“Like a lighthouse from where one can see in all directions and tell what is to come to the shoreline, a control tower is the focal point in the entire supply chain, enabling all-round visibility and orchestrating collaboration across the spectrum by monitoring and analysing data, to provide alerts so that decision-makers can make informed decisions,” writes Singaravelu Ekambaram.

Excerpts from ET Retail’s article:

“With supply chain operations crossing geographic boundaries, it is imperative to ensure that supply chain events are agile. In creating an intelligent supply chain, a key program is the Supply Chain Control Tower (SCCT), which can enable organisations to take a leap forward in transforming their supply chains. It is important to note that contrary to the popular belief, an SCCT is not a particular product or software system, but a cross-functional team using the components of visibility enablers, cognitive computing and collaborative mechanisms.

When consumers walk through the aisles of a store, or browse through e-commerce sites only to find that the products they were looking for are 'out of stock', both the retailer and consumer product company stand to lose something with the consumer. Keeping the optimal inventory is a delicate balance for any retailer and a key aspect that every company wishes to enable. With the aid of a control tower, such situations can be easily anticipated and the root cause identified, enabling decision-makers to correct the situation in a jiffy. Although high-end retail and consumer product companies are capitalising on supply chain digitization and control towers, mid-range and low-cost players can benefit too, if they adopt the right strategies in digitisation and integrate the control tower well into their supply chain.”

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