Improving the Supply Chain for Distributors | Enable
Summary
To reduce costs, supply chain participants are moving to eliminate the so-called ‘middleman.’ The process, known as supplier disintermediation, creates risks for traditional distributors who aren’t adding value to their customers. Our CEO, Andrew Butt, writes in Forbes, “One of the most powerful tools wholesale distributors have at their disposal is access to huge amounts of data on everything from supply chain operations to consumer behavior. Traditional approaches to inventory, logistics, pricing, rebates, and network management can be reimagined through the application of advanced analytics.” Andrew goes on to remind us that wholesale distributors can help their partners leverage digital insights to “identify pain points, predict and drive consumer behavior and improve efficiency for every link of the supply chain.” In the same article on How Wholesale Distributors Can Continue To Compete In A Changing Economy, Andrew Butt shares some insights Enable discovered from a survey we did with 100 respondents from the US and UK: We found that 34% of companies still use spreadsheets to negotiate and document deals manually. Andrew calls this “A major impediment to transparency and quality control, as it’s much easier to make mistakes and harder to correct them with cumbersome tracking methods like spreadsheets.” No one can deny the impact of the ongoing talent shortage. - Kerry Atlas, VP of Finance, IT & Operations at NetPlus Alliance • Use all the resources available “Beyond more robust data collection and analysis, there’s a large suite of tools wholesale distributors can use to become more competitive,” says Andrew.
