In real time, Uber can show you where your driver is, his route to you, and when he will arrive; why can’t you see your supply chain the same way? Supply chain management has always been analytics and data intensive, but despite decades of investment, the manual processes and procedures of the industrial revolution era still reign.
Supply agility has never been more important. For example, in March of 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the U.S. Air Force ordered 700,000 staff to work from home.1 A hundred thousand laptops were sourced, and operational plans were re- imagined on the fly. In a world of increased volatility and global operations, a new ability to sense and respond to real-time conditions that affect the supply chain is required to handle these kinds of sudden changes.