The numbers are in. 2015 was a hot year in the supply chain market! All category sales were up and pipelines are record high for many providers for 2016. Early discussions with major providers indicate hiring plans to keep up with implementation and new customer opportunities.
What’s driving all this? We provide our view of 2016 in this graphic. Revolutionary changes in business from manufacturing to retail are driving supply chain software sales. Retail competition with Omni-channel is intense and Manufacturers are redefining themselves due to Industrial Manufacturing 4.0-type initiatives. These are driving change as well in industries that support them — transportation and fulfillment services.
End-users and their management are becoming more digitally oriented and more analytical. They are out of the office, on the road, working remotely. Federated business models are increasing digitally integrated processes between trading partners. Businesses are integrating and rely on their IT systems like never before.
2016 will be a record year for supply chain as enterprises race to keep up or overtake competition with innovative new practices and a new generation of digital customers.
2016 — What it Will Be
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What’s it about? | | Visibility | Intelligent Fulfillment Retailers are building or redesigning warehouse space for last mile, 24/same day fulfillment. Manufacturers are revising warehouses for more services and Omni-responsiveness | Omni-customer Omni-fulfillment Digital shopping | Profitable last mile |
Top Technologies | 1. Industrial IoT | 1. Cloud TMS is a big seller across the world. | 1. WMS is having record sales as enterprises refit for fast more intelligent response. | 1. Omni-channel inventory | 1. Last mile TM |
What will be next? | Digital Products will call for service and consumables directly to manufacturer. Development of new logistics models to support digital processes and products. | More private branded fleets will drive complex carrier selection and routing. More regionalization of logistics services will drive the need for more integration with demand and fulfillment points. | Multiservice DCs to support returns processing and redistribution (store to outlet, etc). Pop-up warehouses to support digital products and customers. | Customer Insights to redefine segments based on fine grain analytics from big data RFID Digitizing the in-store customer | More regional seasonal/pop-up warehousing to support seasonal customers. The digital home will send more signals to retailers for automatic fulfillment. |
To view other articles from this issue of the brief, click here.