Kaushik is a highly accomplished, innovative and result oriented leader with 27+ years of experience in building and managing businesses in the IT industry. He has worked with Oracle for close to 18 years. He holds Mechanical Engineering from Jadavpur University and MBA from Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (Kolkata University).

The pandemic induced nationwide lockdowns have majorly impacted the supply chains globally in last few years. Businesses across the globe, regardless of their economic situation, were compelled to develop entirely new operational procedures. Several supply chain decision-makers are being urged to reevaluate their objectives for utilizing supply chain management (SCM) solutions since "never normal" becomes a reality.

To delve deeper and have a better understanding of the current scenario around the supply chain disruption, let’s consider the factors that contributed to the present situation.

The disruption began around two years ago when the COVID-19 widespread began and firms specially container-shipping businesses in Asia and other parts of the world were forced to close or restrict production to ensure employee safety and follow lockdown guidelines. As soon as the employees were immunized with the help of vaccination, firms restarted manufacturing and transportation to serve the increased demand. As a result, containers began stacking up at ports around the world, partly because the ports couldn't handle the volume of products and due to scarcity of truckers to transport the commodities. This series of events has brought us to the present day. According to our recent Supply Chain Disruption report, 93% of Indian consumers are concerned about the continuation of supply chain concerns. These disruptions have long-term consequences for customer preferences and purchasing habits.

While most businesses retained a safety stock to create a buffer against demand surges or supply shortages before the pandemic, but these practices became obsolete in the face of the massive disruption.

The supply chain anxiety has been spread across departments, with finance officers concerned about old inventory, whereas sales and marketing executives concerned about orders not being processed. Even the most renowned supply chain technologies cannot fully predict the magnitude of market shocks such as this global pandemic, but they can help businesses determine the appropriate balance of safety stock.

Customers are gradually discovering the benefits of technology. As revealed by yet another finding of the SCM survey, 94% of Indians would trust and be more inclined to buy from a firm which is into modern technologies such as AI to manage its supply chain. It is time for manufacturers all over the world to move up the innovation curve and invest in smart technology to run their businesses more securely. The goal here is to invest in SCM solutions that are flexible, scalable, and comprehensive.

AI-embedded SCM solutions can substantially aid manufacturers in realigning their scarce product production and distribution to the most profitable, valuable customers and channels. To improve the efficiency and transparency of their operations, entire supply chains have started using blockchain digital ledger technology.

Dubai Ports World (DP World), which employs over 53,000 people and operates 128 logistics businesses worldwide, including 90 shipping terminals and ports. They needed to support daily business operations remotely as cargo shipping volumes in their ports remained strong despite a drop in passenger ferry traffic due to the COVID-19 impact. As a result, they decided to implement a cloud solution as part of their "One strategy initiative," which aims to consolidate financial systems, human resources, customer relations, and operations on a unified platform. The latest SCM solutions helped DP World eliminate customizations and reduce IT and infrastructure costs.

Similarly, Apollo Tyres, an Indian multinational tyre manufacturing company, moved to an end-to-end supply chain solution to create consistency, transparency, and optimize their supply chains. This enabled them to run their supply chain smoothly while also improving customer satisfaction through regular updates.

It is difficult to deny that the way business environment has undergone tremendous shifts in the past few years. This has further impacted the end-user too i.e., the consumers. Businesses must notice and react to shifts in consumer preferences, notably from physical to online channels, and plan for the "ripple effects" across their data centers, plants, and extended supply chains. Now is the time for company executives to fully leverage the power of data and supply chain planning tools to simulate various scenarios and develop predictions that better foresee the ever-changing global demand trends.