Disruption Defined: Reinventing global supply chain management

No one likes to wait, least of all for a product that you ordered and have been eagerly waiting to be delivered. Whether you are a business expecting parts for your assembly line or an everyday consumer awaiting a retailer’s latest must-have fashion, shipment delays caused by bottlenecks are your enemy.

 Bottle necks often point to hiccups in a supply chain, which can be enormously complex. To function efficiently, supply chains must move mountains of data in parallel with the movement of goods. For transport and logistics companies — organizations at the very heart of supply chains — this is where the power of digital makes all the difference.

 Take Maersk, the integrated transport and logistics giant, as an example. The company, which is responsible for moving 20 percent of the world’s goods from where they are manufactured to where they are sold to end consumers, has bet big on digital to transform its data into a competitive advantage. Today, that wager has paid off in a major way, vastly improving how Maersk engages customers, tracks and manages assets and mitigates operational risk.

 During a recent visit to Copenhagen, I had the chance to tour one of the city’s port facilities before sitting down with Maersk chief digital officer Ibrahim Gokcen and chief information officer Adam Banks. Both were clear-eyed about the challenges of leading a digital transformation in a traditional industry like transport and logistics. Even so, you would be hard pressed to find two more enthusiastic digital advocates — a fact that speaks to Maersk’s success in harnessing data to re-invent how global supply chain management is done.

Disruption Defined: The Road to Digital is a video series showcasing innovative business leaders who are making digital a competitive advantage for their organizations.