Social Supply Chain Growth

The social supply chain is the convergence of the supply chain, Internet of Things (IOT) and social networks into a framework that supports and encourages collaboration across and between suppliers, carriers, merchants and consumers.  This has grown in capabilities as another result of the growth in capabilities and acceptance of mobile and wireless network technologies and is another example of the velocity of change driven across all everyday aspects and interactions of people and organizations that may need to interact on a regular basis.  The connectivity of things and people has reached a level of explosive growth and even more importantly the velocity of this growth as increased to to breakneck speed as a result of the acceptance or expectation of technology capabilities and is only limited by the imagination of consumers and industry itself.

This social supply chain growth is driven by the consumer acceptance and embrace of mobile and wireless technologies, just as these same consumers are changing the retail omni market.  This increase in both change and velocity of the changes as it relates to consumer interactions is directly related and this relationship and consumer expectations are also extending across into other aspects of the supply chain as well because these social changes reverberate through the entire market to improve efficiencies and communications in support of expanding collaboration demands.  The social supply chain changes have the additional layer of interaction from the connectivity of tools and flow that is made capable by the IOT technologies and improvements.

The growth of IOT technologies and tools in the market and especially as these tools and technologies relate to the supply chain execution increase the flexibility and the collaboration abilities across the entire supply chain, from suppliers to the end customer.  These increased capabilities are delivered through investments in technologies and bring immediate increased communication and data flow through the chain. These improvements are only limited by the imagination of the consumers and the supply chain partners throughout the chain.

The growth in communication, data and collaboration capabilities across the supply chain corresponds to similar growth patterns in the retail omni market.  The entire marketplace is impacted from the supplier to the end customer by the explosive velocity of demands to utilize these technologies by supply chain partners and consumers to increase visibility to use in all aspects of collaboration across the entire chain.  These changes are directly relatable to the consumer acceptance of the mobile and wireless technologies in combination with the growth of millennials in the marketplace along with the supply chain. These demands and changes are driving the supply chain to develop a social supply chain that incorporates IOT technologies and capabilities to help to support the demands.  

And now for the audience participation portion of the show…

ECommerce will have wide ranging impacts on both the retail and manufacturing sectors.  How can you focus these abilities to improve the consumer's experience? Improving the consumer’s experience will require a re-evaluation of the sales channels, the manufacturing channels and practices and the supply chain channels and practices from the raw materials to the consumers’ homes.  In order to ensure and maintain success in this new reality you must harness the tools and capabilities in many new areas. How can you support these continuously changing requirements?