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Future of work: why the autonomous supply chain still needs talent
▉ Insight 1
The hard reality is that supply chain organizations must reassess their talent acquisition, development and retention strategies if they are to compete in the market for top talent.
Those strategies will need to include extensive retraining, continued work-from-home options and investments in data science.
▉ Insight 2
Numerous factors underscore the complexity of growing, developing, supporting and retaining talent.
▉ Insight 3
Part of the solution lies in unleashing the power of technology — to complement, supplement and enable the workforce.
▉ Insight 4
The overarching principles that best position an enterprise to make the future of work successful revolve around a commitment to creating long-term value.
This commitment puts humans at the center while deploying technology at speed and innovation at scale.
These components are essential to helping organizations attract and retain skilled talent, enhance long-term resilience in their supply chains, and realize the powerful differentiator of workforce agility. The payoff can be seen in considerable productivity gains. Planner effort can be reduced by 15% to 35% through greater automation.¹ Procurement functions can experience a 29% reduction in full-time equivalents (FTEs) by realigning operating models.² Manufacturing operations can increase throughput by as much as 30%.³
Recent examples from the market are illuminating. In one instance, a global chemical company’s vision of a digital supply chain planning organization – one that would enhance customer and employee experiences while delivering significant cost savings – was impeded by a decentralized, inconsistent process.
EY worked with the business to enable a new and upskilled planning organization in parallel with the global rollout of an integrated digital planning tool. Two-hundred-fifty planning roles were centralized across four regional centers. The project involved the launch of 20 global training modules, which covered the new tool, each person’s role in the system and procedures. Through the successful deployment of a global planning platform and an alignment of people, process and technology, the foundation was set for a truly digital organization.
1 Hackett Group, Raising the World-Class Bar in Procurement Through Digital Transformation, 2018
2 EY Digital Twin presentation
3 EY Digital Planning Trifold (2020)
▉ Insight 5
Supply chain organizations should make a commitment to put humans at the center of their efforts —
and consider a three-pronged approach focused on alignment, empowerment and culture.
