Industry Trends

June 5, 2024 - 5 minutes read

3 Ways Visibility Software Changes Supply Chain Visibility

As businesses respond to global market uncertainties, visibility is critical for driving corporate success and enabling digital transformation.

We live in a time when speed to market, customer experience, cost management, regulatory compliance, global risk management, and supplier cooperation are more critical, scrutinized, and data-driven than ever before. Consequently, supply chain visibility tools — and the ability to act on information in real time — are competitive necessities that businesses can no longer afford to be without. 

Why is Visibility Important?

Extensive digital supply chain visibility enables firms to leverage comprehensive and robust data, automation, analytics, and intelligence technologies to meet the demands of today’s increasingly stringent customer expectations.

With full transparency into supply chain activities, businesses can go from being reactive to proactive, identifying real-world, real-time dangers and opportunities using data-driven insights. When coupled with the power of predictive alerts, organizations gain actionable, nuanced insights to inform smarter decisions.

Implementing visibility solutions can lead to significant cost savings, reduced time to market, a more contemporary customer experience, and improved efficiency throughout the entire supply chain ecosystem of employees, customers, suppliers, distributors, and logistics partners. To reap these benefits, businesses must use an end-to-end platform that provides full visibility and offers a suite of supply chain visibility tools and technology to outpace the competition.

What is a Visibility Platform? 

A platform for global supply chain visibility is a vital instrument for complete and efficient supply chain management. The most effective approach for achieving end-to-end supply chain visibility is to collaborate with a visibility platform partner.

The robust supply chain visibility tools available in a comprehensive platform establish a neutral, transparent environment in which all supply chain partners can effectively communicate while also providing insight into operations, transactions, and shipments. All supply chain activities can be monitored and tracked in real time, creating a holistic view of operations.

A supply chain planning platform is an integrated logistics software system that tracks items as they are moved from the supplier to the end customer, from raw resources and capital equipment to completed goods. Aside from shipment tracking, visibility software provides advanced data analytics and insights to simplify decision-making and execution across the supply chain.

How Does the Visibility Platform Benefit a Supply Chain?

A supply chain visibility platform helps businesses streamline operations, track shipments, and monitor third-party, inbound, and outbound transactions in real time. It also tracks and analyzes historical data to help identify supply chain gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Visibility software also unlocks opportunities to proactively manage multiple levels of supply chain exceptions. This technology enables companies to improve on-time delivery rates, reduce operational and labor costs, automate supply chain processes, and increase collaboration and communication with all stakeholders and interested parties.

Connected Relationships and Collaboration

Approximately 80% of the information produced within a company’s supply chain now stems from external sources, according to a recent special report from SupplyChainBrain. Despite this, traditional supply chains persist in operating under the assumption of a predominantly unidirectional flow — referred to as ‘inside-out’ — where data, communications, and instructions move from the organization to its partners and vendors.

Changing this dynamic and improving network collaboration is one of the most essential benefits of visibility software. When shippers, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, and carriers utilize the same technology to share interoperable data formats, they can communicate in real time. With network-wide access to the same data on the same shipment, collaboration becomes both efficient and seamless. 

Today’s global supply chains are increasingly complex, making teamwork and connection critical to success. The more supply chain partners integrate visibility, the better this big and complicated ecosystem will work.

Data-Driven, Predictable Strategy

In its ultimate guide to supply chain strategy, Gartner stresses that the establishment of visibility into mission-critical supply chains is an indispensable part of all planning activities. A lack of visibility can significantly harm an organization’s resilience and agility, leaving it prone to constant supply chain management disruptions. Luckily, companies comprehend the risk, with nearly 90% ready to increase their spending in this regard.

Supply chain visibility tools allow businesses to readily access and examine historical data to develop and improve supply chain strategies. Full-featured visibility software enables end-to-end supply chain visibility through shipment tracking, transportation cost analysis, and operational evaluation. Implementing a data-driven strategy helps define goals and realize better outcomes.

One of the primary benefits of the supply chain visibility platform is that it enables organizations to focus on their core activities, like procurement strategies and controlling transportation spend. These systems can swiftly analyze millions of data points and use automated forecasting models, powered by machine learning, to identify the drivers of demand changes.

Reduced Supply Chain Costs

According to McKinsey & Company survey data, “supply chain interruptions cost the typical firm 45% of one year’s revenue over the course of a decade.” This historical context helps highlight recurring supply chain planning and logistics difficulties. According to the same poll, over 80% of respondents believe businesses “need to strengthen and invest in digital planning to better supply chain visibility.”

Creating an integrated system with high visibility and communication is a significant challenge for supply chain managers. Companies may increase profits while maintaining quality by deploying a supply chain visibility system that organizes and improves productivity and efficiency. In fact, up to a 75% decrease in expediting expenses is possible with an automated shipment processing system, in addition to the savings associated with fewer inventory shortages and improved on-time delivery.

Reach End-to-End Visibility with the Agistix Platform

With our strategic supply chain visibility platform, Agistix can position your company to overcome visibility challenges. Our integration does not require any changes to your routine business flow, meaning simple rollout and accelerated time-to-benefit. After implementation, you will see results in as little as four weeks, with benefits that include:

  • Reduced costs
  • Automated operations
  • End-to-end visibility into any transaction and shipment
  • Improved order fulfillment and inventory
  • Reduced labor costs
  • A proactive approach to detecting supply chain gaps 

We understand the stumbling blocks in your supply chain. Our visibility solution provides unrivaled visibility into your global supply chain processes to increase efficiency, easily. Ready to learn more? Simply contact us today!

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Trevor Read
Author
Trevor Read

President at Agistix based in San Francisco. I am an entrepreneur with a passion for data, and technology. I am results-oriented and committed to developing fast-deployment solutions to help customers seize the new opportunity coming from big data in the global supply chain.

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