CIPS: Digitalisation in Procurement and Supply 2019

With technology becoming increasingly influential in the supply chain space and beyond, companies are doing whatever they can in order to maintain a competitive edge. 

Businesses adopt technology for a range of reasons. It could be to increase efficiency, trial new systems or simply to keep up with the latest trends, however, it’s important that businesses consider what they introduce to ensure that they enhance existing processes.

The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) released significant findings about how digitalisation is affecting companies’ supply chain strategies. The research saw more than 700 managers in over 20 different industries from 55 different countries take part was carried out in order to gain an insight into the level of understanding of the supply chain digitalisation in procurement and the wider business community.

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The findings revealed:

• Over 90% of the firms surveyed have adopted at least one of the Industry 4.0 technologies with cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data considered the most popular ones.

• Around 60% of the companies recognise transparency, cost effectiveness and being customer-centric as key gains brought by procurement and supply chain digitalisation.

• 90% of the firms are primarily motivated by decreased operational costs and increased efficiency to pursue digitalisation strategies.

• Around 40% of the firms find technical setup costs, long development times, lack of coordination and ongoing support costs to be challenges when pursuing and implementing procurement and supply chain digitalisation.

It was found that there are predominantly 11 digital enablers used to change conventional practices of procurement and supply chain in production systems. These are: 3D printing, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), Big Data, cloud computing, IoT, omni channel, FRID, robotics, sensor technology and simulation.

The findings conclude that with more information and data than ever available at companies’ fingertips, it is important that businesses remain vigilant to find new ways to create value. With AI and AR expected to accelerate in usage, businesses could invest in the technology now to reap benefits later down the line.

To read the full report, click here!

For more information on all topics for Procurement, Supply Chain & Logistics - please take a look at the latest edition of Supply Chain Digital magazine.

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