VitAL PROCESSES
The sound of the crowd The supply chain must be prepared to become more ‘social’ with its
operations, in order to drive competitive advantage and thrive in the long- term, says Karsten Horn, director international sales of the Inventory and Supply Chain Division at Inform. Here he discusses why crowd sourcing will shake up business processes in 2012.
I
NNOVATION AND managing talent are clear strategic focal points for CEOs
today. One way that companies are unlocking innovation through knowledge and creativity is an approach known as crowd sourcing. This method enables a company to broadcast an issue to a wide-ranging and diverse audience – using a variety of social media and collaborative software solutions, enabling interaction and ultimately a resolution to the problem.
I strongly believe crowd sourcing is set to shake up business processes this year, and more companies will adopt it as a strategy. Organisations that have already employed this have experienced solutions to internal problems and innovation needs. 2012 presents a strategic opportunity for CEOs and leaders to champion a collaborative digital approach that will allow an organisation to reap the benefits of today’s community- centric culture and instant communications.
Planning for today and tomorrow
One area where crowd sourcing can have a huge impact on business operations is within the supply chain. In the past, many businesses have invested heavily in technology to improve process effi ciency. These investments have included traditional ERP platforms that allow companies to gain quick end-to-end visibility of the supply chain. These systems do not, however, offer much support to evaluate the impact of risk on the supply chain. This often leaves
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managers making decisions supported by reports written with a monthly perspective – looking backwards at problems that have occurred rather than planning ahead and anticipating or managing them in the real time. A lack of adequate risk evaluation leaves organisations exposed to higher costs, can have a negative impact on service levels, and leave a business open to significant fire fighting. Additionally, the savings made in improved effi ciency at the operational level are often negated by the cost of a solution, such as urgent transport, in an emergency.
Instant feedback
Crowd sourcing is a solution which offers CEOs a proactive real-time approach to supply chain management. It enables a business to react instantly to demand changes or problems and subsequently minimise the risk (and consequent impact) and potentially generate advantage from unforeseen events.
Crowd sourcing presents a potential treasure trove of influence and insight to a company’s changing environment – which can have immediate impact on core operations, such as supply chain management. For example, there are an increasing number of social media tools, mobile and location services that make it simple for people to broadcast data about where they are and what they are doing. This means a plethora of real time information is
In my opinion, 2012 will see crowd sourcing become a key enabler for agile response and process handling, and CEOs and business leaders which begin to integrate it into their day- to-day operations will see the most benefi t.
March / April 2012 : VitAL 15
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