90 of industry professionals say there is an increased need for connection and collaboration across the global supply chain, supported by the transformative power of cloud technology, to improve efficiency, ensure compliance, avoid fines, and reduce overall costs, according to research released today by Loftware . This comes at a time when executives are focused on building more resilient, transparent, and agile supply chains to navigate disruptions and shifting consumer demands.
The global survey, which draws on insights from over 400 supply chain professionals across industries in 55 countries, found that 84 of companies believe it would be beneficial to join an ecosystem where supply chain partners share access, data, and standards to improve efficiency, ensure compliance, and reduce overall costs. Additionally, nearly three-quarters 74 of respondents said the Cloud offers a more flexible and agile framework for streamlining labeling access for trading partners, highlighting the ongoing importance of digital transformation.
Todays supply chains are more global and complex, while expectations from business and consumers have increased. This has led to greater need for connection and collaboration as companies embrace digital transformation to streamline interactions and ensure compliance with suppliers, customers, and their own facilities across the enterprise, said Josh Roffman , EVP of Marketing at Loftware.
One significant issue for todays global supply chain lies in maintaining compliance. Customers report continued struggles with streamlining the receipt of inbound goods, resulting in mislabeling and hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Loftwares research illustrates the scale of this issue, with 70 of 1 billion companies being forced to relabel inbound goods from suppliers and partners, a resource-intensive and costly process. However, 77 of respondents said they believe providing controlled access to labeling would help to solve this issue. Leveraging a connected network that enables publishers and subscribers to gain access to standards, data, labels, and rules can ensure that inbound goods are properly labeled.
The Loftware report also revealed that an increasing number of companies are exploring new ways to guarantee their products, shipments, and data are protected as they travel through todays global supply chain. As illustrated in Loftwares survey, 78 of professionals said they believe artificial intelligence can be useful in analyzing data to identify counterfeit goods, while 59 say their company is currently using serialization technology to solve supply chain challenges.