Focus Points for Organizations: Moving Forward

There is a saying "The more things change, the most they stay the same."

But maybe this is not true in the case of COVID-19 and how drastically it has affected the life of every entity in the world. The out-turns caused by the pandemic has significantly influenced our personal and professional life equally.

While the economies worldwide are recuperating from the clutches of the pandemic-stricken changes in various aspects, stock markets are showing a promising upturn after getting out of the abyss across the globe and the growing optimism brought about by the launch and swift proliferation of at least five vaccine-brands across the world, the majority of people worldwide are thinking about how to deal with the changes posed by the new normal. The businesses are thinking of possible strategies on how to survive and bounce back from this complex situation.

There's not just a single thing an organization should majorly focus on, but quite a few that will help to get them back on track. Let's look into a few of them.

1. Flexible Operations - Key to Recovery:

Further to opening up of borders for trade post the restrictions imposed, demand of certain raw materials and goods have increased thanks to the improving economy, industrial output and health care measures. However the surge in demand has created an unexpected pull and the resultant increase in price of commodities as well as the transportation cost. The level of inventory in different stages of operations would be one of the major questions corporates would be brooding upon. While the long-term impact on the global supply chain is very uncertain at the moment, the organizations need to focus on the disruptions in the supply chain and get quickly adapted to the changing economic landscape and plan accordingly. Build resilience from both customer's and internal process point of view.

Did you know that over 57% of the organizations believe that supply chain management gives them a competitive edge that enables them to further develop their business?

2. Implementation of the Effective Change Management Framework:

With the new norms and practices to follow, there are going to be drastic changes in the work etiquette. Such a sudden shift in operations and supply chain management can disrupt the working atmosphere and the employees will have a hard time dealing with it. Therefore, it is extremely important that while the new management framework should be practiced with ease at the same time there needs to be an effective communication, check on effectiveness of change implementations and associated value, within and outside of the organization.

3. Re-look on the Value-Chain:

It might or might not have happened that your organization would have gone off track from the goals you had planned to achieve by the end of 2020. It could be high time that you considered looking at the constructive management of your logistics and the delivery of your products and services, primarily the value-channels. So, before the matter gets even worse, reach out to your investors and stakeholders. A white canvas or a Delphi technique might help.

Around 70% of the industry professionals predict that the supply chain will be a key driver of better customer service by the end of 2020.

4. Review on Digitalization:

The pandemic situation demands an efficient and effective digitalization landscaping within and outside organizations in order to achieve resilience & agility against the disruptive forces. This would also require a review on current landscape and its utility. No use of having digitization with overall redundancy (no value creation, either in terms of customer or external stakeholder engagement or management of internal processes). Analytics and cloud-computing concepts can help in both the supplier side (upstream) as well as the customer side (downstream) of the value chain, if rightly solutioned and implemented. Digital Supply Networks (DSNs) are replacing the traditional linear supply chain model, where functional silos are broken down and organizations get linked to their entire supply network to enable end-to-end visibility, collaboration, agility, and optimization. DSNs are being designed to forecast and face future challenges by leveraging recent emergent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Predictive analytics, Machine Learning, Internet of Things and Robotics (RPAs).

5. Boost Agility with Supply Chain Planning:

The remote management of the organization can be a bit inconvenient at times. But there should be an effective flow of information and utmost transparency in the supply chain ecosystem. Leverage data to improve visibility across inventory, demand, supply, capacity, etc. Using analytics identify the micro-segments to be focused on. Lastly, navigate through the pandemic scenarios minutely and simulate the strategic movement and production capabilities.

Supply chain disruptions can cause significant negative losses in terms of finances (62%), logistics (54%), and reputation (54%)

6. Reduce Expenses and Plan Efficiently for the Future:

Finances are important for every organization to keep going. Therefore, cost-cutting at every level of the organization is essential. While you do this, planning for the future is equally important. So, make sure to develop a better work culture and maintain a healthy relationship with factors such as partners, suppliers, and customers in the supply chain ecosystem while dealing with pandemic & it's aftershocks.

Move Forward, But Wisely!

Organizations do need to realize that the future of the supply chain depends upon flexibility and agility. With so many challenges to deal with at the moment, take a pause, review the current level of process, performance and competency while meeting the customer's needs. Understand and be open to challenge the current customer journey map, rethink about the business goals, take heedful decisions, act judiciously and remember, this too shall pass.

And if you're having a hard time recognizing the key factors to focus on while moving forward, you can count on the performance doctors in Exxoptimus Partners. We can redefine the operations-strategy and performance metrics, redesign the business processes, supply chain and technology landscaping and carry out the implementation of the changes to help your business achieve new heights of success like never before.