Just 11 per cent of retail and manufacturing businesses have access to data that is less than an hour old, with more than three quarters experiencing issues with
their supply chain after the start of COVID-19.
A survey of more than 700 senior business leaders within retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and manufacturing companies worldwide by Vitreous World for data
technology provider Intersystems, found that the pandemic has left many companies with supply chain challenges and struggling to meet rapid changes in consumer demand.
A total of 45 per cent said a lack of flexibility in existing processes was their biggest technology-specific supply chain challenge, followed by difficulty performing analytics to support the business (40 per cent) and a lack of accurate end-to-end visibility and reporting (40 per cent).
When it comes to limited access to real-time data, the overwhelming majority of business managers are working with data that is out of data by the time it reaches them - 15 per cent of whom have to wait up to three days.
The number of disparate systems in use within the supply chain are likely contributing to these challenges, according to Intersystems analysis, as more than a third (36 per cent) of organisations currently use six or seven software products throughout their entire end-to-end supply chain through distribution processes.
Joe Lichtenberg, product and industry marketing specialist at InterSystems, said: “The supply chain IT issues being faced by retail, CPG, and manufacturing organisations certainly aren’t new; however, COVID-19 has propelled them to the surface.
“They’ve highlighted the profound impact issues such as having largely manual processes within the supply chain and a lack of flexibility can have on their ability to respond to rapidly changing requirements," he continued, adding: "In particular, the lack of visibility and access to data is likely to be impeding their ability to use this information to achieve business goals and improve operations to meet demand.”
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