Technology continues to drive change in supply chain management, powering new opportunities and driving growth for small and medium businesses.

Just like your customers’ behaviors, the supply chain is ever-evolving To stay competitive, businesses are taking advantage of new technologies to improve and transform their supply chains.

Data-driven insights
The biggest driving force of change across multiple industries today is data. From insights to workflows and processes, to delivering real-time location updates on shipments, data is changing the way we do business.

Supply chain management can be challenging and unpredictable. However, with data advancements, it’s becoming easier to track and monitor supply chain flows. For example, in the shipping industry, data is transforming fulfillment capabilities across the globe, by providing unprecedented levels of insight.

Blockchain
A blockchain is a digital record of transactions, or movements, or changes to an item. In logistics, blockchain is used to maintain the integrity of the shipment’s information, reducing risk of loss or delays for businesses and receivers. Every time a shipment is logged, moved, or exposed to new conditions, the information is added to the block of information about that shipment and shared across a database.

And this information cannot be edited or changed other than at the source, making it secure. Why does this matter in supply chain management? Because it can be leveraged for the management and signing of contracts, tracking exposure or maintaining an accurate history of the shipment movements - reducing risk and improving time efficiencies.

Multi-echelon inventory systems
A multi-echelon inventory uses different stock levels, at different locations in the supply chain. For example, a business might store more stock in warehouses closer to the end customer to reduce shipping delays and make product returns simpler. However, other products might be better off stored closer to the manufacturer to reduce overstocking and improve cash flow.

Multi-echelon inventories can also help improve supply chain sustainability. For example, accounting for factors like the carbon footprint or the perishability of certain goods in different locations. With the right data, this approach can minimize risks and inefficiencies across the supply chain.

Internet of Things
Advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) have helped logistics services develop capabilities to benefit both shippers and receivers. For example, SenseAware^®, a FedEx innovation, uses IoT to deliver high visibility across shipments in real-time. So if your business needs more specialized services, such as temperature sensitive shipments, SenseAware delivers full monitoring and tracking with details including humidity, location and light exposure.

This way, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your business has full visibility of your shipments from end-to-end. If instances occur, alerts are sent out immediately. Technology like SenseAware is only the beginning of what the future holds as emerging tech like Blockchain becomes more mainstream.

The future
As an industry, we’re building smarter supply chain management and operations, with new data-driven efficiencies.

This is why at FedEx, we embrace data transformation and are teaming up with Microsoft to move our data to the cloud. By combining our global digital and logistics network with the intelligence of Microsoft’s cloud, we’re reinventing the commerce experience and enabling businesses like yours to better compete in today’s increasingly digital landscape.