Remain relaxed when changes occur

Solution-centric supply chains puts the customer in focus

Secured supply chains from A to Z have been the focus of many companies for decades. Being able to deliver one or more products always in the same quality to certain points is in itself a great challenge. But what happens if the customer – or even the entire customer base – changes its preferences?

This is where security becomes rigidity and a path to standstill for the company. Crises are a good example of this. How well can your company react to sudden changes in demand? If the answer is negative, one of the reasons may be that focus of the supply chain is on the company itself and not on customer benefit. This is exactly where solution-centric supply chains come in.

In a solution-centric supply chain the customer is king

To achieve this, the supply chain must be aligned with the customer: from the provision of different order channels, to the analysis of customer needs, to scheduling and delivery based on customer requests.

The new opportunities arising from this approach are clear to see and are available not only for the development and sale of individual products, but also for entire solution offerings – regardless of whether these are products or services, new or replacement orders.

Development, administration, and use of first-party customer data

Access to direct customer data is important for the success of the company. But the collection of data alone is not enough. More than that, the aim is to classify the individual customer data record as much as possible in order to ultimately generate the best possible experience and the highest possible benefit for the customer. Production data, as well as ordering, service, and delivery data, play a major role in this.

End-to-end digitalization of the ordering process, the supply chain, and after-sales produce a comprehensive data set, but it must be read and understood correctly. If this is the case, precisely this data can give you a decisive competitive advantage.

Increasing the range of services offered to customers through solution centricity

A rigid supply chain which is solely focused on production no longer does justice to the customer-centric approach according to today’s needs. For the transformation to a solution-centric approach, customer benefits are analyzed and the entire supply chain is aligned with them. This way the company becomes a solution provider, decouples itself from the success of individual products, and grows with customer requirements.

Strengthening corporate resilience through agility

The path to an agile orientation leads to more resilience during crises. Of course, supply chains must be strong enough to ensure continuous production. Today, however, changing customer demands on the company have to be incorporated more and more into the supply chain process. This is achieved through a continuous data flow and real-time control of all processes relevant to the supply chain. Changing customer interests can be anticipated internally by means of best possible customer data records.