Why is a market intelligence for supply chain so essential ?
The health, political and economic events we have been experiencing since 2020 have highlighted the importance and above all the fragility of the current global supply chain.
The implementation of a market intelligence tool on the different elements of the supply chain (manufacturers, forwarding agents, air, river and road transport, warehouses...), is one of the essential elements in the management of the company's risks. Anticipating how not to put the company in difficulty in the face of raw material shortages, political events having an impact on a critical material, or even a critical social movement ?
Market intelligence for supply chain is above all the anticipation of the security of the company's activity.
Key stakes
By monitoring the news and the impact on its value chain
A modification, relocation or optimization of the supply chain
Anticipate and manage failures
Use cases
for a Head of Supply Chain
Robotization, blockchain, digital twins... many technological trends have a concrete and direct application in supply chain optimization. Market intelligence on these trends allows the company to better understand the technological advances as well as their application with real cases.
Be able to react to the detection of a weak signal from a supplier and know the news of essential partners the best way to manage the customer-supplier relationship. Some suppliers, such as the 3PL, are considered almost as an extension of one's own team. Mastering important information about these suppliers is essential to manage this relationship and control possible risks (social movement, change of shareholder, merger-acquisition...).
Monitoring partners also means monitoring their CSR commitments. When a company implements a real CSR policy and action plan, it is not only a matter of measuring its own commitments and performance, but also those of its partners. This approach secures the CSR knowledge of its current partners and also allows it to prepare future calls for tender or consultations. How to set up a CSR watch?
Supply chain intelligence can be focused on the impact of economic or geopolitical events near its factories, or its suppliers located anywhere in the world, especially in the so-called "at risk" or politically unstable areas. This market intelligence monitoring allows the supply chain management to permanently monitor the weak links of the value chain, and to bring elements to the operational strategy of the company.
A supply chain market intelligence tool to support the choice of suppliers
In anticipation of different consultations or calls for tenders to be set up within the supply chain department, the monitoring of different partners or potential partners is a real time saver in the process.
First of all, this helps in the identification of partners, especially abroad or in areas less known by the company, this market intelligence can be a way to detect new entrants, or startups with innovative technologies that can respond to particular problems. Crossed with a competitive intelligence, the company can also identify the key suppliers of its competitors or future competitors, to capitalize on a proven operation or partner. Or on the contrary, it can distance itself from the competitors' suppliers to minimize the risks of industrial spying (shared warehouse, multi-account production unit...).
During the consultation or Proof of Concept period, the competitive intelligence set up on potential partners allows to feed the knowledge of the partner, to identify risk areas and to prepare a long-term relationship.
For medium or long-term service contracts, this competitive intelligence can then be integrated into a global follow-up of suppliers, their performance and their economic situation.
