In today’s increasingly intricate world of supply chain management, what makes your company unique? What sets you apart? What are you good at? What do you want to be good at? Basically, what are the foundational blocks of your company’s one-of-a-kind nervous system?
These might be hard questions to answer, at least initially. Ten years ago, the drive was to be good at everything — to use, build, or provide an end-to-end solution in which your company excelled in all aspects. Back then, these all-in-one, suite-based approaches seemed like the right path, both for vendors and users.
But we’ve stepped into a new world. Supply chain management is now built around layers of integrated solutions and powered by the cloud. More than ever before, charting your company’s strengths and priorities is paramount for shippers, freight forwarders, and suppliers and vendors. Because whether you’re two people in a one-room office using an Excel spreadsheet as your transportation management system or you’re a global 3PL or carrier with 30,000 employees, you can’t be great at everything. Nobody can.
That should be empowering, even liberating. You don’t have to be great at everything. You’re free to find your strengths and invest in them. You can find what makes your company unique and double down.
Making these decisions intentionally and consciously is one of the first steps to rethinking your supply chain. Ask yourself where you want to lead, where you want to follow, and where you want to get out of the way. As you begin building out your nervous system and interconnecting all of the various points of your supply chain management, you can start to understand your own DNA.
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