As many of you know, I’m a big supporter of Breakthrough T1D through our Indago supply chain research community and Logistics Leaders for T1D Cure cycling team. Breakthrough T1D is the leading charity focused on “creating breakthroughs” to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. Thinking about these breakthroughs got me thinking: Do we need breakthroughs in logistics? What type of breakthroughs do we need? How can technology help power these breakthroughs? And how will success in this area be defined and measured? Those are the questions I asked Heidi Benko, VP of Product Marketing and Strategy at Infor on a recent episode of Talking Logistics.
Why We Need Breakthroughs
Heidi points out that change and disruption are accelerating — fueled by rising costs, labor shortages, shifting consumer expectations, and an ever-growing list of regulations. The good news, she adds, is that “advancements in technology are enabling the faster decision-making required to keep up with these rapid changes.”
There are new challenges to contend with — sustainability mandates, forced labor regulations, and geopolitical conflicts among them. If you’re still running your supply chain as you did in the 1990s, with the same processes and technologies, it will be nearly impossible to keep pace with today’s rapid-fire logistics environment. Companies cannot maintain efficiency, ensure compliance, and remain profitable with outdated systems — or worse, with spreadsheets and paper. Many still operate in functional silos where data and processes aren’t shared, further slowing progress. In such a dynamic environment, these companies will struggle to survive, let alone thrive.
How Can Technology Help Create Breakthroughs?
AI technology, supply chain platforms, logistics networks — there are more advanced solutions available today than ever before, yet many companies still don’t fully understand or take advantage of them. I asked Heidi how these technologies can help companies break through.
Heidi explains that companies that have deployed Supply Chain Operating Networks to centralize data and close visibility gaps are already experiencing breakthroughs, as she highlights in the short clip below:
To truly capture these gains, we must rethink how we communicate, connect, and collaborate — not only within our own organizations but across our extended trading partners. Breaking down both internal and external silos is essential, and Supply Chain Operating Networks are the only practical way to get there. Heidi notes that “more and more companies recognize the importance of having their trading partners fully connected — optimizing and orchestrating everything from source to delivery.”
How to Measure Success
I asked Heidi how we know when we’ve achieved a breakthrough. She says there are many ways to measure success: Have order timeliness and accuracy improved? Has customer satisfaction increased? Are internal decisions being made faster and with better quality? Are costs coming down? Are there fewer empty miles on your trucks? Has collaboration with trading partners improved? There’s no shortage of metrics — you just need to select and consistently track the ones that align with the breakthrough you’re trying to achieve.
Where to Start
Perhaps the biggest challenge is simply deciding where to begin. Heidi’s advice: secure executive sponsorship, identify your biggest pain points, involve end users early, and leverage the expertise of your technology partners. Most importantly, she cautions, this is no time to be a laggard. For Heidi’s full insights on everything we discussed, I encourage you to watch the full episode — and then continue the conversation with your own questions and comments.
