7 Myths about Supply Chain Visibility

Visibility is one of the hottest topics in Supply Chain, and for good reason. As our supply chains grow larger and more complex, supply chain leaders are realizing the gaps they have in their end-to-end visibility.

While most maintain decent visibility across specific functions with existing WMS, TMS and ERP´s, many realize the need for end-to-end visibility across the extended value chain. This is what will drive actual innovation and we believe that it is also evolving how we think about supply chains, exposing the many myths on the topic.

1. Track and trace provides visibility to the end-to-end supply chain
   Logistics movements are a key aspect of visibility and integral to the customer experience. What we believe, however, is that while track and trace does provide value, supply chain visibility is a lot more than these aspects of the end-to-end journey of the order, to incorporate production and environmental factors throughout the product life cycle.

2. We already have supply chain visibility
   Even if you do track all logistics movements, that only gives you visibility to some data elements, but are they connected to each other? To achieve true Wide Angle Visibility™ in a supply network requires connecting the silos of information to achieve a digital transformation that will generate value and mitigate risk.

3. Visibility equals collaboration
   Wide Angle Visibility™ requires collaboration and can only be achieved through trust in a system that protects data and which can only be shared with the owner's permissions. Visibility without collaboration will face serious obstacles in the path to an effective supply chain.

4. Cloud is less secure than on-premises capabilities
   Major cloud providers provide and maintain a higher level of certified compliant security than is practical for most on-premise deployments. It is difficult for individual organizations to recruit, train and retain the diverse set of skills required to maintain the high level of security and high availability needed for a service such as Nazar’s.
   Cloud services also provide on-demand and serverless processing to meet specific application needs. On-premise deployments can only address this by purchasing and maintaining additional servers which must be maintained and secured at great cost.

5. Visibility automatically delivers business benefits
   Business benefits do not come automatically, but are built on improved access to data, insights and agility. Supply chain visibility helps organizations realize benefits that can be measured directly, such as improved yields and reduced waste, and also indirectly, leveraging that insight for faster and more accurate business decisions.

6. Visibility will solve my supply chain problem

   You may have invested in a plethora of IoT technologies to achieve end-to-end visibility. However, not having the right tools means relying on the human capacity to analyze and react to events. Predictive and prescriptive analytics will enable reacting to issues caused by supply chain disruptions.

7. Supply chain visibility requires a massive digital transformation project

   It might seem like going all-in on a huge digital transformation project is needed to stay competitive, but this is not the case. In fact, making small changes might lead to massive impacts over time. Sometimes, the results might come more quickly than expected, but they certainly add up when improvements are constant and consistent. Continuous improvement doesn’t have to be a major overhaul.

Nazar Systems