B2B Integration key to resilient supply chain, white paper says

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According to a survey commissioned by OpenText, supply chain efficiency is dependent upon modern digital technologies.

The report, which surveyed 811 respondents from manufacturing, life sciences, and retail organizations across 10 countries within North America, Western Europe, and APAC, found that companies that are further along in their business-to-business (B2B) digital transformation journey are more likely to outperform in terms of revenue, profit, customer satisfaction, and responsiveness rate than those who have not embraced digital technology.

“B2B integration represents the backbone of a digital-first, resilient supply chain and should be a top priority for those companies that remain encumbered by manual paper-based processes,” said Simon Ellis, Program Vice President at IDC2, the company that performed the research.

The survey found that over 78 percent of respondents reported that B2B integration has improved the overall performance of their supply chain.

Additionally, while supply chain resiliency is a crucial element of success for today’s environment, companies report finding difficulty in justifying returns on investment and building necessary internal capabilities. The report found that 71 percent of organizations have increased their supply chain investments, but only 6 percent report being at the highest level of digital supply chain resiliency maturity.

“Connecting, accessing, and analyzing the data produced by today’s digital supply chains to manage your business better is crucial for most organizations today,” said Sandy Ono, executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer at OpenText. “The latest findings from IDC confirm that the future of the supply chain is to bring information and automation together, and OpenText is proudly leading organizations through these critical business transformations.”

The study also found that 44 percent of companies reported using Artificial Intelligence(AI)/Machine Learning to generate predictive insights across supply chain operations. Only 17 percent of respondents reported using basic analytics.