Maximizing Your Supply Chain with Intelligent Workflow: Is it Right for Your Business?

In today's fast-paced and competitive business world, optimizing your supply chain can make a significant impact on your bottom line. One way to do this is by implementing intelligent supply chain workflows. But what exactly are they and how do you know if they're right for your business?

First, it's important to understand the concept of process workflow. Simply put, a workflow is a series of steps that need to be completed in order to accomplish a task. It's the process by which work flows from one stage to the next, whether that's through a colleague, a tool, or another process.

Intelligent supply chain workflows take this concept a step further by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), orchestration and automation to optimize and streamline the process. But what does that mean in practice, and how can it benefit your business?

In this blog post, we'll dive into the world of intelligent supply chain workflows. We'll explore the benefits of implementing them and provide guidance on how to assess whether they're a good fit for your business. So, let's get started!

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What is the concept of process workflow?

A workflow is an essential element of business process management, as it helps to streamline and optimize the way work is accomplished. By defining the specific steps involved in completing a task, and the order in which they should be completed and by who, a workflow helps to ensure that work is done consistently and efficiently.

One of the main benefits of implementing a workflow is the ability to standardize processes. By defining a clear set of steps and assigning specific responsibilities to each team member, a workflow helps to ensure that work is done in a consistent manner, reducing the potential for human error. This is especially important in supply chain management, where errors can have a significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire operation.

In addition to standardizing processes, a workflow can also help to eliminate the need for coordination time. By automating certain tasks and providing clear instructions for each step, a workflow helps to ensure that work can be completed smoothly and efficiently, without the need for constant communication and coordination between team members. This can help to reduce delays and improve the overall efficiency of the supply chain.

Overall, the concept of process workflow is an essential element of business process management, and it can be especially useful for optimizing supply chain operations. In the next section, we'll explore the concept of intelligent supply chain workflows, and how they can be used to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your supply chain management.

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What are intelligent supply chain workflows?

Intelligent supply chain workflows take the concept of process workflow a step further by introducing the use of technology and artificial intelligence to automate and optimize the flow of work. These types of workflows are specifically designed to handle the complexity and decentralization of supply chain processes, which often involve large, cross-functional teams across multiple organizations.

Traditional supply chain workflows often rely on manual processes and coordination, which can be time-consuming and prone to error. Intelligent supply chain workflows, on the other hand, use smart triggers and machine learning algorithms to automatically route tasks and gather relevant data from various enterprise systems. This not only helps to streamline and speed up the process, but also ensures that the right information is available at the right time to make informed decisions.

One key difference between traditional and intelligent supply chain workflows is the ability to handle the many variables and unexpected events that can arise in a supply chain. With traditional workflows, these events may require manual intervention and decision-making, which can slow down the process. Intelligent supply chain workflows, however, are able to adapt and respond to these variables in real-time, helping to minimize delays and disruptions.

Overall, intelligent supply chain workflows offer a more efficient and effective way of managing the complex processes involved in a supply chain. Intelligent workflows supports the execution of large scale supply chain operating models. By automating and optimizing the flow of work, businesses can improve their responsiveness and agility, leading to increased efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Benefits of intelligent supply chain workflows

Intelligent supply chain workflows are particularly useful in the face of volatility and complexity within the supply chain. They can help businesses to reduce out-of-stock situations, improve responsiveness to customer needs, and optimize inventory levels, leading to cost savings and increased efficiency.

Implementing intelligent supply chain workflows can bring a wide range of benefits to a business, including:

Increased efficiency: By automating routine tasks and providing real-time visibility into the supply chain, intelligent workflows can streamline processes and reduce the need for manual intervention. This can free up time for more value-adding activities and reduce the risk of errors and delays.
Cost savings: Automating processes and improving efficiency can lead to direct cost savings, such as reduced labor costs and reduced inventory carrying costs. Intelligent workflows can also help businesses make better-informed decisions, leading to more cost-effective sourcing, production, and distribution.
Improved customer satisfaction: Intelligent supply chain workflows can improve the accuracy and timeliness of customer orders, leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction. By providing real-time visibility into the status of orders, businesses can proactively communicate with customers and manage their expectations.
Increased agility: Intelligent workflows can help businesses respond more quickly to changing market conditions and customer demands. By providing real-time data and automated decision-making, businesses can adapt their supply chain processes in near real-time, increasing their competitiveness.
Enhanced collaboration: Intelligent workflows can facilitate collaboration between different teams and functions within a business, as well as between different organizations in the supply chain. By providing a common platform for communication and decision-making, intelligent workflows can help businesses work more effectively together.

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Before implementing intelligent supply chain workflows, a business may have dealt with out-of-stock situations in the following way:

Planners and schedulers would manually gather data from various systems and create spreadsheets to analyze the out-of-stock situation
They would then use their knowledge of the business to identify which stakeholders needed to be involved in finding a solution
This information would be communicated through email threads, with manual copy-pasting of data and attachments
The process of addressing out-of-stock situations is time-consuming and reliant on the expertise and availability of a few individuals
Teams are too busy managing the coordination aspect of the process from preparing data and facts and involving people manually that they do not have time to improve things before having to jump on the next urgent things to fix now fostering a negative continuous improvement loop.

After implementing intelligent supply chain workflows, the process of managing out-of-stock situations may look like this:

An instance is automatically created in the workflow management system whenever an out-of-stock situation arises using evolving triggers set by planners and managers augmented by Machine Learning
The smart dispatcher applies in real time the appropriate priority, service level agreement, and gathers relevant information from various systems and data sources
All stakeholders - including customers and suppliers - can access the necessary information through the workflow management system and can interact inside their existing applications
The system keeps track of the progress and alert and nudge individuals to ensure timely resolution of out-of-stock situations
The process of addressing out-of-stock situations is streamlined and efficient, with no need for manual data gathering and dissemination.

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Assessing whether intelligent supply chain workflows are right for your business:

Overall, intelligent supply chain workflows can provide significant benefits to businesses looking to optimize their supply chain operations.

However, it's important to assess whether they are the right fit for your business by considering factors such as the complexity of your supply chain, your current level of automation, and your company's resources and goals.

Workflows are most useful when activities and supply chain processes share one or more of the following attributes:

1. They are repetitive‍

2. They have some level of consistency (regarding inputs and outputs)

3. They require specific activities (tasks, meetings, inputs, etc.) to be performed in a specific order‍

4. They require the engagement of numerous stakeholders each for their role and skill

5. They can be replicated several times within an organization, for instance for each part of the business be it a business unit, a country, customers, teams, factories, etc.

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Supply Chain process categories are particularly prone to automation and orchestration through intelligent workflows, such as:

► Order Management & Order to Cash

► Event management

► Supply Chain Planning & Capacity Management

► Portfolio management, New Production Introduction and Management

► Sales & Marketing Collaboration with Operations and Supply Chain (short term volume request, free sample for new customers, sales promotion, customer collaboration, campaign management, content marketing, etc.)

► Risk & Quality Management...

‍There is a common pattern within these operational processes. There are highly cross-functional, involving multiple people with shared responsibilities, tight lead times with high number of transactions, prone to last minute changes and with close interactions with customers, suppliers, or expensive assets to run such as a distribution center or factory.

Overall, intelligent supply chain workflows can provide significant benefits to businesses looking to optimize their supply chain operations. However, it's important to assess whether they are the right fit for your business by considering factors such as the complexity of your supply chain, your current level of automation, and your company's resources and goals.