The ERP Vaccine to Vanquish the Supply Chain Disruptions of COVID-19

Roadmap
12-Oct-2020 11:44:45

The ERP Vaccine to Vanquish the Supply Chain Disruptions of COVID-19

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has forced organizations and institutions to resort to work-from-home (WFH) mode for surviving the crisis. Some of the industries have even leveraged the WFH scenario to meet the demand triggered by the disaster to acquire greater business momentum. In this fashion, though the companies are finding alternate modes of survival, the impact of the pandemic in terms of social distancing and nationwide lockdown is undoubtedly a major setback for businesses. The most affected business quarter in this respect is the manufacturing sector.

Towards addressing the norms mandated by the pandemic, the manufacturers have invested heavily in automation like Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), robotics, sensors, and other Industry 4.0 technology to reduce the need for manual resources on assembly lines. But, the supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic has ruptured the very basic routine of procuring raw materials, and supplying goods. This has cramped the manufacturers from creating and/or catering to the market demand. ABI Research observes that "The impact of Coronavirus is both global and unpredictable, and the supply chain shock it is causing will most definitely and substantially cut into the worldwide manufacturing revenue of US$15 trillion currently forecasted for 2020 by global tech market advisory firm" [1].

Recent research cites the "weakened supply chain" to be the "biggest business disruption related to COVID-19" [2]. Morris Cohen, Wharton professor of operations, information, and decisions calls this as "an unprecedented type of disruption". He further observes, "We've never seen a disruption like this where … a large number of countries are telling their populations to stay home, to not work - there are lockdowns all over the world." [3] Hence, the manufacturing companies are driven to deploy a robust digital solution for mitigating and surviving the gory impact of the supply chain disruptions.

In such a quest to confirm the best as well as a universal solution for this conundrum, the digital remedy unanimously opted by the organizations is ERP. Confirming the same, the results of a research conducted by ABI Research concludes that "the supply chain impact of Covid-19 will spur manufacturer's spend on enterprise resource planning (ERP) to reach US$14 billion in 2024" [1]. The stature of ERP is thus elevated from being a mere digital system for attaining process efficiency and cost-effectiveness to a unique platform that would ensure business continuity even amidst unfavorable business conditions.

On the other hand, ERP solutions should also be "more than a system of record and provide risk analysis and run simulations, enabling manufacturers to understand and prepare for supply chain shocks" [4] observes Michael Larner, the principal analyst at ABI Research. True to these expectations, Roadmap ERP is strategically integrated to seamlessly synchronize the physical supply chain and the digital supply chain of manufacturing companies. This stellar faculty of Roadmap ERP ensures the uninterrupted flow of materials down the supply chain while providing clear visibility on the corresponding data to internal and external stakeholders. Such harmonious integration of the physical and digital supply chains with all the procurement, manufacturing, and distribution processes provides total clarity with multiple options for the manufacturers to make swift, flexible, and productive decisions in all business environments.

The ingenuity of Roadmap ERP is evident from the unhampered business progress of its clients through the benefit of the ERP's unrelenting digital grit to flexibly scale any market scenario even amidst the uncertainties unleashed by the pandemic.

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The ERP Vaccine to Vanquish the Supply Chain Disruptions of COVID-19