While it would be easy to reflect on 2020 as a disastrous dumpster fire of a year, the reality is that the pandemic has changed the workplace for the better. And many of these modifications are likely to be permanent. This is undoubtedly difficult to appreciate from our current vantagepoint, but by the end of 2021 we will likely witness the seeds sown during the crisis begin to bear sustainable fruit. In fact, you can already observe alterations that have had almost universal impact regardless of industry or geography.

Redefining workplace norms

The last 50 years of work have been defined by predictable patterns involving who is doing the work, where it occurs and when it happens. While these standards have been impacted by technological advancements, demographic shifts and emerging social norms, COVID-19 has accelerated the arrival of new ways of working. While most organizations initially resisted the inevitable reforms that accompanied the crisis, virtually all of them eventually accepted that work can be done anywhere, anytime and by almost anyone.

An established digital ecosystem lets brands reduce design-plan-manufacture cycles, improve supply chain planning accuracy, enable end-to-end inventory visibility, and help manage financial orchestration and liquidity. This helps ensure that the right products get to the right place, at the right time—on budget, and aligned with sustainability efforts that appeal to customers socially and environmentally. Additionally, a connected supply chain can improve visibility of key production metrics such as water usage and chemical content, all of which can be shared with consumers.

Collaborative networks connect complex systems of enterprises, applications, service providers, data sources, and devices involved in a fashion brand’s value chain and host them on a cloud-based platform for optimal performance and accessibility. Cloud-based systems facilitate the communication, performance, scale, security, and computing power needed to leverage technology solutions across the entire design to the manufacturing cycle.

Creating supply chain resiliency through more precise demand prediction.

An accurate demand prediction is one of the most critical elements of a resilient supply chain. When catastrophic events occur that can cause a massive shift in consumer behavior, retailers of all shapes and sizes are suddenly scrambling to adjust their forecasts. With the pandemic potentially forcing new or extended “shelter in place” orders, people will continue turning to new methods of receiving groceries, clothing, and other consumer products.

As we see different parts of the country and globe beginning to reopen, it’s possible many of these shopping behaviors may stick as people opt for less dining out due to new grocery shopping trends: pantry loading, working remotely, willingness to try private label, and a shift to new fulfillment channels.

As inventory levels drastically fluctuate, many shoppers have settled for what they (or their personalized shopper) can find, ultimately throwing brand loyalty out the window for cheaper brands, private labels, or store brands. Consumers have opted for new buying channels as well, ordering online and having groceries delivered. If the ease of these channels stick, it’s possible to see a long-term shift.

Leading Infor partner Independent Computer Consulting Group (“ICCG”) is pleased to announce a new partnership with SPS Commerce, the world’s leading retail network. The partnership is expected to strengthen the ability of both companies to execute on digital transformation opportunities through engagement and delivery collaboration for the Infor portfolio of systems.

ICCG is an enterprise software focused consulting firm with a global presence and a track record of more than 2,000 business and digital transformation project executions across ERP, Supply Chain Planning and Execution Systems, Warehouse Management Solutions and Product Life Cycle Management Solutions deployments.

ICCG expects the SPS partnership to provide unique advantages, including access to the SPS Commerce network that includes more than 90,000 retail trading partners. The SPS retail network was built over 20 years by consistently adding customers who would rather trust their EDI operations to experts instead of trying to manage rapidly changing retailer requirements on their own.