Supply chain solutions provider JDA Software shared how the advancement of disruptive technologies, societal and generational shifts among customers and competition are driving the supply chain transformations in the Philippines.
JDA APAC president Amit Bagga noted that as they’re building this strategy around Luminate, they’re also building the platform localized to each of the solution’s functions: planning, supply chain fulfillment, transportation, store, etc. All these things will be built on the platform across everything and can help organizations leapfrog.
Lee Gill, group vice president at JDA, said the advancement in technology, which is moving at an incredibly fast pace, is driving the changes in the supply chain space. He cited Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a technology that would disrupt everything not just the retail industry but every single industry that we have. Using AI with machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality and others would help drive the journey to transformation. Technology has the power to do good things for businesses and customers, according to Gill.
The second factor that disrupts the supply chain is the changes that are taking place in customers or the so-called societal and generational shifts.
Gill said the societal shift is about the explosion of the middle class. “In the Philippines, there will be a massive explosion of the middle class between 2015 and 2030. As a result, we’ll be seeing urbanization and diversity in culture.”
There is also the generation change which involves millennials or the Generation Y and Generation Z. These are digital savvy people who behave differently, and want to have endorsements to their friends in social media.
Gill said retailers should take the opportunity to take advantage of generational behavior to re-invent their business models and have strategy to engage customers and create experiences they will expect.
The state of competition also disrupts the market place. In the Philippines, businesses are still primarily store-driven. However, according to Gill, this scenario will be changed through times with a new generation that demands things more immediately. There will also be competition on being expert in online and digital. Customers would be the catalyst of this change.
Gill noted that it is worth understanding what is happening now in the mature market because it will affect the Philippines. These markets have a much bigger customer base. They don’t only deal with business to customers, they also deal with business to business, consumer to consumer, or a whole array of customers.
Gill considers manufacturers as a new source of competition that is a little bit dangerous to retailers. In the past, manufacturers found it difficult to sell directly to consumers but now with a marketplace that provides capability on fulfillment, it will actually fast track manufacturers directly to consumers. Manufacturers have the opportunity now as all infrastructures are taking place at online shopping portals such as Alibaba, Lazada.
JDA APAC president Amit Bagga, on the other hand, mentioned JDA solutions that can help retailers to transform. These solutions are already available and a lot of them are being implemented in the Philippines. These include Intelligent Retail which is about merchandising planning, assortment in store, etc.; Intelligent Supply Chain Planning which is about forecasting the demand, replenishment planning and how these two work together; and Intelligent Supply Chain Execution which is around intelligent fulfillment strategies with warehouse management, transportation management, etc.
JDA also partnered with MuleSoft to have a platform that helps connect two digital data sources needed to assimilate data, and provide connections to each of these data sources in order to build a digital control tower, like the Luminate control tower, which helps get back data.
Bagga noted that as they’re building this strategy around Luminate, they’re also building the platform localized to each of the solution’s functions: planning, supply chain fulfillment, transportation, store, etc. All these things will be built on the platform across everything and can help organizations leapfrog.
