Are we ready for disruption? At our recent Supply Chain Summit in Singapore, Jimmy Koh, managing director of United Overseas Bank, made startling observations about the sharing economy: One of the world’s largest retailers, Alibaba.com, has no inventory. The largest taxi service, Uber, has no vehicles. The largest social media outlet, Facebook, has no content. The largest hotelier, Airbnb, has no real estate.
We live in a world far different than even 10 years ago. It is not just change, but its pace that is breathtaking. Koh further noted that we are in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution. The big difference between this one and the other three? There is “no runway.” Businesses rise up from nowhere at astounding speed and wipe out everything in their paths. The speed with which this takes place is unprecedented.
What does all this mean for the logistics industry? The potential for disruption is far greater, as we have been change-resistant far longer than others. The dysfunction in how we are connected is now an opportunity for the new solutions rising up on the internet. The silos that we have operated in for so long will soon be toppled. The company you work for today must transform itself or face extinction. We will not have the luxury of taking a decade to fade to irrelevance.
The basic ways humans communicate and get information has permanently changed. Vast parts of the emerging world only have access to the internet via mobile phones. Yet as an industry, by and large, we remain anchored to our computers. The urgency to leapfrog existing processes grows each day. What roles we all play in this great dance are shifting. We would do well to take Jimmy’s advice to heart:
Get fast, get nimble or get out!