Why Supply Chain Control Towers are Vital for Today’s Businesses?

Businesses of all sizes depend on global supply chains to source materials and provide products in today’s economy. As supply chains grow, organizations frequently struggle to retain the visibility required to avoid catastrophic interruptions that result in empty shelves and dissatisfied consumers. Many businesses rely on supply chain control towers to help them manage this complexity. Supply Chain Control Towers are like air traffic control towers in that they monitor and regulate the movement of goods, resources, and information from one end of the supply chain to the other end. Businesses may use a supply chain control tower to reduce risks, make more informed choices, and obtain real-time visibility into operations.

What is a Supply Chain Control Tower?

A supply chain control tower is software that connects the many activities of a supply chain into a single hub, giving cross-functional, real-time data for all phases of the supply chain, from planning to last-mile delivery. The fundamental purpose of the supply chain control tower is to promote successful supply chain orchestration from start to finish, allowing supply chain experts in all functional areas to make quicker, more confident business decisions. This enables them to manage risks better, capitalize on opportunities, and respond promptly to crucial situations as they emerge.

Why Are Supply Chain Control Towers Important?

The most essential aspect of supply chain control towers is that they give businesses a centralized source of truth. As supply chains grow increasingly international and digitalized, important stakeholders can miss out on delivery updates, demand projections, and other information.

At the same time, businesses have launched new software solutions like Warehouse Management Systems (WMSs), Yard Management Systems (YMSs), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. These software solutions target different areas of the supply chain that provides by a variety of technology suppliers, which can lead to interoperability challenges and data silos.

These issues can be resolved by implementing a supply chain control tower that acts as a comprehensive dashboard that integrates visibility and updates from each platform. From there, operators can be sure they have all the essential information to make better-educated judgments. Finally, implementing a control tower improves supply chain performance, reduces costs, increases agility/resilience, and improves customer service.

Market Drivers of Supply Chain Control Tower Adoption

Based on my review of the market, here are the four key reasons behind the increased adoption of supply chain control towers:

Harmonizing Data and Processes: Central planners are responsible for studying the supply chain and detecting critical trends. These duties are not easy because data comes from diverse parts of the supply chain and a variety of operating systems. Companies with great supply chain networks are increasingly interested in adopting control towers to consolidate all their essential data onto a single display.

Aligning Supply Chain Areas: If you manage a single department, distribution center, storage facility, or transportation division, you are solely concerned with maximizing your area of responsibility. Ideally, each of these supply chain sections should work together and have real-time visibility into each other's activities. Adding a supply chain control tower gives a "top-down" degree of management, allowing businesses to optimize stock inventory levels, resource allocation, and so on.

A Need to Leverage Supply Chain Data: Most supply chain leaders recognize the enormous value the vast amounts of data possess. However, they are unable to use these data owing to inconsistencies between numerous data flows. Some of these issues caused a lack of data management knowledge, but obsolete systems and the absence of supported analytics are also major contributors. A supply chain control tower consolidates all these data sources, allowing businesses to provide better employment analytics.

Necessity for Optimizing Networks: Recently, supply chains throughout the world received lots of wake-up calls. Supply chain leaders today understand that simply having visibility is insufficient to avoid unanticipated challenges. As a result, modern solutions like AI-powered Supply Chain Control Towers are seen as essential for conducting thorough evaluations and organizing inbound supplies.

Utilizing market intelligence reports, such as those offered by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, can greatly aid in this selection process. These reports provide a comprehensive analysis of the Supply Chain Control Tower market, highlighting key players, innovations, and trends. The " Supply Chain Control Tower Market Share, 2022, Worldwide" segment gives insight into the current landscape of solution providers, helping you understand which companies are leading in the field. This information can guide your evaluation of potential software options based on market presence and performance.

Furthermore, the "Market Forecast: Supply Chain Control Tower, 2022-2027, Worldwide" section offers projections on the growth and evolution of the market. Understanding future trends and technological advancements can inform your decision-making process, ensuring that the solution you choose is not only effective today but will continue to meet your needs in the coming years.

Conclusion

Supply Chain Control Towers connect an organization's supply chain to increase visibility, better use of data, and foster cooperation among key stakeholders. This is a significant improvement over the previously different set of data, for the most part, and goes unused for optimization. These technological solutions elevate supply chain accountability to new heights, allowing for better identification of areas where operations require further assistance. Additionally, control towers correlate with supply chain optimization and superior customer satisfaction.