With technological advancements increasing with each passing year, more and more industries are embracing these. In supply chain management, the use of technology has received mixed reviews. While it has no doubt improved the infrastructure in many cases, there are also certain challenges which need to be addressed.
Additionally, supply chain management is a delicate area where a single mistake can travel down the line to become a bigger one. This means that while you should incorporate technology in this area, you should also take the time to address the challenges you might face here. The following are some of the major ones that you need to overcome:
Cost-Based Pressure
The biggest challenge with incorporating technology into supply chain management is the cost of the project. This can require an extensive overhaul, which can actually be a daunting task. Many managers might also struggle here, given the wide margin of the task.
While it is necessary to incorporate tech into supply chain management, it is also important to ensure that you do so in a manner which benefits your business. Improper management at this point can really hamper or cripple your supply chain, which can be disastrous. You need to ensure that you are applying changes that add value to your business, support the function and also enhance your supply chain management with ease.
Getting the Right Training
With tech-based supply chain management, there can be a lot of hi-tech software involved, which needs the right training, certification and more. Encourage your managers, supply chain employees and more to get the proper training they need. This ensures that they understand the challenges that come with implementing a tech-based supply chain and can work out the right solutions for them. From understanding the impact of IoT – Internet of Things— to molding available tech options for the best results, you need to ensure that your tech-based supply chain is functioning in accordance with your guidelines.
The Threat of Cyber Breaches
One of the biggest challenges that you can face with tech-based supply chain management is the risk of cyber breaches and attacks. These are frequent in almost any industry, and as you digitize your supply chain management system, you will have more blind areas, which will need to be covered. Cyber breaches pave the way to getting cyber attacks and these can be very costly. Annoyingly, the main goal behind cyber attacks is to disrupt function so the hackers don’t care that they’re hurting your business in this manner.
By focusing on these challenges, you can easily work towards overcoming them in order to ensure that you get the best benefits. It’s always a good idea to test out your ideas before you implement them to be on the safe side. However, with big businesses such as Amazon leading the way, it seems that the digitization and the use of advanced technology for supply chain management are going to grow with each passing year.
