The four professional types will need to work in tandem for wholesale success. Source: Shutterstock

The four professional types will need to work in tandem for wholesale success. Source: Shutterstock

How new-age talent can remodel tomorrow’s supply chains

CONTRARY to popular belief, technology will not replace humans in the workforce. Especially supply chain professionals.

The reality is that technology will repurpose labor in a profound sense.

With technology automating menial tasks, humans will have all hands on deck for more meaningful goals instead.

Businesses with a vision for the future are remodeling the talent pool resourcing their supply chains already in order to leverage the rising digital movement.

According to a recent EY report, there will be four key types of supply chain professionals that hiring managers should look out for. This will be vital in driving the business to its future form in the digital era.

Each of these professionals has their own strengths but they need to work in tandem for wholesale success.

#1 | Technologists

Technologists are the first to embrace disruption wherever possible. Besides being data-driven, technologists will also need to understand the workflow thoroughly.

This is so that they can determine how best the business should manage emerging technologies that gets introduced in the supply chain.

In the future form of supply chain departments and organizations, technologists will help identify new (and relevant) solutions that can dramatically improve performance.

#2 | Orchestrators

Orchestrators are always happy to collaborate, be it with internal or external stakeholders. They are also led by the vision to drive new opportunities and improvements from within.

Their role is to maintain understanding across all operations and business partners to coordinate for shifts within the workflow smoothly.

In order to neutralize the threats that tomorrow’s highly-digital marketplace brings, orchestrators are needed to help make adoption and implementation of new technologies smoother.

#3 | Analysts

Analysts help supply chains assess theories using logic and systems. Coupled with their ability to process a huge amount of data, they can decide if a concept will succeed or fail.

Their acumen will save business cost for running unnecessary trials and productivity hours that can amp up output instead.

When new use cases are proposed or in the event that a new technology solution is implemented, the analysts in the supply chain division will help track standard and actual performance and highlight variances if any.

#4 | Innovators

Innovators are analytical towards particulars as well as driven by a big picture vision for tomorrow’s new-age supply chain model.

While nitpicking the current processes, they can also look for new ways to use technology to create opportunities and sales.

The combination is helpful to the supply chain in all areas. The role will be the glue that brings the other three together — with analysts and technologists to model scenarios, and with orchestrators to strategically execute changes to the supply chain.

Supply chain hiring managers that read this will already have some people in mind. Now, it is about refining their job specifications and matching them to ways that really benefit the business.

With accelerating automation and advanced robotics assisting all kinds of businesses, all industries will experience such changes. Though, what’s important, is recognizing the need to change taking actionable steps to make progress towards a more intelligent future state.