Fostering a Digital Supply Chain Ecosystem

09/30/21 • 21 min

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Pier Manenti explore the concept of partner ecosystems, which nearly every organization today engages with in some way or another. Supply chain’s role in enabling the ecosystem is critical. Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) have the opportunity to integrate partners by going beyond linear interactions and extending the ecosystem to a broader network of entities.

The conversation showcases real-world insights from Colgate-Palmolive and Kimberly-Clark, and concludes by offering actions that supply chain leaders can take to engage their trading partners in a digital supply chain ecosystem, briefly summarized here as:

Increase the understanding within your organization.
Blaze a clear strategy and roadmap.
Create a true ecosystem of partners.
Prioritize investments in digitalization.
Grow and scale the business value of the ecosystem.

Increase the understanding within your organization.
Blaze a clear strategy and roadmap.
Create a true ecosystem of partners.
Prioritize investments in digitalization.
Grow and scale the business value of the ecosystem.

Previous Episode

Drive Customer Value Through Culture and Insights

Episode Highlights

Beth Coppinger explores:

The definition of customer experience (CX). (02:01)

Utilizing the practice of customer experience management to develop and deploy strategic plans that enable the business to come together cross-functionally to create a customer-centric culture which enhances customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy. (02:40)

Real-world example from Lenovo on how to use the customer voice to shift organization mindset and culture. (06:56)

Real-world example from Dow on correlating operational metrics, with customer experience metrics and business metrics to prove out the ROI of CX investments. (10:04)

What will become more relevant to understanding customer wants and needs over the next three years. (13:48)

Key actions leading supply chains can take to become a more customer-centric organization. (16:26)

Next Episode

Tame Complexity With an Operating Model Life Cycle

In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Jennifer Loveland explore the continual growth of supply chain complexity. CSCOs must apply a life cycle management approach to the supply chain operating model as an antidote to this complexity.

The conversation provides real-world examples from Schneider Electric and Siemens, then finishes up by providing five actions that life cycle owners can take to address issues across the five phases within the Supply Chain Architecture Life Cycle (SCALe), which are summarized here:

Retire — Gain value by actually eliminating complexity, not by simply saying that you will focus on doing so.
Align — The best check on complexity is to avoid adding it. When required, prioritize complexity that improves competitive position.
Create — Building operating model composability helps structure complexity, making changes to meet needs easier, faster and cheaper.
Execute — Leverage ecosystem partners and technology in new ways to capitalize on composability investments.
Sustain — Use voice-of-the-user insights to regularly assess existing complexity and identify areas to reinvent processes using composability principles.