SAP Leonardo – Increasing Supply Chain Visibility
Blog: Capgemini CTO Blog
Building upon the first blog on “Turning digital aspirations into reality with SAP Leonardo and Capgemini” in the blog series “Capgemini’s Fast Digital with SAP Leonardo” , we will be looking at how SAP Leonardo accompanied with IoT can be leveraged to increase Supply Chain Visibility.
“Why fix something that’s not broken?”
Most Supply Chains simply work. They get the job done and then adapt only when they need to. Over the past two decades there has been a paradigm shift in the demands on Supply Chains from both businesses and customers alike.
These relentless pressures have resulted in a categorical change of opinion, instead of reactively working out what the Supply Chain needs to do, it means predicting what Supply Chains should be doing. This change in dynamic results in a business that can meet requirements, before the requirements are even known.
Enable future proofing instead of fault fixing.
Pressures are mounting, resulting in targets driven against the grain of repetitive pain points
Problems in Supply Chain are plentiful and tedious. The vast majority of businesses face at least one of the following:
- Lack of (Supply Chain) Visibility. Services not enabling clarity across complex IT infrastructure.
- Reactive Management. Predicted services not supported, used or encouraged.
- Uncertainty in demand, resulting in speculative ordering.
Within these restraints, how are CxOs meant to adhere to the following targets:
- Increasing agility;
- Increasing throughput;
- Reducing costs and importantly
- Improving customer satisfaction.
So the question is poised… Where to start?
In 2017 the cry “Digital Transformation!” from executives has almost been a cliché, but that makes it no less an urgent priority.
Capgemini and SAP have partnered under the “Fast Digital 4 Discrete Industries (FD4DI)” initiative to deliver targeted solutions and accelerators using the SAP Leonardo platform.
These offerings are able to set your business up for success. By leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning and a host of other cutting edge technologies, together we can empower your business to become leaner and more efficient than ever before- creating an upward spiral of improvement that can only deliver better service, with less.
An Illustrated Example
As one of the key enablers for innovation in this area, Capgemini and SAP Leonardo can utilise new communication channels and data capture methods to create more powerful, engaging and customer centric processes. Within a typical Order to Cash cycle, the current process will likely correlate with the following:
Were the objectives met? Yes.
- Payment taken
- Delivered on estimated date
- Parcel accepted on arrival
However:
- Customer service time wasted
- Customer time wasted
- Customer experience diminished
So… How could this be improved?
In this scenario, by integrating a GPS sensor into the delivery truck and through using freely available traffic information, the process and its customer centricity can be improved significantly:
As you can see above, the customer interactions were made in advance of the impending issue and customised, contextual, communications were sent. The customer was delighted with the service, increasing the likelihood of future purchases and their level of empathy with the vendor.
It’s also easy to speculate that the new process has also prevented a missed delivery, an unwanted additional expense to the business. Additionally, as customers ourselves, it is undeniable that unsuccessful deliveries are severe misdemeanors, no matter how polite the “Sorry we missed you” card is.
This is just one individual case where SAP Leonardo can be leveraged to meet and exceed expectations, deflating one of the many challenges that business face each day.
What else can be done? Let’s imagine the possible future business requirements:
- “We want to see real time information of deliveries due within the hour” (Fleet Management),
- “Customers want to track their delivery so they can plan their day around it” (Customer Relations) or
- “The maintenance of the vehicles needs to be automatically scheduled based upon the distance driven” (Preventive Maintenance).
All the required data for these requirements is already captured by the above solution, it just needs to be presented and utilised in new ways. Currently, imaginations are running wild in businesses across the globe, analysing current business processes on how these new platforms and technologies can be leveraged. It’s no wonder why IoT, Machine Learning and other cutting edge frameworks are plastered all over the news. Let’s take the plunge into the world of “Industry 4.0” – Don’t let your competition get the edge, with the help of Capgemini and SAP Leonardo: Adapt, Innovate, Succeed.
Find more information on the Capgemini Leonardo Services website.
Contact one of our experts today to discuss.
Author: John Watson
SAP Applications Consultant, Capgemini UK
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