The pandemic challenged us all in terms of how to operate our businesses and how much human contact and interaction could occur safely. It would be strange to talk about trends in 2021 without mentioning developments in digitization — how fast it is moving and how it accelerated due to the lockdowns and limits to physical document touches.
The question will now move to how great a role digitization will play in further decision-making as increasing numbers of activities for front-facing functions become automated. It is not a binary discussion, but a balanced and progressive approach to understand the interaction of sales and marketing, customer support, and a digitized journey we are all becoming accustomed to. As digitization expands well beyond the automation of back office functions and interacts and influences the front office, we will have the ability to determine whether digitization is conducive to sales, increased customer satisfaction, and easier dispute resolution, the key fundamentals that are the “front of the firm.”
The importance of a resilient and supremely agile supply chain has been highlighted by our recent experiences. Flexibility to respond to shocks, uncertainty, and demand changes is likely to become even more relevant, especially when considering the speed digitization brings to these areas. Cost pressure will not disappear, but leveraging all the data available to make smarter, quicker decisions will be required for efficiency. Those required data need to be gathered and made available not just within companies but across companies and governmental authorities involved in the supply chain.
Removing inefficient and redundant processes is also where increased value can be realized by every party in the supply chain. With blockchain-created trust, incremental value can be created across the entire supply chain ecosystem, because companies no longer have to gather data from each silo, wait for that essential information, hope the information is accurate, and then perform their manual tasks. Removing manual tasks, freeing up time to find new ways of working, and enabling colleagues to have better information earlier in the process adds value to the business, increasing the collective size of “the prize” and the opportunities ahead. These will become achievable goals within the global supply chain, spurred by digitization.