So I’ve read a lot about people talking about how this lockdown period should be dedicated to building your skills, starting that business, birthing and launching those great ideas.

I have also read several write ups that attempts to “label” people who wouldn’t use this period to do the aforementioned as lazy, failure and irresponsible.

Why I have no objection to the benefits. of building your skills (I’m passionate about skills development), getting certifications (I have plenty and more will follow), and launching those great ideas (now that you have ‘free’ time); I’m also envisaging a potential trend of people simply ‘doing’ it just to feel belonging. Furthermore, I also envisage (hypothetically) that a lot people are just taking up all sort of activities OUT of the pressure to show that they’re busy and to avoid been tagged lazy.

Well, if you ask me, I’ll tell you I’m doing nothing, just trying to SURVIVE! I don’t actually need a lockdown to learn new skills or birth new ideas!

The pandemic has impacted people in unprecedented and different ways.

We must recognize that people have different ‘Coping’ potency! Some are just trying to survive and that’s perfectly ok. Some are learning how to deal with the uncertainties that comes with the lockdown.

People’s need at this time differs — refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

If your need is to do certification and learn new skills, that’s perfectly ok:that doesn’t mean that those whose needs are not similar to yours are irresponsible or a failure! Stop the labeling and don’t be pressured by the labeling!

Some are actually homeless (or have been rendered homeless) by this pandemic — all they need is a home!

Others don’t have the finance to do what you’re pressuring them to do — all they need is finance!

Some are not mentally stable to undertake those activities that you’ve tagged “responsible” — if you fall within this category, you’re perfectly fine, please focus on your mental health and don’t feel that you’re lazy or not ambitious enough!

Some are dealing with severe anxiety — all they need is peace and reassurance!

Some have lost their jobs and source of livelihood (more lay off might follow post COVID; collapse of capital market, companies shutting down)-it’s enough trying to figure out how you’ll deal with all these.

If you can carry on building your skills, doing certifications etc, that’s perfectly ok!

If you’re still trying to figure out what to do-you’re very fine as well!

We’re engineered differently and should operate in our zones! Each of us are faced with different challenges in this pandemic, we cannot deal with it same way; same approach!

To each, his/her own; cope, survive and thrive at your PACE.

If you can and must go on to acquire new skills or knowledge, go right ahead but ensure it’s fit for purpose and align with your career roadmap now or for the future! Don’t just sign up because everyone in your WhatsApp have signed up!

To you, who like me; haven’t been able to figure out what else to do during this lockdown other than to COPE, SURVIVE & THRIVE, note that there’s nothing wrong with you! Don’t be pressured!

There’s light at the end of the tunnel!

End!

Organisations and businesses are operating in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment due to customers changing need and market dynamics. To achieve and sustain a supply chain that is responsive to the changing needs of the customer, market dynamics and volatile business environment, there is a need for organisations to design and implement a supply chain that incorporates agility and lean operation across the value chain.

Leading supply chains are leveraging on cutting-edge technology such as cloud computing, Big Data Analytics, Internet of Things, blockchain technology etc to create a supply chain that enables real-time sharing of data and information between manufacturers, suppliers and buyers thereby improving supply chain “leagility” and competitive advantage.

SUPPLY CHAIN LEAGILITY (Lean-Agile): A Hybrid Strategies

In supply chain design and execution, there will be cases when either a ‘pure’ lean or ‘agile’ approach might be suitable for a supply chain. Conversely, situations may arise where a blend of the lean and agile approach may be required to complement each other, such an approach is referred to as a hybrid strategy (Christopher and Towill, 2000).

The combination of lean and agile supply chain give rise to a hybrid supply chain known as “leagile”.

It is advisable for firms to explore hybrid supply chain approach with possibilities to switch between agile and lean depending on market and supply chain dynamics.

CONCEPT OF LEAN SYSTEM

The concept of lean was first introduced and implemented by Toyota, they called it Toyota Production System (Womack & Jones, 1996). The two major aim of the lean system is to improve efficiency by eliminating or reducing error and waste; and optimization of inventory carrying cost through batch manufacturing and JIT (Just-In-Time) delivery.

The concept of a lean system is doing more with less.

Organisations can implement lean supply chain through the following:

1. Specifying what creates value from the customer perspective.
2. Identify the activities that need to be done to achieve the above — Efficient Supply Chain Planning.
3. Carry out the required activities — best in class New Product Development process.
4. Only produce & deliver what is required — Through Just-In-Time.
5. Continuous improvement — review of processes to identify waste and eliminate them

Apple Supply Chain Planning is a typical example of lean manufacturing through its New Product Development Process (NPD). As depicted in the figure below, it integrates Research & Development, Marketing research activities and various roles under supply chain management. From the figure, Apple Inc. fast-tracks the new product introduction to the market by on-time procurement of licenses, maintaining an appropriate inventory level, and managing material purchase commitments. They make advance payments to some suppliers to secure and lock in pricing and materials for strategic raw materials. The inventory level is regularly reviewed to ensure that raw materials are delivered just when it is needed.

AGILE SUPPLY CHAIN

In a rapidly changing and volatile environment, supply chains need to be agile to effectively respond to disruptive changes in demand and supply and remain competitive.

An agile supply chain is one that is able to swiftly respond to supply and demand issues of customers in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) market environment. It strives to deliver a swift response to consumer requirements at an acceptable cost. A vital feature of an agile supply chain is flexibility in terms of rapid adjustment, modularity, reconfigurability, versatility or standardization (Shaw et al., 2005).

An Agile Supply Chain is demand drivenand customer focused.

Supply Chains that have embraced the transformative influence of agility and responsiveness are always ahead of its competition because they are enabled to swiftly anticipate and respond to unanticipated occasions, and turn disruption to benefit.

Agility is required in an environment that is less predictable, volatile demand and high variety. Lean works best in an environment that predictable, with high volume and low variety (Shaw, et al, 2005). Most organisations operate in both environments eg Dell with products such as PC that sell more volume and therefore predictable-here a lean approach is recommended; whereas other products such as servers, storage, sell less volume with very volatile demand requiring an agile approach.

Dell agile and lean supply chain design enables it to implement make-to-order and assemble-to-order methodology. Make-to-order model is used by Dell to manufacture quality products and services at a competitive price within a short span of time based on customers’ requirements. The assemble-to-order practice is to postpone the assembly of their devices until there is market demand through a confirmed purchase order from a customer and customer configuration. With this approach, Dell is guaranteed that whatever device they produce will be sold almost immediately and not tied down as an inventory. They keep minimum inventory and follows the Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory model. Dells’ supply chain is designed to be market sensitive, capable of evaluating and responding to disruptive demand.

How advanced and emerging technologies are utilised by supply chains to improve supply chain leagility.

Organisations are increasingly improving their supply chain leagility by exploring and adopting advanced and emerging technologies such as big data analytics, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and blockchain.

Big Data Analytics

Big data analytics have evolved and now adopted as a competitive advantage tool and techniques for organisations in recent years. Organisations are harnessing and leveraging on supply chain “ big” data to improve and transform its Efficient Consumer Response (ECR)-the ability to hear the voice of the consumer and swiftly provide a direct response. Supply Chain functions can utilize Big Data Analytics to unearth insights on customer demand pattern and inventory to enhance supply chain agility and customers changing need to drive the development and delivery of differentiated products that align with customers need. Implementing big data can support running enquiries faster, predicting demands accurately to solve sourcing challenges and potentially reducing operational costs.

Actionable analytics powers smarter decisions and Next Best Action (predictive insights)

Internet of Things (IoT)

Supply chains are utilizing emerging technologies such as RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), sensors, GPS tag, chips and barcodes to track and provide real-time information about the location of an inventory and then communicating this data to an application which enhances the visibility of inventory’s route to all supply chain partners and speeds up decision and collaborative efforts. Furthermore, supply chains are leveraging robotics for order pick up and fulfilment through IoT resulting in accelerated consumer deliveries after purchase. This increases business expansion through customer growth and retention. IoT can be employed by supply chain and logistics providers to facilitate alternative product delivery through automated product delivery using drones such as UVA (unmanned aerial vehicles). Supply chain processes, raw materials and components are becoming instrumented with IoT sensors such as Smart Packaging; Labels, Radio and GSM Tagging enabling real-time communication with each other and generating data that powers de-centralized optimization Intelligence, predictive analytics and Next Best Action.

Cloud Computing

Supply chain clouds are shared supply chain platforms between clients, suppliers and customers, providing real-time collaborative SC solutions (planning, sourcing/ordering, contracting, distribution, payment). Cloud-based supply chain platforms are scalable to meet the changing needs of any size supply chain. Cloud computing allows various supply chain applications and platforms to work and exchange data with one another in real time with the ability to improve between swift communication and order fulfilment thereby improving the efficiency of the supply chain. Several organisations have adopted cloud computing in their supply chains; by developing cloud-based platforms that allow suppliers to share real-time data about their inventories, capacities, cost and quality metrics. They utilize the platform to share information about customer requirements, customer demand and product quality requirements. Cloud computing can significantly reduce Bullwhip effect enabling all stakeholders to gain insight into the actual demand volatility they have to manage. Adopting and applying cloud-based technology in supply chain management could result in palpable values and benefits such as cost savings, real-time visibility, improved forecasting and planning, streamlined processes, improved security, flexibility, as well as enhanced sustainable supply chain.

Blockchain Technology

Supply chains can leverage on blockchain technology to monitor and obtain real-time details of a required asset or material, and track shipments to better predict where a shipment is; when it will arrive and in what condition. Blockchain can provide enhanced supply chain visibility, which can lead to improved just-in-time planning and accurate inventory management while reducing waste across the entire supply chain. In a supply chain, firms are somewhat interested in knowing when their order (goods) will be delivered, but sometimes it’s essential to know where the materials and goods have been before arriving at your facility. With blockchain, firms can improve the traceability of goods

Apple is considering the integration of blockchain technology in its mineral supply chain process to improve transparency and quell human rights abuse concerns.

CONCLUSION

In this day and age, organisations and businesses are faced with uncertainty, turbulence and volatility both on the demand and supply side orchestrated by changing customer demands, product proliferation, decreasing product lifecycle and lower price demands. Hence, their supply chains are required to be flexible and quick to respond to the changing business environment and market dynamics. Organisations are now designing their supply chains to be agile and flexible to swiftly match and deliver customers demand and lean to minimize waste and optimize inventory. The removal or reduction of the uncertainties within a supply chain requires close collaboration with suppliers and all the participants within the supply chain network. Markets with a wide variety of innovative products, unpredictable demand and short cycle times require agile supply chain, conversely, markets with less unpredictable demand, limited variety of products probably require for lean supply chains.

It is advisable for firms to explore hybrid supply chain approach that allows it to switch between agile and lean depending on market dynamics and environment. Organisations should implement collaborative supply chain strategies with their suppliers and customers, and ensure they are involved early in the new products development stage while adopting the use of advanced and emerging technologies such as cloud computing, big data analytics, blockchain etc in the design, planning and control of the supply chain. They should ensure that the digital supply chain roadmaps align with the enterprise-wide digital goals. The possibilities of how advanced and emerging technologies could impact supply chain management is infinite.

The increasing adoption of Supply Chain Finance within industries is driven by the need to optimize working capital and improve liquidity.

Supply Chain Finance (SCF) is a generic term for a wide variety of financing instruments, used to finance various parties in a supply chain. SCF refers to the use of short-term credit to balance working capital between a buyer and a seller, thus minimising aggregate supply chain cost. Businesses can use supply chain financing to build stronger relationships with suppliers, decrease currency risk and ultimately improve liquidity. Financial institutions offer supply chain financing solutions aimed at improving the purchaser’s working capital, and the supplier’s liquidity, by providing an efficient payables platform to streamline the payment process (Finextra).

From Supply Chain perspective, SCF creates a WIN-WIN situation for both the buyers and suppliers by improving liquidity and capital allocation across the value chain (Popa, 2013).

Today, most SCF still rely on traditional, paper-intensive processes, some digitization has happened, albeit the limitations of those platform.. Supply Chain Finance involves vast number of parties and intermediaries; hence involves alot of challenges and risks in the collection of receivables and credits. Fraud, diversions, manipulation and transparency are some of the inherent challenges faced by parties in SCF.

Blockchain’s ability to deliver and enhance security, transparency, efficiency, complaicne and trust can be leveraged to drive Supply Chain Finance. Blockchain is able to digitise the documents involved in SCF, which are then stored, together with every other detail, on a shared ledger that is visible to all in the supply chain. Blockchain is also immutable because it can’t be changed, reducing the chance of information being tampered with. Blockchain can power SCF platform in an objective, distributed and evenly-balanced manner that guarantees security and entrenches trust.

Blockchain will enhance Supply Chain Financing in the following areas:

1. VALIDATION & AUTHENTICATION: Validating and authenticating access and right to information, data and resources and the integrity of the validating processes are key component of SCF. Blockchain would ensure the efficient distribution and integrity of authentication rights across parties in the Supply Chain, in a way that ensures the prevention of fraud like the case of the warehouse receipt scandal at China’s Qingdao Port where criminals used false warehouse certificates to pledge metal as collateral for multiple bank loans; obviously the traditional way of verifying receipts/certificates (even though it’s was digitize via ERP) does not guarantee adequate security and integrity of the documents.
2. TRANSPARENCY, VISIBILITY & AUDITABILITY: Blockchain will provide visibility and traceability of information/documents as they move from one party to another; this way banks/lenders/buyers knows what they are financing, hence are able to proactively reduce their exposure to fraud and credit risk. This technology, also includes Smart Contracts which essentially enable all parties in a supply chain finance solution to act on a single shared ledger. The bank/financier has access to the smart contracts and can track processes like manufacturing, shipping, order fulfillment at any given time. A supplier and manufacturer, along with every other participant, will solely update their parts of the transaction, enabling efficiency and an “unprecedented” level of trust and transparency on a ledger record that is immutable (Finextra).
3. SPEED & INCREASED CONTROL: Today, the speed of delivering SCF solutions is very slow and lack adequate control due the arduous systems and processes (e.g. submitting Bill of Lading, Letter of Credit, invoicing, goods receipt verification and payment). Smart Contract powered by Blockchain technology can do all these in split seconds based on set conditions. The time required from initiation of SCF request to payment (as a result of less manual activity on the part of the banks/financier) will be reduced. The reduction in transaction time, will also lead to, reduced time for payment; loan approval, and reduced risk of fraud. Blockchain technology offers greater potential in terms of increased control because all transactions are monitored by both or all parties in the chain. This way of financing a supply chain is radically cheaper and more efficient than the current way of doing business.
4. INCREASED COMPETITION & OPPORTUNITIES: The trust, security and transparency that would be provided by blockchain technology will attract other providers of capital into Supply Chain Finance, increasing competition and driving down margins. this will also usher and encourage partnership between banks and technology provider to pool resources as the case of IBM and seven of Europe’s biggest banks.

BLOCKCHAIN SCF PROJECTS: Supply Chain/Trade Finance providers around the world are already embracing blockchain technology to power their Supply Chain Fiance platform. Some of them are listed below:

1. Maersk global cross border blockchain-based supply chain solution
2. Yijian Blockchain Technology Application System in collaboration with IBM
3. Chained Finance launched by China-based electronic firm Dianrong and online marketplace lender FnConn (a Foxconn subsidiary)
4. Mahindra common platform with IBM
5. Fluent Trade Asset Marketplace
6. Halotrade - http://halotrade.io/
7. Skuchain — http://www.skuchain.com/

My parting word is that blockchain technology is revolutionary and would continue to offer unprecedented value to adopters.

#blockchain #finance #IoT #Supplychain #banks #digital

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND ITS POTENTIALS TO ACCELERATE SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE (SCF). was originally published in DataDrivenInvestor on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Blockchain, though in it nascent stage, has now become mainstream. A lot of buzz about blockchain rocks every corner of the webspace. Based on comments and experts opinion, It appears that blockchain is the next disruptive invention since the internet.

As a Digital Procurement professional, i am still exploring blockchain and honestly have not been able to make out all the technical details about how it works. My attempt is to understand the concept and working model of blockchain technology and how its application can usher an unprecedented breakthrough in Procurement. I seek to unravel how leveraging on blockchain technology could add tremendous value to Supply chain processes.

I believe that blockchain technology has the potentials to redefine and disrupt the future of procurement viz-a-viz the Procure-to-Pay (P2P) process.

Blockchain is a platform that powers and records transactions in secured and authenticated digital ledger. However, in my view, i see blockchain beyond just a ledger! It differs from the regular technology because it does not rely on a central ledger.

According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) “Blockchains allow us to have a distributed peer-to-peer network where non-trusting members can interact with each other without a trusted intermediary, in a verifiable manner.”

In blockchain technology, all authenticated (verified) parties are allowed to make, record and witness transactions. The methodology used by blockchain to record and link data makes it unique and secured. It protects the integrity of the digital information by preventing alterations or data manipulation. One of the key backbone of commerce, and by extension procurement is TRUST. Doing business becomes easier once there is trust. By design, blockchain has the potential to establish and maintain trust among parties.

When applied to procurement processes, blockchain will help to streamline businesses by improving:

· Efficiency

· Transparency

· Security

· Compliance

· Trust

Blockchain will bring tremendous value across the supply chain ranging from:

· Requisition

· Budgeting

· Purchase order

· Contract

· Logistics/Delivery

· Payment

Several forward looking organizations are already exploring the application of blockchain to their processes.

Recently, Nigeria Customs Service adopted blockchain technology for its excise trade “We used Oracle’s blockchain to build a trusted platform for the automation of Customs Excise Trade business processes and procedures,” said Aber T Benjamin, Assistant Comptroller General Modernization, Nigeria Customs Service. This has the potential of increasing NCS’ revenue by 50% while improving speed, efficiency, transparency and data security

World largest container ship and supply vessel operator — Maersk is also experimenting freight tracking and import/export automation using blockchain.

CLAUSE www.clause.io is building platforms that leverages on the power of blockchain technology. CLAUSE builds platforms that powers SMART CONTRACT. This enables users to connect their contracts to the Internet of Things and APIs, allowing them to self-manage commercial relationships and business processes.

WAVE (https://wavesplatform.com/ ) platform connects parties in a supply chain to a decentralized network; allowing the exchange of documents. This has improved speed, reduce risks by eliminating disputes, forgeries etc

Blockchain has the potential to disrupt supply chain and procurement processes. Supply chain and procurement professional should begin to explore the possibilities in blockchain and the enhancements it could bring to the procurement processes.

In some cases (and from personal experience using various ERP), Procurement Pro have to “download” the dataset as an “xls” or “csv” file; perform data wrangling in MS Excel or related tools before the proper analysis and visualization to unlock the insights from the Spend data. This can be very overwhelming and boring exercise!

In terms of data accuracy, there is a secret fact that most ERP analytics tool has actually performed below humans at aggregating spend data.

With ground breaking progresses in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, this woe of spend analytics is gradually diminishing!

In this article, i will x-ray few errors associated with Spend Analytics in ERP and how AI/ML could help to improve the outcome.

1. DATA ACCURACY: Up till now, I have to download spend data from ERP, analyze in MS Excel and recently Tableau. ERP data usually rely on statistical classification for data matching, and often have poor data classification, erroneous, and missing data leading to low accuracy estimated at 89%. The method of processing of data is batched-This implies that they will be unable to adopt new terms and changes-language, geographies etc. This method can not learn nor receive real-time data. Generally, to produce insights on new dataset, there will be need to write new rules. With AI/ML, algorithms can be developed that is intelligent and able to classify data accurately. AI has knowledge base it can draw from for self improvement.The platform is able to learn from data real-time, improving itself as more data is received. AI incorporated into an ERP analytics platform can improve data classification and cleansing with high accuracy up to 98%.
2. SPEED: As stated above, the traditional method of downloading datasets from ERP before analyzing is time-consuming; requiring plenty of effort and prone to error. AI-based analytics platform will improve speed to generating analytics exponentially. The platform will be equipped with data wrangling, and remediation capabilities for real-time analysis of transactional spend data from different sources. Insights would be generated real-time at a click of a button. Procurement pro do not need to manually download and analyse any dataset-All analysis would be performed on the platform!. This will free up the Procurement pro time to focus on valuable tasks and business partnering.
3. PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS: The regular spend analytics approach is to basically review and analyse historical spend data (ie after the purchase has been made). It only let you know what you spent your money on. With AI/ML, Procurement Pro will not only measure what was spent, but can simulate real-time procurement scenarios to unlock predictive insights about Procurement BEFORE, DURING & AFTER the money is spent! This is will be a major breakthrough as it will drive reduction in fund wastage, tail spending, improve cost optimization and maximize value generation. The power of predictive analytics will equip the Procurement pro to be a better negotiator and deal maker as they are now armed with deep insights both on cost, supplier market and demand.

Can data analytics and ML shape the future of Procurement?

Data Analytics is the process of examining data sets with aim of drawing conclusions about the information they contain. Data Analytics turns large volume of data into useful and insightful business information. This is made possible with the aid of specialized softwares.

Today’s Procurement and Supply Chain professionals receives and generates incredibly huge amount of data in their daily tasks- data from vendors quotes, invoices, order, inventory

Data analysis has become a very necessary tool & activity for leading Procurement pros.

These big data (from vendors,internal business units, markets), when optimally harvested and analyzed by Procurement pros can become an intelligible, effective tool that could be leveraged to develop and operationize strategies to optimize value in demand management, supply chain risks, negotiation, inventory, logistics and warehousing etc

Organizations are demanding that Procurement grow and extend value delivery to the business beyond cost savings

WHAT DO PROCUREMENT PROS DO WITH THE VAST AMOUNT OF SPEND/SUPPLY DATA THEY GENERATE DAILY & MONTHLY?

Probably to calculate cost savings! Is that ALL?

TBC…