Many organizations are currently facing a number of issues with their supply chain in terms of visibility – which can lead to delivery delays and greater logistical costs. In any industry, situational awareness could easily boost the long-term efficacy of your supply chain and let you make any essential changes. SAP’s Business Technology Platform could be particularly useful in increasing visibility and sustainability; this depends on how you use the platform and its various features. In this article, we look at how BTP can help you increase sustainability as well as combat the problems that poor process visibility often leads to.
Current issues with process visibility
Knowing how your supply chain functions at every step is the only way you can guarantee a full understanding of the company and its current capabilities. If your organization doesn’t have an up-to-date inventory that also accounts for items in-transit, there might be a number of inefficiencies which the business cannot address. For example, unnecessary complications could lead to human error and disruptions that impact delivery times. On top of this, your company may be unable to adequately forecast customer demand without visibility – possibly resulting in stock shortages or overflows that affect the organization’s bottom line.
How this affects SAP investments and sustainability efforts
SAP platforms can provide tremendous help in addressing inefficiencies but these investments will only pay off if you know how to manage your Business Technology Platform. You could benefit from a BTP monitor – which lets you closely inspect how the solution works to fit your organization via usage tracking and measuring ROI. Greater insight into your own logistical processes also lets you see how sustainable they are, such as by comparing vendors and other expenses. Real-time carbon data- also available in the BTP Monitor, may also show how to streamline the delivery process, allowing you to build a more effective and sustainable supply chain strategy.
Why process visibility matters
Here are a number of reasons your company should commit to increasing process visibility:
Reduce process complexities through automations
Automating menial or repetitive tasks can help workers save time and energy at every stage, whilst also limiting the likelihood of human error. This also highlights where specific processes are drawing unnecessary focus and might benefit from optimisation. By using automation to streamline the entire supply chain wherever possible, the resulting processes become easier for everyone to understand. This approach also generates high volumes of data – letting your team and BTP monitor closely examine the information and gain a greater understanding of how to address the company’s current inefficiencies.
Decrease time to market
Reducing a product’s time to market can significantly improve your profits by letting your organization react to market trends more quickly. Supply chain visibility helps the team assemble products faster by keeping track of individual components – possibly using tools on the SAP Business Technology Platform to select a different vendor with faster delivery times. A focus on visibility can even help your company save money by identifying inefficiencies, leaving more budget available for each project. Simplifying individual supply chain processes lets your business source, create, and even distribute items with greater ease.
Create analytical certainty
Companies often need concrete data in order to make serious operational changes. Every alteration you make to your usual processes comes with substantial risk; comprehensive analytics allow you to make choices which you know will pay dividends. Full supply chain visibility is necessary in order to generate the analytics and data your company requires to change its processes. For example, increased visibility might show steps in this chain which are more expensive than others. These analytics can encourage the team to investigate alternatives and restructure its strategy in a way that increases profitability.
How to introduce visibility for a more sustainable supply chain
Leveraging technological platforms such as SAP BTP alongside complementary BTP monitoring software allows you to better engage with the information your company produces. This increases visibility and showcases the steps you can confidently take to make your supply chain more reliable long-term. You should also involve the firm’s stakeholders at every stage; good relationships with suppliers can lead to better deals, for example. The company must rely on its data to mitigate risk and produce actionable analytics which highlights the many ways your team could increase the supply chain’s efficiency.
Conclusion
A transparent supply chain is essential when using the SAP Business Technology Platform – this helps your firm to reach its full potential and expose certain inefficiencies that might be limiting it. Many of the products which comprise the BTP require a visible supply chain to highlight discrepancies and issues, or even to produce useful business analytics. To compound this, you might benefit from implementing a monitoring tool that guides your use of the platform. By improving supply chain visibility and committing your business to fix the many forms of inefficiency that might arise, you can see greater profits and higher customer satisfaction.
