Infor OpEd

Five Predictions for Supply Chain Management in 2022

Amel Gardner, Vice President and General Manager, Infor Middle East & Africa, gazes at her crystal ball to make five predictions for the global Supply Chain Management this New Year.

2021 has been a crazy year for supply chain professionals.

The global supply chain industry got extensive media coverage for reasons as diverse as a the giant container ship the ‘Ever Given’ blocking the Suez Canal for an extended period of time to a chip shortage for auto makers.

A world of people who had no idea what a supply chain was at the beginning of the year now have a much better understanding of how the goods they purchase get from one place to another.

The reality remains that a lot of the transport issues manufacturers are facing in 2021 are not going away. Be ready for plenty of supply chain news in 2022 including these important trends.

Amel Gardner, Vice President and General Manager, Middle East & Africa, Infor.

Prediction 1: Supply shortages will continue to keep ocean container rates high

As long as several global economies continue to thrive, the demand for goods and services will continue to hold transportation rates, particularly ocean container rates, at record levels.

However, with inflation rearing its head in various parts of the globe, higher prices on products may lead to a consumer slowdown, allowing manufacturers and their suppliers some breathing room to restock their supplies.

That said, the backlog of existing demand will keep ocean transport rates higher until bottlenecks drain out. As we see supply and demand begin to balance out in the second half of 2022, transportation rates should creep lower heading into 2023.

Prediction 2: Sustainability initiatives will not be equal across the board

Even with Heads of State coming to an agreement on sustainability requirements, it will largely fall on individual companies to enforce these standards upon themselves.

While many organizations have already expressed, and even implemented, plans to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions, many have yet to adopt any strategy to make both immediate and long-term impacts.

Without a unified, standardised pact that holds both countries and companies accountable, minimal change will be made. Until such a standardisation exists, consumers and investors are the ones most likely to force companies to make the necessary shifts, as the younger and more environmentally conscious generations continue to grow into the largest global consumer base.

Prediction 3: Organizations will bring their supply chains closer to destination

With supply shortages stretching from groceries to semiconductors, many organizations have been forced to examine ways to bring crucial components closer to final production process to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

With many global organizations looking to localize larger portions of their supplier base, supply chains will find themselves better equipped to handle large demand spikes as they occur.

Prediction 4: Safety stock levels will rise to avoid backlogs and shutdowns

With the global vaccination effort proceeding at a slower than anticipated pace, new variants of the Covid-19 virus will continue to drive caution and hesitation regarding traveling and fully reopening businesses.

As a result, organizations will move away from just-in-time (JIT) inventory strategies and will bulk up inventory levels, so they can avoid production disruptions.

This also allows organizations to use supply chain finance tools to extend payment terms to suppliers using innovative finance options with lenders. Organizations can build inventory strategies that are less susceptible to disruption while allowing their supply partners to maintain healthy capital levels.

Prediction 5: Companies will continue to invest in new technologies to streamline processes

Organizations are going to have to do more with less as talent shortages impacting global supply chains continue to compound. Companies will need to adopt existing and emerging technologies that allow for cleaner data, stronger collaboration, and the automation of mundane processes so team members can focus on supply chain process improvement.

This will mean expediting digital transformation already in process and moving entire systems to the cloud for better, yet secure access to critical data needed to implement decisions quickly and effectively.

The pandemic has thrust many companies much further into their digital transformation much sooner than originally scheduled, and the timeline will continue to shorten as companies now realize how critical cloud technology has become for staying afloat.

Top Five Technology Predictions for 2022

Furthermore, Amel Gardner, Vice President and General Manager, Middle East & Africa, Infor, offers five technology predictions for the year ahead.

Prediction1:

With the emergence of modern Enterprise Applications Platforms (EAPs), composability will extend to the business process level.

As ERP systems evolve to modern Enterprise Application Platforms (EAPs), look for expanded platform definitions to provide not only for composability in cloud environments, but also across hybrid cloud/on-premise environments.

Composability will be broken down further to the business process level, and not just at the application level. This means that enterprises will need a standard operating model and platform for consistent integration, workflow, data analysis, and extensibility. Users will want to build their own processes and experiences to match their exact needs, not simply take what’s out of the box.

Prediction 2:

Business process definition, AI and intelligence will start to take hold in purchasing decisions.

No two businesses are the same. Users will demand easy and simple ways to define their business interactions in a flexible system.

Therefore, expect the microservices discussion to accelerate, as companies strive to build and assemble their software systems, as if designing a floor plan for a new home.

Businesses will start deploying modern Enterprise Application Platforms (EAPs), through which business processes not only will be assembled to match needs, but also will be self-sustaining and corrective, based on AI and intelligence that is baked into the framework.

Prediction 3:

The (actual) convergence of analytics, intelligence, and user experience will enable successful, real-time decision making.

Delivering information just in time, instead of in traditional dashboard forms, which look in the rear-view mirror, will be critical in 2022. Historical data and representations aren’t enough for successful decision making. Predictive intelligence needs to be blended into the process.

Ultimately, these insights are needed at the point of decision and action, instead of in a separate operational location. Data fabric, business intelligence, AI/machine learning, and user experience all must come together in a single solution to be meaningful.

Prediction 4:

‘Edge’ solutions will be defined and applied differently.

‘Core’ and “edge” solutions already are connected, for the most part, and edge solutions don’t just refer to devices anymore. This view acknowledges that some business operations still want to maintain local control on premise. Being able to navigate a true hybrid cloud/onpremise business, while not impacting productivity, will be key.

Customers will need cloud innovations in the form of machine learning, for example. At the same time, they need the ability to apply such technologies to their on-premise systems – not just to stereotypical ‘edge’ devices.

Prediction 5:

Voice-enabled devices and digital assistants will be critical business tools in remote-work environments.

As the business world continues to transition to remote-work environments, the definition of user experience continues to change. While voice access/capabilities have been heavily hyped for some time in the enterprise arena, security controls will continue to tighten, and employees will need new ways of executing work away from traditional web screens.

In 2022, we expect that users will demand nearly full operational functionality through voice-enabled devices – with digital assistants that augment and automate tasks.