FIVE MINUTES WITH ...
Q . WHO DO YOU SERVE ?
» I serve two constituencies : my colleagues in SAP , but also SAP ’ s customers .
I serve my colleagues by helping the organisation decide on what kinds of products we need to develop to meet the demand likely to be out there in 5-10 years ’ time .
But then I also do a lot of talks as well for third-party conferences , and also for the leadership teams of our big customers at their events .
Q . YOU LIKE TO QUOTE THE NOVELIST WILLIAM GIBSON , WHO SAID : ‘ THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE , IT ’ S JUST NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED .’ DOES THAT APPLY TO SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGY ?
» Yes , it does . Take the Internet of Things ( IoT ). The uptake of this varies hugely . Imagine a large manufacturer , for example . They might have 100 identical machines in their manufacturing facility . Now , the cost of putting sensors on all of the machines will probably be too high , so they might have sensors on five , and use that data to extrapolate what ' s going on with the other 95 .
Cost is always a big factor in the adoption of technology , yet the cost of IoT tech is dropping all the time , so in five years ' time that manufacturer might have sensors on all 100 machines .
But looking at the wider picture , a lot of companies haven ' t deployed any IoT tech at all , so you also have that aspect of it too . There ’ s a spectrum of tech deployment across entire sectors .
And of course there is always a geographical aspect to the adoption of technology . Countries in the developing world will not adopt at anything like the pace of those in the developed world .
Q . WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN BEING IN FIVE YEARS ’ TIME ?
» We ' re seeing huge changes at the moment , such as the ditigisation of supply chains - mostly kick-started by the pandemic . The thing about such changes is they take time , because it involves multiple stages . But the changes will become more obvious over the coming years , until every aspect of the supply chain is digital .
But digitisation won ’ t happen evenly because a lot will depend on where companies were when Covid kicked in . Some had already embarked on digitising their supply chain , but others hadn ’ t , and are now struggling to keep up . Some have made no start at all , and are in deep trouble .
The companies with the best supply chains will be the ones that survived . Just look at Apple . The reason Tim Cook became CEO of Apple is because he was a supply chain guy and he made their supply chain super efficient .
“ TECHNOLOGY IS LIKE ANY TOOL . IT ' S LIKE A KNIFE . YOU CAN USE A KNIFE TO BUTTER BREAD , OR YOU CAN USE IT TO STAB PEOPLE ”
22 December 2021