User Review
( votes)The COVID-19 pandemic caused major upheaval across the world, impacting every possible industry and aspect of business. One arena that saw massive, enforced changes was food distribution, especially in the realm of their supply chain.
With shortages, rapidly changing rules for reopening or staying open, and runs on popular products springing up nearly overnight, food distributors saw their supply chains taxed in ways previously unimaginable. For many this was enough to push the need to digitize their supply chain from a gradual, long term process to an immediate need.
This future-focused outlook will enable distributors to not only better weather the storm of COVID-19, but also prepare themselves for an ever-evolving future.
Employing an agile, modern, cloud ERP solution that offers the ability to take the supply chain digital helps distributors in a number of ways- most importantly it offers the ability to focus on hitting two key but often contradictory goals at once.
The ability to lower costs is constantly at or near the top of priority lists, but all too often that goal comes at the expense of customer service. By employing a digital supply chain distributors will be able to quickly adapt to rapidly evolving marketplaces, allowing for faster and more resilient recoveries, ensuring that customers remain as happy as possible, all while continuing to lower long-term costs.
Profitability may be the main concern, but in these times it can no longer be the only concern.
Food distributors have to demonstrate readily visible, purpose-driven value to their stakeholders when it comes to functions such as cloud ERP solutions, route management, and supply chain solutions.
Many are turning to making a lesser impact on the environment by reducing waste, changing their sourcing, and reducing their greenhouse gas and water impacts over the medium term. These improvements demonstrate a commitment many stakeholders would look positively on, one outside the traditional bottom line. This trend is not likely to go away any time soon, only intensify, so distributors that delay in this arena will likely lag behind in other areas as well.
The same technology that can assist in the bottom line can assist in these efforts as well.
Distributors choosing to switch to modern, cloud solutions have a better grasp on the data, trends, and methods needed to make positive changes in regards to their environmental ecosystem.
By focusing on digitization and emerging technologies businesses of all sorts can position themselves to succeed not only in the present, but in the future. By being forward-thinking organizations can build strong, integrated supply chains, ensuring their profitability long term.
