Although many organizations are on the road to digitization, most are taking a winding path.
Few have detailed strategies that optimize Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Instead we see piecemeal approaches, driven by convenience (the easiest applications of smart devices), or by a single problem, or by executives with the loudest voices.
Leaders must focus their organizations on core business objectives — delighting customers, limiting risk, increasing profits — during the digitization process.
Start by reviewing the movement of materials and information throughout your extended supply chain, looking for bottlenecks and waste that prevent improvement:
- Where are deliveries delayed due to a lack of real-time data or inefficient handoffs of information?
- Which processes and functions pose the greatest potential risks to employees or equipment?
- Where is data susceptible to unauthorized access?
- Which supply-chain partners restrict the efficient flow of goods and information?
- Where can real-time data improve performance (productivity, costs, customer satisfaction)?
Before “value-stream mapping” became a lean buzzword, it was commonly known as material and information flow mapping.
Digitization requires material and real-time information flow, across the enterprise and out into the supply chain.
What's preventing your company's digital success?
