End-To-End Digital Fulfillment

Customers now expect more from their purchasing experience. Exceeding these expectations could require an agile supply value chain — one made possible through digital supply networks

- Tim Gaus, Patrick Gallagher, Aaron Parrott And Kevin Maggitti

Before the advent of digital technologies, fulfillment was largely an exercise in “sell and replenish” for companies. Now, Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and robotics have given rise to digital supply networks (DSNs), which are transforming static, linear supply chains into an interconnected ecosystem of nodes that dynamically shape the planning, production, and distribution of products. At the same time, customers are expecting more from how they make purchases and engage with their value chain partners: more individualised products, more transparency in price and process, and personalised services delivered at a faster pace. Meeting and exceeding these new customer expectations may require an agile supplier value chain, one that can only be attained through a complex network of DSN nodes working in concert. For organisations and customers alike, DSNs are ushering in a new era of digital fulfillment.

However, as every response in a DSN is connected to countless other end points, digital fulfillment takes more than a single team or functional process simply “going digital”. For every digital solution to fully reach its potential, it typically requires integration across the entire user experience. As such, fulfillment is evolving from a series of siloed functions into a synchronised activity, one that is seamless and transparent, and adjusts in real time, dependent on every facet of the organisation getting it right.

Organisations that are able to integrate their entire suite of digital solutions into a holistic fulfillment experience are parlaying their enhanced agility into new value. Specifically, in a world where production, distribution, and transportation constraints exist, digital fulfillment can empower organisations to better respond to the market in several ways: