Today’s volatile freight transportation landscape has been defined by a series of supply chain disruptions over the past two years that caught many businesses off guard. As complications persist, supply chain managers are under more pressure than ever to deliver on time and under budget.
Traditional approaches to visibility and end-to-end management can be time-consuming, expensive and incomplete. Modern supply chain control towers make it possible to improve data-based insights and increase visibility while reducing manual processes.
7 Benefits of Supply Chain Control Towers for Logistics Companies
Companies need tools to help them navigate the accumulation of data available today. Here are seven ways a supply chain control tower can help improve your logistics business — no matter your position in the chain.
Offers Enhanced Visibility and Transparency
From transit mode to utilization, raw material shortages and last-mile delivery challenges, there are many moving parts in the average supply chain. Whether you are working domestically or internationally, end-to-end support from a supply chain control tower increases visibility for your team and transparency for your shippers, suppliers, carriers, and other key stakeholders.
In today’s world of on-demand technology, increased real-time visibility is a growing expectation. Yet, 69% of companies say they don’t have total visibility on their supply chain, and the average U.S. retailer has a supply chain accuracy of 63% — leading to inventory issues and costly delays.
Not only can real-time data offer crucial insights to your logistics partners and internal team, but organizing data into a single place with a control tower can also help improve accessibility. You can boost transparency and insight for your team, partners, and customers by bringing together your network’s critical data points into one hub — your supply chain control tower.
Improves Informed Decision Making
Real-time insights, historical data, and predictive algorithms should come together to help improve forecasting and strategy. The software control tower analyzes data to help company leaders make Informed decisions based on the market, available resources, direct competitors, and more.
Your supply chain control tower can help you sense changes in your operating environment by correlating external data points. For example, an alert about traffic or weather issues could help a broker or carrier make a change to their route or modality to avoid late delivery.
Advanced data analytics can help your team with:
- Real-time data to help you take action on issues that need immediate attention.
- Predictive data to avoid likely disruptions or costs based on data probabilities.
- Prescriptive data to pinpoint strategies and opportunities for future improvement.
Keep in mind, though that software is only as good as its algorithm. Software alone doesn't offer a magic solution to optimization. You'll need an internal team or a partner with the experience and expertise to analyze information and turn insights into action.
Makes Big Data Manageable and Actionable
There is a lot of information out there, and your team has a limited number of hours in the day to deal with it. Many logistics teams are overloaded with little time to organize or analyze data, making it difficult for them to use available information in a meaningful way.
A control tower helps reduce the noise. Not all alerts are going to have the same weight on your dashboard.
A control tower helps organize internal and external data so you can dial in on the disruptions and issues most important to your business.
Supports Collaboration and Data Sharing
A lack of visibility can slow performance and inhibit collaboration. Logistics partners rely on a connected network of suppliers, manufacturers, loading docks, vendors, brokers, drivers, retailers, and more. Modern control towers can access data more nuanced than information typically found through traditional research methods.
In order to create a strategic supply chain, crucial data needs to cross lines and provide helpful insights. The right information can help reduce bottlenecks, streamline handoffs, and improve shipping times — benefiting everyone in the chain.
That's important whether the human element of your control tower operations is an internal team or an external partner.
Reduces Costs and Improves Margins
A seemingly small change in supply chain costs can mean a big change in profits. Your insights can help pinpoint problems in the supply chain with avoidable costs, like demurrage fees and storage charges. Greater insights can also help companies improve asset utilization, protect products during transport, and reduce detention times for drivers.
Relying on a supply chain control tower can even help you take remedial measures if something starts to go wrong. With real-time data at your fingertips, you will be more prepared to make informed proactive decisions or corrective actions at every turn.
Your bottom line directly benefits from every expense you avoid. Your time and resources are more effective when you can reduce even the smallest supply chain disruption. With each improvement, you create stronger margins and support sustainable growth.
Boosts Supply Chain Efficiency
A control tower offers more than reactive support — with greater insights, you can increase the efficiency of your supply chain at every point. Not only can the information help provide a more streamlined process, but identifying those areas of improvement can occur more efficiently as well. Automating the process saves your team time typically spent on searching for data, correlating facts, and analyzing your strategies.
Digital playbooks can outline processes and best practices to save your team a lot of time. AI-empowered guidance can help logistics teams act with more speed and confidence when sending a quote or considering a load.
Makes the Most Out of Human Capital
Current workforce shortages of drivers and other key logistics players should cause companies to value their human resources. Your workers should be empowered to focus on the jobs that best use their skills and abilities. A control tower can help reduce the amount of time spent on redundant tasks and busywork — like data entry and organization.
AI can help support your workforce by providing them with faster access to crucial information. Your team can use powerful data management tools to navigate the unknowns ahead.
Discover A Powerful New Kind of Control Tower
Are you looking for ways to improve costs, increase resiliency, boost performance, and lower your spend? D.W. Morgan has pioneered a new kind of "custom tailored" control tower, which combines smart visibility technology with a global monitoring team and the services you need to supplement your own resources. For more than thirty years, we have been a strategic supply chain partner to the world's leading manufacturers, including two of the Gartner's Supply Chain Top 10.
Talk to our team today to learn more about how we can transform your data use. We’ll show you how our software and global team of experts can help you monitor, manage, and improve your network with strategic insights.
