The Inevitability of Supply-Chain-as-a-Service

Technological advancement through cloud based services, tool-based optimization solutions and other globalization trends are the cause of significant changes for supply chain managers.

Traditional 3pl supply chain managers are finding that common tools and processes are not adequate to efficiently manage their organization’s supply chains and take advantage of globalization’s inherent cost benefits. The “silo optimization” between internal and outsourced SCM functions they have used(although mostly on a limited basis) in the past, has a negative impact on end-to-end performance.

Traditional supply chain managers within large 3pls and corporations are also very much beholden to the use of the transport assets under their purvey. This limits choice, pushes up cost and can negatively affect service levels.

Counter-intuitively, as supply networks become more complex, dispersed, and fluid, SCM becomes less of a core business competency and more of a technical and organizational evolution supporting the needs across supply networks.

Modern supply chain management is a pan-enterprise discipline that requires both technology and process know-how that most organizations do not have or cannot afford to incorporate internally.

Reference: Supplychaindive