Managing supply chains over the past few years has become ever-more challenging. With unexpected disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage, port strikes, and the Russia/Ukraine conflicts, companies are turning to technology to break down siloed views, mitigate risks and develop more resiliency in their supply chains. Having a clear end-to-end view of the value chain has become critical to prospering in this challenging market.  

I recently sat down with industry experts including Nucleus Research Manager, Isaac Gould; ARMADA Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Debi Gann; and Blue Yonder Corporate Vice President of Product Management, Michelle Brunak in a webinar to discuss the current supply chain market, how control towers are benefiting companies, and how they foresee control towers evolving in the future. 

Key takeaways from the session: 

  1. Supply chain companies need forward-looking infrastructure to make better and quicker decisions. In the past, historical data was adequate to predict supply chain disruptions but in today’s new normal that includes unforeseen events such as the pandemic, political conflicts, and port strikes and blockages, companies are turning to technology to meet customer demands. 
  1. Understand how the power of control towers provides your business the insight and the time to make the right decisions. Control towers mitigate risk and allow companies to make alternative decisions to prevent disruption before it occurs. They move companies from being reactive to proactive to execute better on behalf of clients.  
  1. Communicating seamlessly and effectively across the entire network is key to the future of supply chains. Strengthen your supply chain with the ability to collaborate across the organization and external stakeholders. Whether or not you are able to overcome the identified disruptions, control towers provide better information and end-to-end visibility for improved planning and execution.  
  1. The future of control towers is turning probabilistic data into automated decision-making. Supply chain companies need to be several steps ahead of potential risk by pulling in globally-sourced data and overlaying it locationally. Soon, control towers will be able to help with a high probability of certainty that events will impact orders to allow companies to create alternative supply solutions or execute a stock transfer to ensure on-time delivery.   

Want to see how control towers can benefit your company? The full webinar is now available on demand to help you understand the current benefits of control towers and how they are evolving to meet future business needs. 

If interested in learning more about how Blue Yonder can streamline your supply chain, request a demo today.