Up until very recently, supply chain control towers were used to gather specific functional key performance indicator (KPI) data. This data provided the operator with operational performance visibility and insights to share with the organisation’s immediate trading partners.
However, with the development of multi-party, consumer-driven networks, technology investments are now being made to embrace more advanced forms of digital control towers — cognitive decision centres (CDCs). These new technologies provide real-time visibility, facilitate multi-party collaboration and use more powerful self-correcting capabilities to support decision-making and autonomous control through AI and machine-learning.
CDCs are data-rich environments that make decision-making effortless and effective. They go beyond historical visualisation of the supply chain to predict performance across products, suppliers, distributors, customers and more. They enable organisations to balance customer service, risk, cost and working capital decisions, using advanced simulations and modelling to identify the optimum performance trade-offs.
CDCs are focused on wide organisational goals, so that decisions — and the incentives of decision-makers — are based on what is best for the enterprise. Leaders are able to gain complete supply chain visibility and the ability to make rapid informed decisions to better respond to customer needs and manage performance.
Today’s customers are better informed, better connected and more demanding than ever before. The supply chain must adapt to these heightened expectations.
