Why I Am Going to Beat You with Last Year’s Software Version
Don’t worry about the new stuff when you are hardly using the old stuff. #TechMatters
Technology today is such an important enabler of high performing supply chains. Unique supply chain strategies combined with supply chain technologies are what separates the leaders from the rest of the pack. Yet, few supply chain organizations have the right strategies in place to exploit their existing technology assets. If I were a supply chain leader today looking to get an edge on my competition I would take advantage of this situation. The funniest part of this approach is that it can enable superior performance but at a much lower risk level compared to chasing bleeding edge solutions.
Source: Supply Chain in 5 and ChatGPT
From my experience leading a professional services organization for over a decade, I learned that the vast majority of supply chain organizations are way behind in adopting the capabilities of product releases already available to them. They don’t invest the time to decipher release notes or consider how those releases could improve their performance. At best, they focus on the enhancement requests they had with the vendor. Worse, if they are happy with how the solution currently works, they will deploy new releases but deliberately not adopt new capabilities to avoid disrupting current operations and performance. FYI, SaaS (Software-as-a-Solution) solutions did not change this dynamic and AI is likely to not either.
If the supply chain organization is more technologically aggressive, they tend to get distracted by the furious pace of announcements and prognostications of new supply chain innovations that seem to be saying “don’t worry about the last generation of advancements, focus on the new ones because they will make older ones obsolete.” In these organizations there are lots of questions about what is coming and when will the latest “killer” technology be deployed. Sadly, they lose interest in what they have, stop investing in expanding its use, and place their efforts on the next new thing that most likely takes years to play out.
As a supply chain leader, do you find your organization in either of the previous two paragraph’s scenarios?
My strategy for success today and in the future comes down to a simple principle. I am going to focus first on getting the most from what I have before I chase the next shiny new supply chain tech object. My people will be well versed on the capabilities of existing product releases. They will work closely with vendors, consultants, other customers and anyone else who can tell how they can improve supply chain performance with what is already available to them. They will iteratively deploy the relevant, previously released advancements, expanding the tech solution’s use and value delivered to the business. Based on a sliding scale of business value delivered from existing capabilities will they focus on future generation of advancements and new products.
There are three important reasons this leverage strategy consistently delivers impressive results.
Bird in the hand. You know the old adage. Yet, when it comes to technology, many supply chain organizations ignore it. It is much faster to adopt and exploit capabilities that exist. Timelines are always much longer for major new capabilities to deliver their promise. In the meantime, business performance stagnates because there’s no continuous leverage already available, but underutilized capabilities.
Business strategy trumps technology capability. Let me clear that air by saying that the right technology can make a huge difference. However, without the right strategy and tactics, even the best supply chain tech produces mediocre results. That’s why in the previous paragraph I focused more on educating resources on how technology delivers business value. To learn more about how to leverage technology read: How are you building a learning supply chain organization?
Tech success is a momentum game. When the whole organization – leaders and workers, see a string of achievements and progress they buy in and help accelerate future success. Leveraging and promoting capabilities as they become available creates a culture of continual improvement and most importantly confidence. Waiting for the next big tech thing creates the opposite effect as step change is fraught with organizational and technology readiness issues that erode confidence, and acceptance which ultimately, impacts results.
Keeping abreast of the advances that are happening and taking advantage of what exists today are not mutually exclusive. However, the goal is for supply chain leaders to balance the leverage of what exists with what is emerging. The problem is the dearth of technology adoption education. I am not talking about high level marketing charts like “hype cycles”. This is a down and dirty exercise where the organization focuses on how to get better business results with the capabilities that exist. Filling this gap is an excellent opportunity for supply chain technology companies, consultants, analysts, etc. to create more value for their customers.
Everyone should view this supply chain technology leverage strategy as “win/win”. The C-suite (CFO in particular) sees that supply chain leaders are effectively leveraging existing assets. Users are better prepared for advances because they are regularly involved in further exploitation of existing solutions. Vendors get more sticky customers as they get more returns from what they have purchased. Supply chain leaders get less pushback when they want to take on the next big tech thing because of a track record of fully exploiting what they have.
Supply chain technology is at one of those points were technological advancements are converging to provide capabilities that were not previously possible. It’s important to supply chain leaders to track their progress to determine the right times to introduce them to their organization. However, it is equally important to take full advantage of capabilities that already exist to improve supply chain performance today. Don’t let those release notes get stuffed into some file never to be viewed again. Harness them as a vehicle to continuously drive business value.