the supply chain? Consider these actions as potential next steps.

• Reset your tech enablement strategy. After the chaos of the past few years, assess how your customer expectations are evolving and affecting supply chain demands. Look for technologies that can better position your supply chain to meet those expectations.
• Determine your digital manufacturing path. With increased efforts to encourage more US industrial production, collaboration around information technology and operating technology is critical to enabling digital manufacturing and adapting supply chains to new demands.
• Prioritize your people. You shouldn’t see reskilling and upskilling employees and hiring digital-savvy talent as needs without making them a primary goal for your supply chain, but that’s what our survey found. Don’t look at training or hiring as binary, but rather crystallize how your business strategy helps employees adapt to new ways of working and better prepares them to execute on strategic goals, not just day-to-day operations.
• Identify blindspots. Many companies are evolving their portfolios in ways that drive net-new capability requirements. The rise of connected products is one example, and you should anticipate how the demands of these developments will ripple through supply chains.
• Go beyond data and focus on data quality. The potential power of data in operations is well known. But without strong data governance and a culture of constant data quality improvement, your supply chain can slip into a garbage-in-garbage-out situation that hampers the adoption of and perceptions of digitization and — ultimately — your returns.