Industries and consumers across the board have felt the impact of supply chain disruptions over the last several years. From baby formula to semiconductor chips, shortages continue to put strains on every market as businesses work to build back from the challenges posed by the peak of the pandemic. Many companies are hardening their infrastructure and revamping their processes to protect against future interruptions, and playing a key role in this effort is supply chain digital intelligence — especially as the economy continues to become more technologically driven.
What is Digital Intelligence?
Digital intelligence involves the development of deep foundational knowledge and understanding of emerging technologies and how they can impact an organization. To be successful in an environment driven by technology, it is imperative to understand how new tools and innovations work and how they can mitigate challenges and build supply chain resiliency. For example, many retailers are increasing their expertise in automation and artificial intelligence technologies and incorporating them into their supply chains. Implementing the technologies can boost productivity in numerous ways:
- Automated systems replacing or supplementing human-managed processes can combat the challenges caused by labor shortages.
- Artificial intelligence technology can streamline and optimize the fulfillment process, and can even predict consumer behaviors and buying patterns.
- Management systems can streamline processes such as inventory management.
Now more than ever, it is crucial that companies build an understanding of the technologies available to them and begin to incorporate them into their supply chains — not only to improve overall efficiency and maintain competitiveness but also to build resiliency to make sure their supply chains are better equipped to handle future disruptions.
However, incorporating new technology can often be a challenging task. Companies strengthening their digital intelligence and striving to enhance their use of technology may first need to evaluate existing technologies to ensure they are compatible with new innovations. For example, many enterprises have switched to plastic pallets from iGPS, which due to their consistent dimensions flow through automated supply chain systems with ease.
Employee training sessions to build digital intelligence into the workforce are also imperative to the success of the technology implementation and can play a crucial part in long-term staff retention.
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it is vital that companies welcome these advances with open arms and work to educate themselves and their employees on the technology options and advances available to them. Companies that remain focused on enhanced digital intelligence in the supply chain will retain and enhance their competitive edge.
Companies committed to increasing their digital intelligence use plastic pallets from iGPS, which are lightweight, recyclable, and help streamline your supply chain. For more information, contact us at 1-866-557-0047, email a specialist at [email protected], or visit our contact page.
