CPO CSCO STRATEGY
40 ent in the supply chain and procurement space . Cranfield and CIPS look to equip the professionals of today and the future with the knowledge and skills needed in order to succeed and so this digital disruption of the global industry has and will play a key role in its offering . Saghiri acknowledges that in actual fact , technology in the supply chain and procurement space is ahead of where the current capbility of professionals is at . “ Technology is moving and pushing all of the procurement and supply chain activity and so digital is where we are heading and arguably are at right now ,” he says .
“ Because we have better technologies to monitor what we are doing , to catch , gather and share data and that impacts the supply chain visibility immensely as we are at a point where we can see and monitor everything . Through this we can manage the whole supply chain better and enable greater efficiencies .”
But it ’ s not simply data technology that is redefining the industry , Saghiri points to the advent of 3D printing which creates “ whole new business models and supply chains to fit those models .” This has major implications for the procurement and outsourcing part of the value chain . Couple this with back sourcing , a growing trend across the supply chain and procurement space in order to be closer to the market , and Saghiri admits that the university now teaches modules that were unheard of almost 10 years ago . “ With a mix of technologies and new
“ Supply chain management does not have all the answers and isn ’ t going to be a catch-all solution , but it will provide people today and tomorrow with a very wide perspective of the nuances of the global procurement space ”
— Soroosh Saghiri , Senior Lecturer and Course Director
JANUARY 2019