Is your supply chain network fully connected?

Being connected from anywhere, anytime, is the standard of excellence and vital for optimal financial performance in today’s world. Digitally connecting your field-based selling organizations is no exception to the standard. As more and more companies move their employees to work from home permanently, these digital connections, via integrated software solutions, are becoming a crucial element to keep everyone and everything connected. Visibility and transparency have become a key topic for every organization, in every department, and in every industry. But what does visibility really mean for you?

In the medical device market, it means digitally connecting your entire supply chain, inclusive of your selling organization and the inventory they control (last mile). Transforming the last mile means changing from loosely connected processes and low-fidelity sets of data to an end-to-end digitally connected supply chain. Companies who utilize the power of integrated solutions to capture high-fidelity data in real-time, and take advantage of system and process automation will maximize their profitability by driving efficiencies across all departments involved.

ImplantBase = Visibility = Financial Performance

In this blog series, we begin by discussing each constituent in the supply chain ecosystem who will benefit from a fully integrated digital solution to assist in making job duties easier and more profitable. These are: 

• Distributors/Sales Reps/ Sales Management
• Customer Service/Field Inventory Management
• Marketing and Supply Chain
• Finance

Distributor/Sales Reps/Sales Management

In a supply chain network, inventory visibility starts at the point of sale, in this case from your distributor sales reps. Their daily transactions are needed to make an impact on your financial performance. Implementing any software solution needs to have a high adoption rate and used broadly in the field.  We will discuss how disconnection obstructs visibility and makes decision making difficult or impossible.

Customer Service/Field Inventory Management

When there is a lack of visibility from the field (in terms of consumption and demand), we see a scramble for loose or missing inventory to supply a case within the 24-72 hours. Looking forward and forecasting future needs is simply not possible with inventory chaos and the lack of the right tools. We will discuss how digitizing these processes will enable efficiency, cost savings, and exponentially better decision making.

Product Marketing and Supply Chain

Inventory visibility is essential, and impacts product marketing and supply chain development. High fidelity data supports planning and implementation for better new product launches and upgrades to existing systems. A successful company needs to access and mine usage data to reinforce competitive advantages. We will discuss the impacts of arduous data mining in environments where tons of calories are burned scraping together data from multiple sources, all with different formats and time periods.

Finance

When data is good from the field, the strategic levels will be able to make sound decisions which impact financial performance. Good financial decisions come from good inventory data, which helps in planning and procuring inventory investments. We will discuss the benefits of one single “source of truth” and how it influences real-time speed and precision of collaboration in decision making to boost financial outcomes.

Summary

In today’s world, investing in the technology is critical to enabling quick responses to changing conditions. Example, the prediction of increased/decreased surgeries primes companies to get on board with complete inventory visibility. Things are different now, and your company’s supply chain has to be more agile to thrive. Investments should focus on efficiency, reducing costs and being more agile. High fidelity information is required. We will discuss all of this in the rest of this blog series. We’d love to talk to you directly about this as well.

To learn more about how we can help you alleviate the pain points of your supply chain ecosystem and access one single source of truth in inventory management, contact us by clicking here.