The food and beverage industry is undergoing fundamental changes in how consumers buy and what they want to know about the products. At the same time, the industry faces an increased focus on healthy eating by consumers, companies, and governments. Adding to this is a rapidly changing competitive environment with a proliferation of new channels, producers, and products that compete with established brands and outlets.

If these challenges weren’t already enough, today’s companies are also facing unprecedented changes that stress innovation, business model evolution, and supply chain agility. Having the right products with the right content and characteristics, and the right information clearly displayed is necessary. But even all that isn’t enough to guarantee success. The products must also be positioned in the right places at the right time for customers to be able to buy—and that’s the job of the supply chain.

To keep up with all of this, an effective food and beverage supply chain must be fully in sync with the consumer through technology-enabled sensing to satisfy multiple channels with seamless visibility and fulfillment.

Even when your warehouse operations seem to be running smoothly, there is always room for improvement and a need to stay up to date with innovation. While steps are taken to keep warehouse operations at peak performance, when fulfilment times and levels are jeopardized, it’s still up to you and your team to race to recover, to ensure actions to get back on track are taken correctly so that product can make its way out the door, and time is always working against you.

If your organization previously reviewed and dismissed the value of moving your warehouse management system (WMS) to the cloud, it’s time to reevaluate. Decisions that seemed to make sense last year or even last quarter, likely look very different with new challenges emerging over the past several months. By empowering critical systems like a WMS with cloud capabilities, your organization can scale quickly, maximize productivity, and minimize outages and downtime to prevent bringing the company’s mission-critical operations to its knees.

Even when your warehouse operations appear to be running smoothly, change and disruption are constant battles that supply chains must fight. Black swan events, emerging technology, new regulations, and shifts in consumer demand have created an increased need for “always up-to-date” functionality. While steps can be taken to mitigate risk, when changes occur it’s still up to you and your team to adjust and ensure new warehouse capabilities are implemented quickly.

If your organization previously reviewed, dismissed, or put off moving your WMS to the cloud, it’s time to reevaluate. Decisions that seemed to make sense last year or even last quarter, likely look very different through today’s lens. With business models drastically changing and uncertainty lingering in every corner, what if you could offload critical IT responsibility to an organization you trust to manage it all for you?

1. Are we organizationally ready for significant change?

Organizations are only as good as their people, and manufacturers must look carefully at whether they have the right people and culture to support a different way of doing things. It is the people who will be responsible for implementing change, and they should be ready, committed, and on board with any type of transformation plan.

An organization’s culture can make or break a digital transformation project and “organizational change management” is one of the key components of such a project. Organizations should aim for an inclusive culture where people feel like they are key contributors to the company’s future success.

To achieve this, management teams should encourage a culture of openness to help employees step forward with their ideas. All change, and all transformation, starts with an idea – so it’s important for people to feel empowered to put their ideas out in the open.

Many consumers are passionate about the quality of their food, the health implications, and the environmental footprint made by food manufacturers. To meet their shifting expectations, food and beverage manufacturers must speed product introductions and develop new offerings that reflect the changing views on what is fresh, healthy, and mindful—and technology can help. It’s not just taste, freshness, and convenience that drive food purchases today. Conscientious consumers also focus on health, wellness, and social issues as they shop for family meals. They take nutrition labels, visibility into suppliers, humane treatment of animals, and environmental sustainability into consideration when shopping for food. While these expectations put added pressure on food and beverage manufacturers, companies that turn to technology to help, should seize the opportunity. Meeting the demands of today’s socially aware consumers can be a valuable differentiator.

With spring just around the corner and rising hope that the vaccination rollout will eventually bring some relief to restrictions, it is time to start thinking about how the world of work should move forward. While the pandemic forced us to adopt new ways of working, we have learned some valuable lessons in the last year that should not be quickly forgotten. In fact, some of these new strategies should continue long after the crisis subsides as we have come to the realization that the workforce, the workplace and work itself will never be the same. Here are three concepts to consider as you plan for the future.

For years, food and beverage manufacturers have been concerned with short shelf life, inventory planning, and margin pressures. In today's competitive landscape, yesterday’s supply chains have had to adapt and change to respond to today’s consumer expectations of healthier choices, greater ingredient transparency, and the more options for online or e-commerce shopping.

This health and wellness trend isn't new. What’s new is the level of growth we’re seeing in the market for consumers that want a healthier lifestyle—and are in fact, demanding it from their food habits and purchases. Food and beverage manufacturers are doing their best to meet this trend with cleaner labels, more plant-based options, and more ethically sourced food. Both new product introductions and long-standing products in the market are being updated with healthier ingredients to replace preservatives, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, or genetically modified (GMO) ingredients.

As industry attitudes and consumer behaviors change, so does the challenge of sustaining a business in the fashion industry. The global health crisis has accelerated the need for fashion and retail brand owners to reconsider their current business models to satisfy their digitally native consumers while maintaining omni-channel supply and ensuring sustainable production.

Whether large or small, fashion brands can turn these challenges into opportunities by transforming their business models. How does your organization meet the expectations and desires of today’s digital consumers? Are you still using old technology that might have served you well in the past but is now beyond its shelf life? If you already have an ERP system in place, there’s a good chance it’s no longer able to keep up with your business needs and growth aspirations.

Digitizing core processes in combination with trading partner connectivity, helps supply chain leaders increase responsiveness and adaptability. As more organizations look to remove manual tasks from their operations, the ability to update suppliers and trading partners in real-time allows supply chain processes to become more efficient. Here are three scenarios where moving to a network platform have helped companies generate additional value across their supply chain.

• A footwear provider experiencing rapid growth realized spreadsheets and manual processes were no longer sufficient to support increase demand and future progression. The brand digitally transformed sourcing, procurement, accounts payable, finance, and supplier management processes to support scale. The ability to digitally collaborate on orders, invoices, settlements, and ASN creation was foundational to the transformation. Witnessing 4X growth, the company today has 99.8% invoice accuracy and spends approximately 30 minutes per day processing invoices.

• A major global sports apparel brand sought to solidify the health of its supply base by ensuring access to capital. Utilizing a multi-enterprise network allowed the company to connect all parties and digitized document flow, enabling automated financing and settlement. A diverse portfolio of finance providers was plugged in to create a significant pool of credit and programs to meet varying needs. In doing so, the brand was able to enhance the financial health of its suppliers while deploying its own capital preservation program.

• An outdoor gear manufacturer having automated its PO, invoice, and settlement processes to generate efficiency was seeking further avenues to improve margins. It leveraged existing transaction data to auto-populate ASNs and packing and shipping instructions, enabling direct shipments from the factory. As a result, plans for new distribution center were deemed no longer necessary due to increased efficiency.

Know you want to transform but don't know where to start? Want to gain $9-12 for every dollar you spend? Read on to find out why starting with your people is the best first step to prioritizing digital transformation projects.

Digital transformation is at the top of the to-do lists of most companies, but one topic that is often missing from a discussion on digital transformation is which areas to prioritize. Most businesses can’t afford to completely overhaul a core function of the enterprise top to bottom, along with the technology that supports it, at any one time. Instead, they’ll target specific areas for transformation. That approach minimizes disruption to the business, keeps costs manageable, and helps the business apply lessons learned to future transformation projects. The question, though, is which areas to target first?